BikeVis Bullets

Well my one and only brush with the law resulted in a rather enraged Policeman going over my car with a fine toothcomb after he made a fool of himself when thinking I had committed a firearms offence (Pity he had not been more aware of the law when trying to make himself look a right Rambo for his followers tuning in to his "chase" on his car radio).

ANyway all that he could find to do me with was a household blue strobe light attached to my car alarm system. I worked at a leisure centre and my car had been targeted by some youngsters who used the centre and had ended up being banned for bullying, so I fitted the blue light strobe (I fitted house alarms as a part time job) which could be seen from the side of the car by security in the building. There was no way of setting it off in the car while driving yet I still got charged with having a blue light. When it eventually got to court and I explained the background to the sheriff (just as I had to the policeman) and I ended up being admonished and dismissed.

Everytime I apply for any childcare job of any type I have to declare this incident even though it was 15 years ago. In fact when I first got a Disclosure done about six years ago I discovered that the Policeman had made up a totally exaggerated report including false and misleading information on the whole incident which did cause me major problems till I eventually got it sorted out. That's when I discovered just how much damage can be caused by a person who totally abuses their position. While I have respect for most Policemen this incident made me realise that its best to stay well clear of the Police because not all are decent so best not to give them any ammo in the first place. I certainly won't be sticking blue lights on my bike facing backwards, sidewards or rear wards.

I have bought a set of the white ones though

Hi Skyenet,

Sorry to read your tale of woe with your Scots copper. There are pillocks in every walk of life and it sounds like you met a right one there! Rest assured, we aren't all like that and the ones that are tend to get the cold shoulder from the rest of us!

Surrey Yeoman said:

Rest assured, we aren't all like that and the ones that are tend to get the cold shoulder from the rest of us!

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Glad to hear it He was an old hand and seemed to make younger coppers wary of him, however what got him really going was when some of his buddies started taking the piss out of him for making a cock up of the alleged firearms offence. That just got him riled and set him off to find something to do me with.

I didn't realise what a major impact it would have on my life years later when his version of the incident came to light during a Disclosure check Even had to get the Scottish Justice Minister involved in the Disclosure part of the incident to get that all sorted. The feedback I received then was that the Policeman was no longer in the force , either that or he was in charge of it

we're in danger of veering off topic here.
but ANYhow,

i have found that in many things
"when we do right - no one remembers.
when we do wrong - no one forgets"*

be it any 'group' of people.

i've met (through Rider Training mostly) some of the soundest coppers out there.
and some of the biggest idiots too.

this also applies to GS riders.

*the motto of the original Hells Angels.

Uncle Ricky said:

The very bottom ones are the pod lights with blue 501 leds at the top

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Hmmm... If I wanted a cheap Gold Wing

Ogmios said:

we're in danger of veering off topic here.
but ANYhow,

Click to expand...

My apologies

Hopefully will have two sets of the white LEDS tomorrow so will have a play around with fitting tomorrow. That's if I don't freeze up in the garage. Had a bit of a clear out tonight and after a couple of hours in -7C I came in to thaw out. Glad I am not Skye's rabbit tonight as the temp is continuing to drop.

Surrey Yeoman said:

Don't we all!

That said again, I'm a lot more lenient nowadays than when I used to be one - must be old age creeping up on me!

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After 28 years, none as a traffic cop, I feel there are greater things to worry about than little lights on bikes. I still don't understand chav cars though. I did ask the driver of one in Ryde a couple of years ago why he had a picnic table on his boot lid but he told me go away, not quite in those words though.....

Hello chaps, just got a set of these delivered a few days ago, but im feeling a little bit thick as top how to wire them up,

was thinking of wireing them into the pilot light and not the headlight as i dotn want to go playing with the wires for them!

is it simply a case of splicing into the posotive and negative wires for the pilot light and then connecting the wires for the lights into them and then heat srinking it all back together?

if this is the case, which colour is the pos and neg for the pilot light? take this wont have any adverse effect on the canbus and getting it all confused so it starts showing lampf warnings?

cheers in advance chaps,

jonyboy




( i know it sounds like a bit of a numpty question but im pants with electrics, give me a spanner and socket set any day!)

JONYBOY said:

...is it simply a case of splicing into the posotive and negative wires for the pilot light and then connecting the wires for the lights into them and then heat srinking it all back together?

if this is the case, which colour is the pos and neg for the pilot light? take this wont have any adverse effect on the canbus and getting it all confused so it starts showing lampf warnings?

cheers in advance chaps,

jonyboy

Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking. How do you wire them into a Canbus system?

tom

if you feel you need to carry around a bit of paper like a note from mum that you can have some Christmas lights on your bike.......seams like a lot of unnecessary bovine feces to me...maybe just ride with more alertness......

remember children. that blue lights at the front/rear is an mot failure

Steve the Kiwi said:

if you feel you need to carry around a bit of paper like a note from mum that you can have some Christmas lights on your bike.......seams like a lot of unnecessary bovine feces to me...maybe just ride with more alertness......

