Advice on turn signal replacement.

[scottp8113]

they're also getting better viewing angles on most of them, closer to at least 180 degrees, so at least if your bulb mounts horizontally it will be pretty well visible to people around you

[ggreenfield]

Has anyone though of making a set of their own?

Yes. At work we actually make LED signs. Ever seen those BIG LED signs above the interstate that say "I-70 closed EB" or "Amber Alert" yeah those signs. Contained within those signs are several boards with different sized LED sockets, some with 6, 10 or more LED mounts. The problem I could not resolve (yet) was the housing. I'm still considering a modification to the stock 81 GS750E tail light lens. On each side of the OEM lens there is a perfect place to mount a turn signal inside the lens which would eliminate the need for a signal stalk. I really like the idea of no signal stalks to break off but I'm still not entirely certain that I want to go drilling holes in a perfectly good taillight given the cost of replacement. :shock: Additionally, the signal would have to be red (not amber) in color and while I think this is legal I'm not so sure it's the safest bet. There are plenty of studies claiming Amber signals are better then Red signals because drivers react faster to Amber signals. I dunno......

There are LED replacement bulbs that might work great for a brake light but I'd really prefer to do my own sid-by-side comparison. How bright are they really? Notice that those LED "bulbs" have LEDs pointing to the sides as well. I think that was one of the bigger concerns with LED brake lights. You can't see them from the side. The cost is certainly reasonable. I might buy one just to see.

You'll notice some other nice LED's there for brakes and signals combined. The cost of those is not so nice.

If you were to build your own LED signals, how were you intending to wire them? In series? Considered a brake light/signal combo?

[ohgoodtimes]

If you were to build your own LED signals, how were you intending to wire them? In series? Considered a brake light/signal combo?

I was thinking is series, but i am going to mess around with it, maybe have a couple or daisy chains, like 3 sets of three or something. And see what is brightest. I was thinking about flush mounts in the rear, but i would need to have a good lense that would throw the light in 180 degrees, i would build them into the brake light but they wouldnt be visible from the sides so yet another problem. Basically in the rear i was thinking of putting them near the red reflectors hoping that the blinker would illuminate and reflect off of it to increase visibility. As for the front i am still pondering housing. The tail light would be simple for the most part, i would use a bulb but remove the fillament & glass and use that as my power source just go from there.. I hope all that made sense. here is a cool video.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4966806654118924217&q=new+led+tail+light&total=411&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=4

i have also seen them with sequential turn signals like little arrows that scrool across the lense pointing the way you are turning. Very very cool.

[mortation]

I used all aluminum (Chromed) mini bullet signals with dual filament on my gs850.

For the rear I had one filament tied into the brake light and one tied into the directional. They are small and tight to the bike, look good and are very bright, both as a brake light and turn signal.

For the front I used amber ones and tied one filament into the low beam for running lights and the other filament was the turn signal.

Cant see em very well in the pic but its the only one I can find off hand.

[ggreenfield]

I used all aluminum (Chromed) mini bullet signals with dual filament on my gs850.

Got a link to which signals you used? I can't see them at all in the photo.

[mortation]

Got a link to which signals you used? I can't see them at all in the photo.

lol, look at the fork cover on the front of the bike, you can see the front one. I will see if I can find an older pic of the rear lights as they looked the best with the tombstone tail light i added.

The lights are:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HARLEY-SOFTAIL-DYNA-SPORTSTER-MINI-BULLET-TURN-SIGNALS_W0QQitemZ310038533285QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item310038533285

[ggreenfield]

So I made some LED signals for the rear. It was actually quite simple.

Parts list:
2 ea 100 Ohm resistor 1/10 W
9 ea. red LED's.

Looks like so:


Here is my meager attempt at a schematic. It's actually how I laid it out too.



I found that I could not drive more than 5 LED's or they were just too dim. I'll be mounting them later tonite. Can't fully test them because of course my flasher died. :roll: Oh well, probably needed to get a new one anyway.

[loudest143]

http://ledcalc.com/

This should help you with your resistor values quite nicely. I used to to work out the details on my underseat lights on my scooter, which was replaced by my GS850. I plan to light up my engine in a similar fashion at some point on my GS. It's pretty easy to do, and I didn't run it off the battery. That's all run off a 9Volt! I had the battery in my glovebox, and the rocker switch fitted into a panel above the glovebox. I figured a toggle or rocker switch of somesort could be fitted up near the tree. It's all experimental, I guess. Good Luck!

loudest143
*shiny is my favorite color.

[ggreenfield]

http://ledcalc.com/

This should help you with your resistor values quite nicely. I used to to work out the details on my underseat lights on my scooter,

I went one further and asked an engineer at work.

[loudest143]

Perfect! Having access to super smart people is always a plus. :-D

loudest143
*super, but not smart