LED units,,,build it your self

Friend of mine has done this with turn signals and stuff for his car (actually laid out his own circuit board and everything), much brighter, and look much better than the stockers too!

 

Sno, If you read that post again. it states that if you install inline resistors, it defeats the whole purpose, because the resistor will draw as much wattage as the original bulbs. That is if I read and understand it correctly.
To over come the no flashing trouble you have to install an electronic flasher and they will flash. But you lose your auto cancelling.
It may not be the same post you read, but it's here somewhere.

 

Most cars just use a standard flasher, although some of the newer ones may have gone to them also. Most autos use a 2 prong flasher, my bike has a 3 prong. Not sure if your's is or not.
You should be able to get an electronic flasher at most good auto parts stores, or at a heavy truck dealer. Alot of big rigs use led's.
Hope this helps.

 

It was explained to me that yes the resistor would draw more than the LEDs but still not as much as your original bulbs. Is this true ?

Could you possibly build an entirely new signal system that uses a voltage regulator after the auto-cancel unit to step down the voltage to an acceptable level for the LED's, would this reduce overall system demand ?


Paul S
1984 XJ750L Maxim

 

There is a flasher unit called a wagner 552 ... auto parts places have them for under $2 ... its a 2 prong electronic flasher ... as opposed to our bi metal flasher ... it will totally compensate for the lower draw and flash at the right timing.
Cool.
Srinath.

 

I'm sorry Rich, but that would be erroneous. A typical 1157 draws, what 27 or so watts right? Now let's look at the current demands of an LED. Most are of the 1 watt variety but you can get higher (more wattage = brighter output and = shorter life span). With 700 milliamps of current demand at 12 VDC, your power consumption is ( Power = Amperage times Voltage or P=IxE) 8.4 watts (one very bright LED). Throw in a 1/2 watt load resister and your still below 10 watts. This is less than half of the wattage demand of the standard incadecent bulbs (closer to one third) and that is for the bright units. Add it all up and your generator and voltage regulator will thank you. The use of an electronic flashing unit is required but this is also a low wattage demand design (TTL chips are fairly low demand devices) further adding to the value of converting. Given that the Hitachi generator on my Max generates 19 Amps at 14 Volts, I have 266 watts to play with and converting will shave my wattage demands from 108 for all four flashers (not that they operate at the same time but they could if I wire it for emergency flashers) to a measley 36 watts (and that is including the load resisters). All your bulbs and loads (devices that use energy/electricity on the bike) add up fast an leave only a few watts left for running auxillary devices like running lights, heated handle grips and the like so finding a few spare watts can be a very healthy thing on your electrical system. Hope that my explantion is of some use. Please feel free to throw out any questions that may still trouble you.

 

Yes, you can series wire LEDs, to give them each the voltage they want to see. The only drawback to this, is if one goes out, the rest in the chain go out as well.

 

Yes, but nothing stops one from putting some LEDs in parallel as well, and if one dies, the rest of them in parallel will keep the circuit open. Another advantage of putting some more LEDs in parallel is that the brightness will increase with the number of light sources.

I got myself a pack of 50 super-bright LEDs, of norman 5mm diameter, at 50,000 mcd (millicandelas each). The total cost was 17USD ($.99 for the LEDs and $16 for shipping from Hong Kong ) and shipping was fast, got them in Toronto in about a week.

In comparison, regular LEDs are I think in the range of 1000 mcd. I plan to use four pairs in series. Each LED in the pair will be soldered in parallel (plus terminal to plus terminal, minus to minus) and then the pairs soldered to each other in series (plus of one pair to minus of the next, and so on). The LEDs I got work in the range of voltage 3V and 3.8V. So if I use four of them in series they'll be fine between 12V and 15.2V, which is about right for what the bike generator supplies.

I haven't had time yet to get this project done, but as soon as I do I'll post an update with some pics (if it works well).

 

a 1/2 watt resistor does not draw 1/2 watt of power. to find the power drawn you have to use ohms law. power = current x voltage, power = current squared x resistance, current = voltage divided by resistance. ( electronic tech by trade and degree)

 

In application Saddlewarmer, I'm in agreement with you. However as one tries to plan and build with worst case senarios, figuring for maximum current or power draw is wisdom. 1/2 watt resistor is capable of pulling 1/2 watt, won't last as long but will do it (Electronics tech by trade and degree).

 

Joel, I caught up with this thread later (late 06) and haven't been able to see your images, can you re-post them or send them to me?
Thanks!
-S

 

someone wanted to know where to get LED's
bag of led's

 

I'm amazed at the knoledge you guys have with this Led light conversion deal and I would like to do that with my bike. But I was wondering if some one would be willing to draw it out in layman terms or drawing for those of us who well you might say didn't have the highest grade point average in school. I can take a piece of metal and turn it into just about any thing possible but something like changing my lights to LED takes more than discribing in words.

 

Well, there are several ways to go. You could build your own LED boards.. find a way to stick em in the holes, and then go from there.. but here are some of the problems to consider.

