More rear lighting

[Bone]

Plan on adding some LED lights to the rear of my 98 Tourer. Following the Multi-Upgrade thread by fordmano I liked the way he installed the LED lights under the rear of his saddlebags so I ordered 4 light strips and received them yesterday.
I planned on using them as additional brake lights but now wonder if I should try 1 brake light and 1 running light each side.
Last May I rode through Albuquerque after dark and was thinking more visibility from the rear would be nice.

Have a few questions while in the planning stage. Will I need any additional parts ? Will the LED lights work correctly with the stock lights. I have never touched an LED light before this project.
Where should I get the power if I go with the tail and brake lights ?  Fuse panel or wire splice ?  I'd prefer the panel if that is possible.

It's 10 degrees this morning so this planning stage has plenty of time before installation starts

Thanks for any input.

[shortleg]

 When you order your lights, get the ones that have a high and low
so you can use them for both running and brake lights.
  You will find all the connections you need behind the
right side cover.
            Shortleg[Dave]

[wizard -vrccds#125]

I tried the running and brake LED's 2 on each side. The one strip brake did not light up bright enough to show brake over the running light. I changed mine, converted all 4 strips to running lights over a year ago. Adds good light to rear at night. Added bullets for brake and turn signal                                    

[Bone]

Thanks for the info. Here in Michigan we are having extremely cold weather I have time to experiment. Making the rear brighter was my first idea. I have 4 short (4.7 inch) strips.

[fordmano]

Hey there Bone, I found a picture of one other alternative for adding running lights.

I added a (2) 1watt LED flood lights from Oznium and I hung them from the crossover support bar for the saddle bags and I run them via an On/Off switch from a non switched source, That way I can leave them on as an emergency marker light and I can turn them off or on while riding as to make sure I dont have trouble with the local PoliceMan.

Here is what they look like when on.

[fordmano]

Here is a picture of how and where I mounted one of the 1WATT LED lights I did it really to mainly show of the Car tire I had on there last.

[fordmano]

Hey Bone, I forgot to answer the rest of your questions,,,,.

No you will NOT need any other items to make the LED's work so long as they are additional lights and NOT the ONLY lights on the circuit. They will work perfectly fine as additional lights to compliment the stock lights.

I will do my best to get a picture of what my hook up looks like, I have just been so busy with other parts of my life the past few weeks you know how that is, Holidays coming full time night shift job other vehicles needing attention.

These are the side splices I used, you just clip these onto the rear light feed wires and you can use a standard blade/spade connector and plug it into the side of this connector.

[Bone]

fordmano thanks for your time now I feel ready to mess with my lighting system.
Thanks to all of you guys

[john]

www.radiantz.com  ....
just one place to look ....
search valkyrie   ....    1. LED Retro for VTX/Shadow/Valkyrie/Aero/Sabre/Ace
Use your existing Lens and Bucket 128 RED LEDs Fits Shadow - 00-03 Sabre 1100, ...

[Bone]

My fingers have warmed enough to type. Got the LED lights installed. Will wait for warmer conditions to finish the wire run the wire doesn't like the cold. I used a hair dryer to heat the galvanized mounting brackets to insure a good bonding area for the adhesive strips.

Thanks guys for your input and fordmano for your thread and answers to my questions. Made my job much easier.

I put 2 strips on each side planning on using the bottom strips for tail lights and upper 2 for brake lights. The bike is on the lift and not in a position where I can see the lights from a greater distance. I'm using an 8 year old battery for a power supply the lights are much brighter.

[Bone]

Really didn't want to bring this thread back to the top. I take full responsibility for what ever you guys tell me I did
The additional brake/tail lights worked like they should. It's still winter here so I ordered LEDs for turn signal add-ons. Didn't run the wires I wanted this to work first. Lights are pretty. They flash, the stock and add-on lights look faint and flash
I unplugged the add-on turn signal LEDs.

Add-on brake / tail lights work. They also flash with the turn signals .
They didn't flash before this turn signal episode. Now they do.
I used T-Taps for feed on the 3 different items; brake, tail light and turn signal.

I was going to forget the turn signals but the others flash.

[Bone]

Update to keep you informed.
The old battery I am using to power the lights was very low in charge. I hooked a small 2-amp charger to the batt.  Within an hour the feed into the other lights has almost stopped I can see a very faint flash from the turn signals.

[R J]

You want lights on there, there is a link about 2 or 3 up that has a link to a 128 LED taillight replacement.   This is pictures of that replacement cartridge in your existing taillight.   It is a plug and play.

The following pictures were taken in a lighted 5 bay garage.

This is the brake light



Regular LED tailight.   Have 2 pictures from different angles.



#2

[R J]

PS:  ya step on the brake in traffic, you will notice the ones behind ya slowing down real quick.

[Jess from VA]

It look like the price for the Radianz 128 LED taillight array has dropped.  Didn't this used to be about $120-125?  

And...Lifetime Warranty Against LED Failure.

