More LED Trunk Lights

[BonS]

I've been experimenting with some flexible LED strips and want to put this out for opinions. The trunk taillights are LED and I've been doing them for various Interstate owners. And that's given me time to think about adding a little more light that you can see around the gap between the trunk lid and base. They're installed with 3M double sided tape and the 12 volt supply wire runs into the trunk between the inner and outer shell through an existing hole. It's then wired onto the "run" trunk lights through one of the taillights.  I think it adds a modern touch and accents the curves of our fat lady's butt!

[The emperor has no clothes]

Looks very cool !

[John Schmidt]

Good looking butt, Bon.    Seriously, it does add to the overall look, I really like it. If my adapted GL1100 trunk were a permanent installation I'd be doing something similar.

[baldo]

That looks great! If I had an I/S I'd be all over it.....

[vanavyman]

I think they look great. Anything that adds more light to the rear of the Interstate is great. I'll be in contact with you in November to get my Interstate tail lights changed and like these other lights too.

Dan

[Willow]

Good looking butt, Bon.    Seriously, it does add to the overall look, I really like it. If my adapted GL1100 trunk were a permanent installation I'd be doing something similar.

If they wire into the taillights they should work either way. My Interstate trunk isn't permanent but the taillight circuit unplugs when the trunk comes off.

[Valkorado]

 

[Disco]

Looks great, Bon.  Too bad there isn't a convenient way to do the same to the saddlebags...

[Oss]

like it

Very nice idea and clean look

[Oldfishguy]

Very nice!

I'd be interested if you "kit" that system up. 

David

[BonS]

Thanks all. I took it out last night and liked the look at night. I've decided that the main taillight runs are too bright for my liking and I'm going to make an inline plug-n-play dimmer for the taillight. I'll be making this available for anyone that has LED taillights as well. It seems that the Custom Dynamics LED pucks are too dim on run and the Radiantz LED's are too bright. Sooo, my dimmer will split the difference. It will plug into at the taillight harness with no cutting necessary.

Otherwise I too like the trunk seam lights. Here are a few pics of the installation.

[BonS]

Very nice!

I'd be interested if you "kit" that system up. 

David

I've been thinking about this and looking at costs and ways to make it simple to wire into the taillight harness. I think I can provide the LED strip with 3M double sided tape, at finished length, and OEM connectors that plug into the taillight plug with no cutting or soldering and NO quick-splice connections that are just waiting to fail. My best estimate for price is $40 complete.

[Oldfishguy]

Very nice!

I'd be interested if you "kit" that system up. 

David

I've been thinking about this and looking at costs and ways to make it simple to wire into the taillight harness. I think I can provide the LED strip with 3M double sided tape, at finished length, and OEM connectors that plug into the taillight plug with no cutting or soldering and NO quick-splice connections that are just waiting to fail. My best estimate for price is $40 complete.

I'm in.

I already have installed a LED red bar under my trunk  hooked through a non sequential flasher connected to my OEM brake lights.  My thoughts are to splice this into just the brake lights, so bright is Ok.  PM a final price with shipping and I will Paypal you, or other.

David

[BonS]

I'm in.

I already have installed a LED red bar under my trunk  hooked through a non sequential flasher connected to my OEM brake lights.  My thoughts are to splice this into just the brake lights, so bright is Ok.  PM a final price with shipping and I will Paypal you, or other.

David

Cool. I don't think The trunk ribbon-light is too bright as a running light at all. Instead I was referring to the LED clusters that I'm using for retrofitting in the trunk taillights.  The ribbon light will make a nice addition as a run or brake light. Your choice. The connector that you'll get lets you select whether you want it as a run or brake. I'll be doing some experiments to let it function as run/brake as well. Stay tuned.

It'll take a week to get in the parts that I'll include with the trunk ribbon light. I'll PM you when I have it ready. Shipping will be minimal.

[Jess from VA]

Very cool man.  

Off in the distance, this will look like ..... ET call home, or look mom, a UFO is following that bike really close.  

[BonS]

Very cool man.  

Off in the distance, this will look like ..... ET call home, or look mom, a UFO is following that bike really close.  

Now that there Jess is really, really funny!   

[The emperor has no clothes]

Very cool man.  

Off in the distance, this will look like ..... ET call home, or look mom, a UFO is following that bike really close.  

