Topic: Auxiliary Lights for CB750K: What are you running? What are some options?

[Kaze]

I have a big ol' crash-bar on my bike. Not the case-guards, but the rectangular one. It was used, and the highway pegs didn't come with it, so I have a hole on each side where the pegs should be. I'm thinking of putting a pair of lights down there. At the moment, I don't use LED, just bulbs.

1. If you have extra lights, please share what you did. Pics are helpful if you got 'em.
2. How did you connect them? To a switch that piggybacks off your headlight?
3. How much aux. power can the charging system spare and still make sure my battery is happy?

[bryanj]

Answering in reverse order
3 not a lot, especially if you do short journeys
2 using a seperate, fused, supply and switch
1 never fitted any, just upgraded headlight to H4

[Deltarider]

My policy has always been: stay away from extra lights. I strongly favour uniformity for the safety of all. Adding extra lights is - in time - at cost of others and if they follow your example, it will develop in a race to the bottom because sooner or later others might add even more.
Here an example. I remember when I started driving early 70s, we had, for utility vehicles and first responders, two types of flashing lights:
orange for roadworkers, towtrucks and the like and
blue ones for ambulances, policecars and fire engines. Mind you, just one, maybe two when it was a big truck. That was it. There was no need for more. From miles away you'd notice them: orange meant caution, blue: oh, oh, something very serious going on there. It has always worked and because of this uniformity, just a single one stood out enough.
The US, always eager to make a show of things, began adding extra lights. Very irritating strobes arrived and look at a scene now. I cannot understand how first responders can do their work in this barrage of hellfire. This idiotic flashing all over the place is also known to trigger migraines and epileptic seizures.
Decades ago GMC unfortunately won the bid for ambulances where I live, because they were cheap. Ever since this madness has spread to our world. Some years ago the ambulances wisely returned to quality Mercedes-Benz, but the damage was done; it's very hard to return to normal now.

[willbird]

My policy has always been: stay away from extra lights. I strongly favour uniformity for the safety of all. Adding extra lights is - in time - at cost of others and if they follow your example, it will develop in a race to the bottom because sooner or later others might add even more.
Here an example. I remember when I started driving early 70s, we had, for utility vehicles and first responders, two types of flashing lights:
orange for roadworkers, towtrucks and the like and
blue ones for ambulances, policecars and fire engines. Mind you, just one, maybe two when it was a big truck. That was it. There was no need for more. From miles away you'd notice them: orange meant caution, blue: oh, oh, something very serious going on there. It has always worked and because of this uniformity, just a single one stood out enough.
The US, always eager to make a show of things, began adding extra lights. Very irritating strobes arrived and look at a scene now. I cannot understand how first responders can do their work in this barrage of hellfire. This idiotic flashing all over the place is also known to trigger migraines and epileptic seizures.
Decades ago GMC unfortunately won the bid for ambulances where I live, because they were cheap. Ever since this madness has spread to our world. Some years ago the ambulances wisely returned to quality Mercedes-Benz, but the damage was done; it's very hard to return to normal now.

ODOT here added flashing GREEN lights to their plow trucks............Oh yea and the LED Red and Blue lights on cop cars were TOO bright and rather than making a scene safer they cause target fixation so drivers drive right into the cop cars at night.

[MauiK3]

There are many new LED replacements available now, many will work. There are even turn signal bulbs that won't hyper flash.
I have used Lasfit bulbs in my Acty and they work great.

[PeWe]

My K6 got aux lights after last year's November rides in headlight eating darkness.

The problem is not to find lamps, its weak enough.
The charging system will not support 40, 60 or 90W versions that are common.

I had thought to by only one 40W to place under the head light.

Found 15W version I mounted on the fork.
These will improve.

I have not had a chance for road tests yet since it has not been dark enough yet.
I can now and another month.
See them here
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,180468.msg2237301.html#msg2237301

[Kaze]

LED might be the way to go. If the lights are brighter, I don't need to care about quantity...

[RAFster122s]

Depending on if you are looking to improve lighting to see or be seen ... amber LEDs can improve the later quite well, as the good ones will really draw attention as bright amber lights are uncommon on US roadways.
LED H4 bulbs are going to vary depending on design of the reflector and whether or not the LED bulb company put the emitters in the right location. LEDs are very directional with their light so reflector designs for halogen and incandescent bulbs are quite different as the lamp illuminates in many directions with full intensity unlike LEDs which have essentially a very narrow beam of light.

[Kaze]

Being seen is important to me. That's why I was leaning toward aux. lights.
It's quite foggy here in the cool season, and overcast is our default weather. I'm not terribly concerned about the headlight, so much as tail light and turn signals. Having said that, it would be nifty if the gauge background lights were visible.

Is there any electronics "rule" against using just some LED and leaving others incandescent? The idiot lights are bright enough.

[RAFster122s]

Likely need an electronic flasher capable of supporting both...but other than that, nope.

[Kaze]

Thank you.
For future reference, I'd like to confirm something.
As you know, K6 & older have 1 instrument bulb for both turn signals, and K7/8 have dedicated bulbs for left and right. Have I understood correctly that all of us CB750K & F folks (78 and older) need the LED relay, but K6 and older require something more?

[Tracksnblades1]

Let me know if any led lights are comparable to the old sealed beam KC daylighters  385,000  candle power with the special Phillips seal beams each drawing 165watts or 13.75 amps on 12 volt dc…

[newday777]

Thank you.
For future reference, I'd like to confirm something.
As you know, K6 & older have 1 instrument bulb for both turn signals, and K7/8 have dedicated bulbs for left and right. Have I understood correctly that all of us CB750K & F folks (78 and older) need the LED relay, but K6 and older require something more?