Online Price Price: $100   

[fordmano]

Update to keep you informed.
The old battery I am using to power the lights was very low in charge. I hooked a small 2-amp charger to the batt.  Within an hour the feed into the other lights has almost stopped I can see a very faint flash from the turn signals.

There has got to be something else going on wrong with what you have done so far, or maybe the set of LED's are just not what they used too be( that would be unlilkely but possible).

You said you did not run the wires? Does this mean that you just have them touching the battery ? Are they clamped onto the battery? Or are the wires crimped or soldered onto the actual brake and turn light feed wires that are part of the bikes wire loom under the seat and right side cover? Is there any way you can verify the quality of your power source? Do you have a meter you can test volatage with?

What i did I used teh manual to figure out what wires location and color markings on teh wires then I unpluged each of teh wires for teh brake lights and verified with a meter I had about 12v there then I figured out that the turn signal lights share a ground wire ( if I remember correctly) So did you also make sure the LED's are properly polorized the 2 wires from the LED strip are different colors one is silver and the other is copper in color I think the Silver is + and the copper is - you won't hurt the LED's if you have it backwards but they will not light properly if at all. I also was real careful to ONLY wire one turn signal at a time and test then wire the other side and test then wire the brake lights and test then test all together.

Email me again or post back up here if you would like any more direction or ideas.


P.S. that 2 amp charger should have more than enough juice to run many dozens of LED lights.

[Bone]

The picture I posted was 10 days before I received the LEDs for the turns.
Just noticed the OEM turns are on like running lights. The camera picked that up they must have been very faint. The OEM tail light is on.

So I had a problem before I tried the LED turns.

All lights are real bright. It's the faint flashing that happens with the turn signals on.
The turns flash brightly
The OEM brake-tail light flashes faintly with the turn.
LEDS ?

I'll try and answer your questions;

You said you did not run the wires? Does this mean that you just have them touching the battery ? Are they clamped onto the battery? Or are the wires crimped or soldered onto the actual brake and turn light feed wires that are part of the bikes wire loom under the seat and right side cover? Is there any way you can verify the quality of your power source? Do you have a meter you can test volatage with?


What I meant when I said I did not run the wires.
I laid them on top of the bike I didn't attach them along the frame like when they are installed.

I didn't test the voltage at the feeds the lights are bright.


I used the manual to find the correct wire color then tested each before I spliced with the T-Taps. I spliced at the right side cover.
Had to go to Radio Shack to get some red ones our auto parts stores only had blue.
The blue I used on the brake and tail seemed loose on the turn signal feed.

All positive and negatives are matched.

All of the wires are crimped on to the bikes feed wires. Brake, Turn & Tail using the
T-Taps.

The brake and tail grounds I crimped into a ring wire end and are bolted to a rear fender welded nut.

The turn grounds are not attached and just maybe a problem. I will go out in a couple of hours and give the turns a correct ground.

[Bone]

Update-
Unplugged LED turns- OEM turns glow when key is on
Unplugged LED brake- OEM turns glow when key is on
Unplugged LED tail   - OEM turns glow when key is on

The turns are not bright but they are on red?, scroll to the picture to see.

The turns bulbs are single filament, what next ? Where they are getting current.

I stopped at this point thinking the LEDS didn't start the problem.

[Ricky-D]

It's very hard to follow it all, what is being discussed, but it seems to me that your lights are finding their ground through the filaments of the other bulbs. That's why a faint glow is being detected.

I suggest using a temporary ground for each light independently and you can later round up all the grounds to find a common wire to use for all.

I say this because sometimes, and I haven't looked at the wiring diagram, what may seem to be a ground may be an attenuated ground that has another function which may not be clearly evident.

Using an individual ground for each will assure the proper working of the individual lights and the ganging of all can be accomplished later.

***

[MP]

+1 on the grounds.  Usually when you have lights on dim on any vehicle, when they are to be off, it is because they are being used as a ground.  You need to ground stuff, as mentioned above.

MP

[Bone]

Thanks for the suggestions this is new stuff for me.
After reading your ideas I went out and ran power from my Jeep (Jeep off) so full power would be certain. I unbolted the ground for all of the LEDs. Nothing close enough to attach so I took a new 5/16 bolt with flat washers and attached the ground wires. Took a jumper of 14 gauge wire and connected it to the frame and the bolt of ground wires.
No change.
Then I unhooked the jumper (grounds) and the LED tail lights went out.
The turns stayed on. (not flashing just glowing like the picture)
Hooked the ground back the LEDS came back on.

The turns are grounding somewhere it seems to me. I can't make a better ground with the small wires.
While checking the turns they flash ok but glow in between flashes. The front turns work as they are designed.

[Bone]

Ricky D you are right, it's very hard to follow it all.

I'm starting a new thread to solve a related problem. This thread will be on hold temporally.

Please check out Glowing Turn Signals, thanks.

[maniscar]

It look like the price for the Radianz 128 LED taillight array has dropped.  Didn't this used to be about $120-125? 

And...Lifetime Warranty Against LED Failure.

Online Price Price: $100   

FYI, you get 25% off until 1/3/11.  No affiliation other than a customer. 

  Rich