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My "latest and greatest" LED brake and tail lights

 
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Flying Duck
PsyKotic Waterfowl


Joined: 27 Jan 2005
Posts: 10082
Location: Bumf***, WA

PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 12:16 pm    Post subject: My "latest and greatest" LED brake and tail lights Reply with quote

Simple and dirt cheap to boot!

The stock filament brake and tail lighting (especially the tail light) is rather anemic on K bikes.

On my K bikes I always modify the brake/tail lighting adding flashing LEDs and such.

On my latest K restore of a 93 LT I came up with what I think is my best yet.

What's needed:

4 "Eagle Eye" 9W Red LEDs from Fleabay - $0.99 each. These things are flippin' BRIGHT and will hurt your eyes if you look directly at them.




The other item is a GS-100A flasher module - a little over $2 on Fleabay.




There's a variety of ways to tap into the existing wiring but piggy back connectors work well and are easy to use on the K rear lighting.



The downside of the Eagle Eye LEDs is that the diameter of the threaded part is 10mm so you need to do a little drilling to install them.

In order to separate the tail lights from the brake lights to make braking more obvious, I installed the tail/running light ones where the rear fender extension mounting screws were and then installed the brake light LEDs in the upper license plate mounting bolts.

This video doesn't do the brightness of the Eagle Eyes justice but in real life they are quite bright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX6zgvZp-pc


Since these are just add-on LEDs tapped into the existing lighting no other modifications need to be made since the original filament brake and tail lights will keep the BMU happy.

I recently spent an evening riding over a dark mountain pass on a very rainy night with lots of water getting splashed in the air and was very confident that I could be seen from behind even in those very bad conditions.

4/21/18 - Electro-nerd update: These are sold as 9W which one might assume means 9 watts but that seems pretty dang high for an LED. I watched a YouTube review of them and the reviewer measured the current draw for one of them at 40 mA. At 12V nominal voltage that comes out to a power draw of 0.48 watts so despite how they are advertised they're really only using about 1/2 watt each which seems a lot more realistic for an LED.

5/5/18 - Wiring schematic:


_________________
93 LT (x2)
94 RS
86-97 K75F(K75/100/1100 Frankenbrick)
86 K75C w/paralever, hi perf cams,TURBO!
91 & 92 K75Ss
91 K1
86 custom K100
14 WR250R
IBA #17739 (SS1K, BBG, 50CC)
Buy parts HERE


Last edited by Flying Duck on Sat May 05, 2018 12:59 pm; edited 4 times in total
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acftfliehr
Big Brick Rider


Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Posts: 62

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 10:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Duck,

Am going to do this when I get back from a road trip, may keep a Space Book Driver Running up my ass!!

Thanks again for putting this intel out there of your innovations.....
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Flying Duck
PsyKotic Waterfowl


Joined: 27 Jan 2005
Posts: 10082
Location: Bumf***, WA

PostPosted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 4:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've put these on a couple of my bikes now and they're the best thing since sliced bread. Very Happy
_________________
93 LT (x2)
94 RS
86-97 K75F(K75/100/1100 Frankenbrick)
86 K75C w/paralever, hi perf cams,TURBO!
91 & 92 K75Ss
91 K1
86 custom K100
14 WR250R
IBA #17739 (SS1K, BBG, 50CC)
Buy parts HERE
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Dave6172
Mad Brick Rider


Joined: 20 Jun 2013
Posts: 84
Location: Winston Salem, NC

PostPosted: Sat Apr 21, 2018 9:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I put 4 of these LEDs on the back of my K11LT, 2 for running (tail) lights that are on full time and 2 for brake lights that flash when you hit the brakes. As Duck said, it is painful to look directly at them! Should help protect my 6. Thanks for the tip.
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Ernie-NH
Flying Brick Rider


Joined: 14 Oct 2009
Posts: 982
Location: Bristol, New Hampshire

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2018 3:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very Happy Smile Question

Hello Duck... Hello guys....

When I can see again, Im going to install the lights that arrived on Monday,,, but somewhere I saw a schematic online for this and cannot now find it. Anybody know where it can be found ???