Now that there Jess is really, really funny!   

It is . 
I don't know squat about wiring. So if this is a stupid question, I apologize . Would it be possible to break that into 2 separate sides, and have each side as run, turn, brake ? I've never been into the led accent lighting. But this looks very professional.  And if that is possible, could you not also do the same on the bags ?

[BonS]

It's possible to do run/turn/brake in the trunk but the wiring for the turns will have to be routed up into the trunk to do so. In addition, integrating run/brake/turns onto the same LED requires additional circuitry such as a trailer module. Not terrible but definitely a step up in difficulty.

The only bags that I can speak to are the IS bags and they're good candidates for the same ribbon lights. Once again, the wiring for whatever they're going to do must be routed into the bags.

I did the trunk as a run light because the level of difficulty is as low as it gets and is a lot of bang for the buck.

[The emperor has no clothes]

It's possible to do run/turn/brake in the trunk but the wiring for the turns will have to be routed up into the trunk to do so. In addition, integrating run/brake/turns onto the same LED requires additional circuitry such as a trailer module. Not terrible but definitely a step up in difficulty.

The only bags that I can speak to are the IS bags and they're good candidates for the same ribbon lights. Once again, the wiring for whatever they're going to do must be routed into the bags.

I did the trunk as a run light because the level of difficulty is as low as it gets and is a lot of bang for the buck.

Thanks. So I have a Hopkins powered unit. Would that work ?

[Oldfishguy]

I'm in.

I already have installed a LED red bar under my trunk  hooked through a non sequential flasher connected to my OEM brake lights.  My thoughts are to splice this into just the brake lights, so bright is Ok.  PM a final price with shipping and I will Paypal you, or other.

David

Cool. I don't think The trunk ribbon-light is too bright as a running light at all. Instead I was referring to the LED clusters that I'm using for retrofitting in the trunk taillights.  The ribbon light will make a nice addition as a run or brake light. Your choice. The connector that you'll get lets you select whether you want it as a run or brake. I'll be doing some experiments to let it function as run/brake as well. Stay tuned.

It'll take a week to get in the parts that I'll include with the trunk ribbon light. I'll PM you when I have it ready. Shipping will be minimal.

Sure, take your time on it.

Ideally what I would like is for the strip on the trunk to be a run/brake light. Where the brake light is super bright.

Thanks for your time and expertise.

David

[BonS]

Thanks. So I have a Hopkins powered unit. Would that work ?

I presume that it has a 4-wire flat plug for the trailer? So yes.

The white wire is ground, the brown is the run (tail) light, the green is right turn, and the yellow is left turn. The green and yellow come on together when the brake is activated unless the turns are going which in case the turn signal has priority (and that's why it's easiest to use a module to handle the logic).

[BonS]

Sure, take your time on it.
Ideally what I would like is for the strip on the trunk to be a run/brake light. Where the brake light is super bright.
Thanks for your time and expertise.
David

I'll work up a run/brake connector for you. I'll keep you posted.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Thanks. So I have a Hopkins powered unit. Would that work ?

I presume that it has a 4-wire flat plug for the trailer? So yes.

The white wire is ground, the brown is the run (tail) light, the green is right turn, and the yellow is left turn. The green and yellow come on together when the brake is activated unless the turns are going which in case the turn signal has priority (and that's why it's easiest to use a module to handle the logic).

Thank you. I believe I understand it.    Any chance you could work up the 2 halves without the connector ?

[rknef777]

I,m very interested.  Looks great.

[BonS]

Thank you. I believe I understand it.    Any chance you could work up the 2 halves without the connector ?

I'm sure I can. There will be more waste ($) though as there are only so many places that the LED ribbon can be cut. I'll check it out tomorrow to be sure and see how much waste there will be.

The ribbons will come with a length of 2-conductor red/black wire on them but no connector.

A connector will be provided for those that want to make to make an easy, instant connection onto the trunk taillight wiring.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Thank you. I believe I understand it.    Any chance you could work up the 2 halves without the connector ?

I'm sure I can. There will be more waste ($) though as there are only so many places that the LED ribbon can be cut. I'll check it out tomorrow to be sure and see how much waste there will be.

The ribbons will come with a length of 2-conductor red/black wire on them but no connector.

A connector will be provided for those that want to make to make an easy, instant connection onto the trunk taillight wiring.

