A little LED project I'm doing

[Fanum]

Two flexible strips of LEDs on a smart black strip with 3m backing tape
Two handguards
Two micro relays
One live feed from a sidelight bulb for permanent supply to both of the relays
One live feed from the left indicator to one relay switch side
One live feed from the right indicator to the other relay switch side
One small waterproof project box with an IP67 wiring grommet
A bunch of small cable ties, insulated crimps and some thin gauge wire


Yep, that'll work

 

[alanbmwgs]

Like the idea and sound of that.

 

[kurienp]

Excellent Idea! .... though ... just a thought - why not on side mirrors? ... or actually could be anyplace where they can be visible from the side as well - that will ensure that it is more useful.

 

[Fanum]

Fekk, I hate this........
I start with an idea and it just sort of gets bigger

Add one of these, labelled up with "L" and "R" but plugging drekkly into my box.....

And a one (perm from sidelight) two (ground) three (left indicator live feed for coil switch) four (right indicator live feed for coil switch) four block input plug/socket:

This could be interesting

 

[Fanum]

Excellent Idea! .... though ... just a thought - why not on side mirrors? ... or actually could be anyplace where they can be visible from the side as well - that will ensure that it is more useful.

The GS mirror stems are solid, so running a coax cable up to them is a

Plus, I've already got the two 30cm LED strips, which happen to fit perfectly along the ridge on the outer facing side of the GSA handguard....being plastic, that's easy to drill, which drops me straight onto the handlebars where I can hide the cabling easily.

I've offered up the LED strips to the handguards already (months ago when I got them) and they cover the whole length of the ridge, curving around so they WILL be visible from the side

EDIT.......I'm also going to add a microswitch on the feed from the sidelight, just in case any future MOT testers don't like what they see

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

Leds don't draw much power - why do you need relays ?

Can't you just tap into the live feed to the indicator ?

 

[Schtum]

Two flexible strips of LEDs on a smart black strip with 3m backing tape
Two handguards
Two micro relays
One live feed from a sidelight bulb for permanent supply to both of the relays
One live feed from the left indicator to one relay switch side
One live feed from the right indicator to the other relay switch side
One small waterproof project box with an IP67 wiring grommet
A bunch of small cable ties, insulated crimps and some thin gauge wire


Yep, that'll work

Do you really need to go to those lengths? I fitted these to a friend's K1200R a few years back. The current draw is minimal so I just popped the feed into the back of the low beam headlamp bulb socket. No need for relays....

 

[Fanum]

Leds don't draw much power - why do you need relays ?

Can't you just tap into the live feed to the indicator ?

Do you really need to go to those lengths? I fitted these to a friend's K1200R a few years back. The current draw is minimal so I just popped the feed into the back of the low beam headlamp bulb socket. No need for relays....

If I was just trying to have a set of LED strips on my handguards, then no, I absolutely wouldn't need relays, I'd just piggyback straight off the sidelights.

BUT.....I'm taking the power circuit (normally closed) of the relay from the side light, so when the bike is running, I'll have two nice strips of LEDS glowing away at high level on the bars....then, I'm taking a positive supply from the indicators to interrupt that feed by making the relay break that circuit (normally OPEN), so if I indicate left, the left side handguard LEDs flash, and the same for the right side.

In other words, I'll have running lights on the handguards that flash with the indicators

 

[Schtum]

BUT.....I'm taking the power circuit (normally closed) of the relay from the side light, so when the bike is running, I'll have two nice strips of LEDS glowing away at high level on the bars....then, I'm taking a positive supply from the indicators to interrupt that feed by making the relay break that circuit (normally OPEN), so if I indicate left, the left side handguard LEDs flash, and the same for the right side.

Hmmm....white indicators.....hmmm. Apart from the legality of that, I wonder about the potential for confusing idiot car drivers.

 

[Fanum]

Hmmm....white indicators.....hmmm. Apart from the legality of that, I wonder about the potential for confusing idiot car drivers.

The strips I have are white, but I could easily swap them out for amber.......they're under a fiver a pair.

As it is though, fuck the legality......Once it's done, I'll stand well ahead of the bike and see what it looks like.....I can't see it confusing anyone TBH, but a) I've got a microswitch in so I can disable either the running lights altogether, or the flashing 'mode' depending on where I add the switch, and b) If I have the slightest doubt whether a combination of alternate flashing white and amber is confusing, I'll just change the strips for Amber

 

[Schtum]

The strips I have are white, but I could easily swap them out for amber.......they're under a fiver a pair.

As it is though, fuck the legality......Once it's done, I'll stand well ahead of the bike and see what it looks like.....I can't see it confusing anyone TBH, but a) I've got a microswitch in so I can disable either the running lights altogether, or the flashing 'mode' depending on where I add the switch, and b) If I have the slightest doubt whether a combination of alternate flashing white and amber is confusing, I'll just change the strips for Amber

Ok - look forward to seeing a video of it in due course. I've thought about doing something similar, without the flashing bit, whenever I walk past the blister packs of LED strips in Maccess. You know, the ones that are designed to turn your Vauxhall Corsa into an Audi A1.

 

[Frautzi]

Cant you get LED strips in duel colours. White and Amber. White for driving which will be switched off when you press the turn signal button which will then activate the amber LED's??
Just a thought

 

[steadysteve]

Sounds like a good idea Bill but thought I would add this to the mix regarding the sidelight being interrupted- we had an issue a few years back on one of our shiny new trailers at work. The amber side markers were set up to flash when the indicators were switched on.
The MOT man failed it due to the marker light not being on all the time... That could be the reason that Audi cars only dim the DRL's when the indicator is on. Seems like the sidelight has to be on all the time.