Thanks in advance.....// Ernie in NH
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Flying Duck
PsyKotic Waterfowl


Joined: 27 Jan 2005
Posts: 10082
Location: Bumf***, WA

PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2018 2:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

No schematic. I can draw one if you'd like.
_________________
93 LT (x2)
94 RS
86-97 K75F(K75/100/1100 Frankenbrick)
86 K75C w/paralever, hi perf cams,TURBO!
91 & 92 K75Ss
91 K1
86 custom K100
14 WR250R
IBA #17739 (SS1K, BBG, 50CC)
Buy parts HERE
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Ernie-NH
Flying Brick Rider


Joined: 14 Oct 2009
Posts: 982
Location: Bristol, New Hampshire

PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2018 4:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very Happy

Hi Duck....

I dont know the wire colors.... but a schematic might be helpful for others that are going to buy these LEDs.. We could keep it in the "stickies" for all future reference..

It'll be a while before I'm ready to dive in.....however I did manage to try the LEDs on the bench in garage ( a real comedy ) but wow they are bright ! The leads are super tiny but not fragile, what is that wire size, and how did you do the connections ??

Thanks,,,,,,,,,// Ernie in NH
_________________
AMA,, American Deaf Bikers
Airhead Beemers Club
'11 G650gs
'95 K1100LT
'76 R100/7
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Ernie-NH
Flying Brick Rider


Joined: 14 Oct 2009
Posts: 982
Location: Bristol, New Hampshire

PostPosted: Sat May 05, 2018 11:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very Happy Very Happy

G'Morning Duck...

Great pic from your SF "delivery run"... got to admit to being a bit jealous! I wont be doing any of that for a while although the prognosis ( for me) is "good to go" earlier than expected.

Now, it looks like the colors are " Gr/Blk ,, Gr/Y ,, and Br as ground " correct ?? From the diagram on the face of the strobe unit, it looks like both black leads are to be grounded ?? One of the "reds" is the 12v power "in", and the other red feeds the bank of LEDs..? Is any of that correct ???

Thanks in advance for your input....// Ernie in NH
_________________
AMA,, American Deaf Bikers
Airhead Beemers Club
'11 G650gs
'95 K1100LT
'76 R100/7
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Flying Duck
PsyKotic Waterfowl


Joined: 27 Jan 2005
Posts: 10082
Location: Bumf***, WA

PostPosted: Sat May 05, 2018 1:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've added a wiring schematic to the initial post at the top of this thread.
_________________
93 LT (x2)
94 RS
86-97 K75F(K75/100/1100 Frankenbrick)
86 K75C w/paralever, hi perf cams,TURBO!
91 & 92 K75Ss
91 K1
86 custom K100
14 WR250R
IBA #17739 (SS1K, BBG, 50CC)
Buy parts HERE
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Flying Duck
PsyKotic Waterfowl


Joined: 27 Jan 2005
Posts: 10082
Location: Bumf***, WA

PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2021 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you want to simplify this installation you could just use three of the Eagle Eye LEDs and mount them in the three holes that attach the rear fender extender. Put one tail light LED in the middle and then have two brake light LEDs in the outer holes.

That way you just need to drill three 10mm holes in plastic and you wouldn't have to mess with drilling the license plate and, if you have one, license plate
frame.
_________________
93 LT (x2)
94 RS
86-97 K75F(K75/100/1100 Frankenbrick)
86 K75C w/paralever, hi perf cams,TURBO!
91 & 92 K75Ss
91 K1
86 custom K100
14 WR250R
IBA #17739 (SS1K, BBG, 50CC)
Buy parts HERE
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Jim
Site Admin


Joined: 17 May 2003
Posts: 3840
Location: WHERETHEFUNNEVERENDS

PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2021 4:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the update, Drake!

Flying Duck wrote:
If you want to simplify this installation you could just use three of the Eagle Eye LEDs and mount them in the three holes that attach the rear fender extender. Put one tail light LED in the middle and then have two brake light LEDs in the outer holes.

That way you just need to drill three 10mm holes in plastic and you wouldn't have to mess with drilling the license plate and, if you have one, license plate
frame.

_________________
Jim
1997 K1100LTSE 94,000 - has gremlins!
1995 R100RT Classic 16,650 crashed - repairing
1992 K75RTP 46,000
1992 R100R 24,000 - FOR SALE

"We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed."
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InfamousRiding



Joined: 05 Jan 2021
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 4:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Flying Duck wrote:
If you want to simplify this installation you could just use three of the Eagle Eye LEDs and mount them in the three holes that attach the rear fender extender. Put one tail light LED in the middle and then have two brake light LEDs in the outer holes.

That way you just need to drill three 10mm holes in plastic and you wouldn't have to mess with drilling the license plate and, if you have one, license plate
frame.

This would be better if you want things to be simpler.
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