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I also carry a bit of paper to say that I can ride the bike

JONYBOY said:

Hello chaps, just got a set of these delivered a few days ago, but im feeling a little bit thick as top how to wire them up,

was thinking of wireing them into the pilot light and not the headlight as i dotn want to go playing with the wires for them!

is it simply a case of splicing into the posotive and negative wires for the pilot light and then connecting the wires for the lights into them and then heat srinking it all back together?

if this is the case, which colour is the pos and neg for the pilot light? take this wont have any adverse effect on the canbus and getting it all confused so it starts showing lampf warnings?

cheers in advance chaps,

jonyboy




( i know it sounds like a bit of a numpty question but im pants with electrics, give me a spanner and socket set any day!)

Click to expand...

Back on topic please

How do you wire them into a canbus system?

tom

sanqhar said:

Back on topic please

How do you wire them into a canbus system?

tom

Click to expand...

Once I take a couple of photos of my install tomorrow morning, I'll post on how I did it

skyenet said:

Once I take a couple of photos of my install tomorrow morning, I'll post on how I did it

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cheers for that matey. looking forward to it,

sanqhar said:

Back on topic please

How do you wire them into a canbus system?

tom

Click to expand...

take it to a dealer

There will be many ways to wire in the LED lights but after reading advice from here http://www.r1200gs.info/howto/relay.html I decided to wire the lights using a relay connected to the Canbus system via a lead on the BMW Diagnostic plug. I had other items to wire in and also have sidepanels on my GS so added switches and a project box to my install and have detailed that install further down.

I positioned the LED lights on my Left and Right Touratech Handguard Extensions and on the front left and right indicator bodies. I routed all the wires to just above the FPC. From there I ran a positive and negative wire towards the battery area. You could then wire up a Relay (Maplin N02AW) to the wires. The negative wire from the LED goes to Earth. The Positive wire goes to pin 87 on the relay. For 12V power I used an inline Fuse Holder (Maplin MX15R) connected to the positive terminal of the battery and then wired to Pin 30 on the relay. I then connected a Scotchlok 560B connector to the green wire with blue striped wire leading to the BMW Diagnostic Plug, and ran a wire from this to Pin 85 on the Relay. To finish the relay wiring, wire Pin 86 to Earth. When the ignition is switched on power flows from the connector on the green wire with blue striped wire, down to Pin 85 and switches on the Relay connecting Pin 30 to Pin 87 and sending power to the LEDs.


Wiring Diagram



Scotchlok connector tapping into green wire with blue striped wire at BMW Diagnositic Plug



Inline Fuse Holder (you cut red wire to fit)



Relay



Scotchlok Connector




LED Positions













LED Lights OFF



LED Lights ON





Photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/skyenet/sets/72157623083916015/



Wiring in additional items including lights and Zumo

My particular wiring install involved wiring auxiliary lights fitted on my engine bars, which I had never finished wiring up, a Zumo and two sets of the LED lights. Most of my other stuff is wired directly to the battery (via fuses) but I wanted to wire the rest up more professionally using a relay.

I also decided to label all my additional wiring using a Bother label machine which has made the whole lot neater and easier to work on.

I followed advice from here http://www.r1200gs.info/howto/relay.html and visited Maplins and bought a Relay (N02AW) , a Water-Resistant Maxi Fuse Holder (MX15R) and a couple of toggle switches (FH39) with covers (YL01). I have side panels fitted so was able to place most of these items in a Project Box (YN37). Took a while to find out how to wire up the pins on the Relay but I seem to have got there in the end, well it works

The relay is switched ON, when the ignition is powered up, through a wire connected to the BMW Diagnsotic block and pin 85 of the relay. Pin 86 is Earth.

Power comes directly from the battery via the Water-Resistant Maxi Fuse Holder to pin 30 on the relay. I also wired an earth lead to the project box for both pin 86 and for the accessories. When the ignition is off the power does not come through the relay so no drain on battery. I then wired pin 87 on the relay to each of the toggle switches. One toggle switch powered the Zumo and the LED lights and the other one powered my auxiliary lights.

So my project box holding the 2 switches and relay had the following wiring (all using Tamiya quick release fittings as in the Optimate Charger)






IN
12V power from battery (power for Accessories)
Earth lead (Earth for Relay and for Accessories)
12V Wire from diagnostic Block to switch on relay via ignition switch

OUT
12V Power and Earth to LED lights
12V Power and Earth to ZUMO
12V Power and Earth to Auxiliary Lights

I routed all the LEDs wires to a terminal block just beside the FPC. From there I ran a positive and negative wire down to the switch on my project box.

There will be other ways to wire in the LEDs including just using the Relay as described above, wired without the project box and switches.

Steve the Kiwi said:

you can have some Christmas lights on your bike......

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Yip, not a problem

Scotchloks ..... Ugh!!!

Much better off using some of these for tapping into wiring

without the associated damage

Quicker Fix

I mounted the LEDs on the front crash bar just - the one that holds the current BMW aux lights and stole a feed from them, as well as mounting them just above on to the existing bracket. Works a treat and I can still use the standard aux light switch.