[Bighead]

Looks great, Bon.  Too bad there isn't a convenient way to do the same to the saddlebags...

Disco bags have the same gap as trunk so no reason it can't be don just as easily.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Looks great, Bon.  Too bad there isn't a convenient way to do the same to the saddlebags...

Disco bags have the same gap as trunk so no reason it can't be don just as easily.

I'm thinking about it. I want to see how the trunk looks. It might be too garish with the bags also. I think it might look cool with run, stop, turns. Might have to finally give a bike of mine a name. "Liberace" 

[BonS]

Well, bad news and good news. The adhesive on the ribbon LED's sucks. The bond to the trunk was releasing on its own. Soooo, I might use an "adhesive promoter" that will improve the adhesion but before I go that route I'm removing the original adhesive and putting on my own 3M VHB double sided tape. There's nothing else like VHB. I have the new adhesive in place now and will be keeping an eye on it to see if it's sturdy. Double sided tape reaches 90% bond in 24 hours and 100% in 72. I fully expect this will work just fine. If it does then I will sell it with the VHB installed instead of the junk tape.

I experimented with a run/brake combination and find that the run mode needs a 13 ohm, 2 watt, resistor to dim it for run. And of course brake doesn't use any resistor.

So meathead, your trailer brown "run" wire will need this resistor in line to the ribbon led positive (red) wire.

Also, I agree with Bighead, the bags will accept the ribbon easily - it's just a question of whether it looks good. I haven't tried it yet but, for me, I'm thinking it might be too much.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Well, bad news and good news. The adhesive on the ribbon LED's sucks. The bond to the trunk was releasing on its own. Soooo, I might use an "adhesive promoter" that will improve the adhesion but before I go that route I'm removing the original adhesive and putting on my own 3M VHB double sided tape. There's nothing else like VHB. I have the new adhesive in place now and will be keeping an eye on it to see if it's sturdy. Double sided tape reaches 90% bond in 24 hours and 100% in 72. I fully expect this will work just fine. If it does then I will sell it with the VHB installed instead of the junk tape.

I experimented with a run/brake combination and find that the run mode needs a 13 ohm, 2 watt, resistor to dim it for run. And of course brake doesn't use any resistor.

So meathead, your trailer brown "run" wire will need this resistor in line to the ribbon led positive (red) wire.

Also, I agree with Bighead, the bags will accept the ribbon easily - it's just a question of whether it looks good. I haven't tried it yet but, for me, I'm thinking it might be too much.

Thanks for all your help on this Bon.  Like I said earlier, wiring is not my specialty by any means. But I can solder fairly well and do alright securing everything. My question about the resistor would be that I imagine it needs to be able to dissipate heat. Would it be ok between the inner and outer shells of the trunk ? When you get a chance to put it together let me know. No hurry. 

[BonS]

Thanks for all your help on this Bon.  Like I said earlier, wiring is not my specialty by any means. But I can solder fairly well and do alright securing everything. My question about the resistor would be that I imagine it needs to be able to dissipate heat. Would it be ok between the inner and outer shells of the trunk ? When you get a chance to put it together let me know. No hurry. 

The resistor will be just fine inside the trunk inner and outer shells. Heat yes a little, about 1 watt. I'd heat shrink or tape up to the resistor on both ends but not over the resistor itself to allow it to radiate and you'll be fine. I'll put the resistor in the kit for you when we get there.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Thanks for all your help on this Bon.  Like I said earlier, wiring is not my specialty by any means. But I can solder fairly well and do alright securing everything. My question about the resistor would be that I imagine it needs to be able to dissipate heat. Would it be ok between the inner and outer shells of the trunk ? When you get a chance to put it together let me know. No hurry. 

The resistor will be just fine inside the trunk inner and outer shells. Heat yes a little, about 1 watt. I'd heat shrink or tape up to the resistor on both ends but not over the resistor itself to allow it to radiate and you'll be fine. I'll put the resistor in the kit for you when we get there.

You da man ! 

[Wishbone44]

  Perfect touch!

[Hoosiervalk]

Hey does anybody know if the led trunk light kits from Bons ever got put together? Thanks Hoosiervalk

[Eric58701]

That looks awesome i will check into this further, if its a kit for sale, let me know about how to get it, i like it.