All years will need an electronic flasher relay, to replace the original thermal flasher relay, to get the correct flash rate, if going with LED turn bulbs.

[RAFster122s]

May need diodes added to feeds for turn signal indicator bulbs to prevent dull glow when opposite side of flashing if equipped with fuel indicator turn signal indicator bulbs...

[PeWe]

My K6 had H4 head light from the very beginning.
It use a std H4 reflector (with parking) that fits the std headlight ring set.

I ordered cheap H4 LED lamps a few years ago to reduce power consumption. LED takes 30/40W instead of 55/60W.

I noticed that car drivers really noticed me after that.
I have not seen reduced light when riding in darkness wich we only have from this part of the year. The halogen H4 has better light pattern with a sharp upper horisontal limitation.

Evenings from April-August are not dark until after 9pm. June-July too much daylight.

I'm eager to test my K6 lights and how they improve.
I have a ride to do on my brown K2. Regulator and carb 4 adjustments.

I have tried LED in rear light. I did not find any working one. Brake light suffered. Not much to gain. Std takes only 5W, 21W when braking only.

Blinkers/flashers are not much used and work fine as stock. My K6 and K2 have both the earlier style as K1 which look good. Std on EU bikes.

[MauiK3]

I have led's in my K3 instruments, very nice light. I believe you can get a turn signal bulb that will not hyper flash. I have not checked this yet but I am thinking about it. Look for a Canbus rated bulb, it will have the necessary components to imitate the load of a regular bulb.
As for an H4 that puts out a good pattern, yes, it's not easy. The LED's have to be arranged to imitate the 360 degree light emitted by the stock H4. Look for an LED that has all around elements. I'll see what I can find too.

[CycleRanger]

I replaced all the bulbs on my bikes with LED's, except the headlights.
I got the bulbs from https://www.superbrightleds.com/

I also installed (separate) solid state regulators and rectifiers and flasher.

The LED bulbs for the gauges and indicators are really nice, they're much brighter and run much cooler.

[Deltarider]

[...]The LED bulbs for the gauges and indicators are really nice, they're much brighter [...]

Personally I find that annoying. I like mine dim, just enough light to read them. Less show, but functional. The 3 Watts bulbs live forever, since I rearranged the wiring. During day time they're extinct.

[Kaze]

"Personally I find that annoying"
People find motorcycles annoying, but you ride one anyway.

[PeWe]

I tried LEDs in the speedo and tacho, way too bright. Maybe there are better alternatives.

It must be as stock 3.6W that give perfect illumination.

I used a restored tacho with new face. Light shines thru, really annoying in the evenings. I had to use less than 2W, maybe 1W bulbs to almost match my stock speedo.
Bike has now an old tacho that look better in the evening. The restored one need to be taken apart to paint face on its back side.

The indicator lights same thing. Stock has the ok shine when lenses are clean and bulb holders have good contact.

I guess it must be bulbs that can work fine.

My H4 LED conversion was only about lower the power consumption and get brighter light to be noticed in the traffic wich really worked.

[Kaze]

I think my auxiliary light idea has shifted toward a LED/incandescent hybrid situation. We'll see. Pewe's 15W fork lights would look sweet on my crash-bar.

- Very interesting to learn that 100% LED requires even more changes to the charging system, with a new rectifier and regulator.
- The head lamp seems to be quite a challenge. I wasn't actually looking to change this myself, because I'm no longer a daily driver.  But it's much better to have a bit of knowledge than to stay ignorant. I will be looking into this more, just out of curiosity.
- Interesting also about the gauge faces, new vs. old. Thankfully my green faces are in good shape...except that my red line is white. Seems like it might be better to stick with stock, or at least go with dim LEDs.
- Cheap vs quality. BIG issue especially nowadays with so many after-market parts.
- (Still like PeWe's fork lamps)
- I don't fully understand the benefit of CANbus lamps for our bikes. Seems like they are used with vehicles that have computers.

I feel a lot better educated thanks to you all.

[Deltarider]

[...]
- Very interesting to learn that 100% LED requires even more changes to the charging system, with a new rectifier and regulator.

Here's the irony. The OEM rectifier and regulator easily outlive your bike. Where I live, they're looked for by people disappointed by aftermarket REC/REGs.

I feel a lot better educated thanks to you all.

Just stick around here, Kaze and you will learn lots more, not only about technique but also about our, often irrational, behaviour.
Here are a few words which can make some, susceptible to them, drool like labradors: digital, led, solid state, heavy duty. The money was already burning in their pockets (Dutch saying for when somebody is already primed to spend money on no matter what) and, voilà, there - in these words - they find the argument they needed to buy stuff that so often is gadgetry at best. The Chinese make billions on this.

[rotortiller]

I replaced all the bulbs on my bikes with LED's, except the headlights.
I got the bulbs from https://www.superbrightleds.com/

I did the same but with the OEM reg/rec. They work fine, not too bright, not too dim. I purchased the colored LED versions for oil, signals, high beam and neutral. The signals, front running lights, head light are still incandescent. The "superbrite" stand up very well and are a good choice for me. Panel signal ind is fine to see in daylight.

[Kaze]

Ah! I forgot, colored LED for colored lenses. Noted.

[CycleRanger]

Ah! I forgot, colored LED for colored lenses. Noted.

Yes, that's what I used. Makes the color more consistent if the plastic lenses are faded.