Replacement LED lights USUALLY don't draw enough current to operate the filament flasher for the turn signals. This could be easily overcome w/ a simple digital circuit or even an RLC network to cause flashing.

Second. LED' s are highly directional (unless you by ultrabrights with say... 180 degree or 150 degree viewing angle.) Barring that condition, only the people directly in line with the lights will probably see them.

But on the pro's side, total conversion, could save you enough energy to switch to a HID headlight or something cooler up front.

If you throw out some more specifics on what you are looking at... LEDs, bike specs, part no.'s and so forth, we could draw a better picture of what you're looking at.

 

When I get my new fender I want to make my own light cluster using 1" and 2" pipie (oOo) welded together and something similer for the front but not that small for the headlight of course. I know I could buy something like that but that takes out the middle man(me) and thats no fun. I think I saw where some one used a board with lots of holes in it then solderd the lights together. I can do that but knowing how to put in diodes or resisters that kind of thing I'm not sure of. As far as turning off the flasher well I do that anyway(old habbit I guess). Thats why I ask about a drawing.

 

I wasn't talking about an auto cancel, I was talking about the flasher, not flashing. It would probably just stay on instead of flash.

Sounds like a fun project to me, let me know what LED's you're working with, bike model, and what configuration you wanna go with, and I'll let you know how to hook them up.

I would recommend all ultrabright LED's and then lenses.

 

OOOOOOH I gotcha now. I'm slow but I get there. I would like to be able to use smaller lights that are brighter with out changing the wireing any. I like bright but small. Maybe I can find some lights that are already made like what I want I've been looking around. I think I understand the flasher box change I'll just have to find the right one.

 

And I'm working on the auto-cancel substitution that will accept LEDs as we speak. (I want the current for a amp and speaker system for my iPod. ;-) )

Now if I can only remember how to properly de-latch SCRs...

 

Thanks for the link!

I wonder what the blink rate of these is:

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/p ... ?dept=1245

If it's the right blink rate then the LEDs would blink and not need a flasher in the mix at all. The question is would they all blink at once. ;-) (Not likely.)

 

At the risk of sounding like a broken record (Mike will know what I mean) seems like a really simple reliable fix w/ a LM555... fast, cheap, and small.

You want to put speakers and your Ipod "in" your bike? For playing aloud when riding? Don't get me wrong, I love ipod integration, have a couple projects going myself, but what about the logistics? Space, water, road debri, temperature... and of course... looks?

 

The problem with the LM555 is that it's not a high enough current solution for running 30 - 50 LEDs. Which is about the amount, minimum, that are in turn signals like these. (Per signal that is.) I'm using some lights gotten from this place:

http://www.harrisonspecialties.com/Merc ... rchant.mvc

He's got relays that will solve this issue but I wanted to come up with my own solution that lasts longer and is solid-state.

Already considered. And it's not really the iPod I'm thinking of but a flash based mp3 player. I've already removed the airbox and installed pods so I have plenty of space for the board. Sealing the board isn't too hard thanks to weatherproof project boxes.

As for the speakers I have a cafe fairing on my bike that has more than enough space and protection for the speakers. The real reason I need the extra free amps though is to hear the music on the road over the bike I need at least a 30w per channel amp.

 

Those are the kind of lights I've been looking for.

 

I bought these for the front:

http://www.harrisonspecialties.com/Merc ... Code=MiniB

And these for the back:

http://www.harrisonspecialties.com/Merc ... y_Code=2LO


The front ones are getting mounted on the outside edge of the lower part of the fairing. The rear ones are actually going to be mounted on the saddle-bag brackets someone left on my bike so they're going to be up higher than the stock ones and a little further towards the back of the bike.

I'm also going to replace the existing 1157 tail/stop bulb with a white LED one. (White only because it also lights the license plate.)

I'll post pics once I get it all settled.

 

Well, I assumed that you would use a Darlington Pair setup to provide enough current to power your LED's. I guess I should have been more clear. A LM55 would not have enough power to run all the LED's. I thought it would be a given. My mistake. The LM555 would simple be the switching device.

 

A Darlington Pair would solve my problem. I think part of my challenge here is regaining old skills. Thus the SCRs.

You are certainly right though - a Darlington Pair would solve my current issue.

 

changed

 

changed

 

I don't think this is a fair statement. From the idea, it sounded like he was starting from scratch and not using standard lenses. Viewing angle is extremely important if you want people other than the people right behind or in front of you to see you. For instance, if you purchased a 65000mcd LED w/ only a 10 degree viewing angle, it would be just as useless. That would mean people located more than 5 degrees off of the center line of the bike and light, would only see roughly 32500mcd. And the intensity drops off exponential from there the further away you get. so someone positioned say 90 degrees off the bike (i.e. at a stop sign perhaps) would see extremely dim light. This may not be too big of a deal, but I prefer to avoid collisions with not only the people in front or behind me... but also people from the side.

 

changed

 

Didn't sound like he was gonna use lenses, was my point. Looked like he was going this route.

http://www.harrisonspecialties.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=TD