Topic: Suggestions for custom LED lighting for rear braking and turn signals

[mknbklyn]

Hey,

I'm making a custom seat and backend for my 78 550K and have been poking around a lot trying to find whether or not it makes sense to use LED. I have been pondering making up a 4-wide round light display with two reds in the center for braking and a left/right for turning. I also plan to put in a new regulator/rectifier while I'm at it.

I have been looking at light arrays by these guys at Radiantz LEDs – they seem to have a good rep.

I would like to avoid any tricky ass wiring and my current set up is stock. I have ran through most posts with the term 'LED' in here but haven't seen anything within the last year posted.

Has anyone out there done this with success? Pics? Specs?
Have you been running a LED setup for awhile, and are pleased?
Was there a #$%*load of tricky electrical involved or pretty straight forward?

Thanks for your input.
M

[HondaMan]

Hopefully, the recent LEDs will be brighter than the ones we all tested 2 years ago: they were disappointing for brightness.

you might wish to look up the taillight fixtures for the 1970-1976 Suzuki street bikes (GT750, GT550, GT380, etc.), They are so similar in shape to the Honda ones that they almost bolt on, and have 2 tail bulbs in each unit. I always thought this was a smart idea then, and with LEDs it might be an even better idea today!

[65Ch3v3LL3]

I've used the Radiantz LED strips that have 100 LEDs per foot and come in the D-shaped red or clear tube. They are super bright and work really well. I had brake and turn signals made out of them in one single strip on my VROD and never had any problems with people seeing it day or night.

[Toxic]

I have a Radiantz LED strip built into the back lower part of my cafe seat.  It wraps around the sides as well so there is good coverage. This way my brake / tail light can be seen from the side as well.   You can get the LED stripe with the resister built into it.

It might be worth checking ... a brake set up as you describe would not be legal where I am.
Integrated turn signals are a no-go here.  There needs to be a min. distance between the turn signals and the brake light.  I think it is 4".   Check with your local authorities.

[scunny]

I'm running a led tail/brake light, fits in the standard offset prong bayonet housing. appears brighter than the old bulb.

[luap]

auo illumination selll super small leds with a 10mm thread on them pretty cool super clean
http://www.cb-town.com/puma.html those are the bigger of the 2 they sell

[ANVkevin]

If you look on amazon for LED tail lights you will find quite a few. I've considered building my own, but for less than $20, I couldn't justify the time I'd put into designing one. I ended up going with a tail light with license plate holder and plate light.

[WhyNot2]

Can all you guys that have installed LEDs, can you provide some pics?

[Pecantree]

Just replaced the brake light on my 360 with this bulb. I'll post some pics after dark. But over all I'm not too impressed. I'll probably end up cobbling together something of my own.

[verslagen1]

If you have a red bulb, you want a clear lens.  otherwise it won't be as bright as it can be.

[Pecantree]

As promised, Pics
Front running lights, 2 at dusk and 1 at nite


Tail/Brake light at dusk


Tail light at nite


Brake light at nite


During full daylite it's hard to see the yellow and red running lites.
With blinkers on it's much better. I think those are acceptable.
I didn't take any with the blinkers on.
The tail lite is barely visible during daylight hours and the brake is not much better.
I want to keep the stock tail housing but I think I'll take out the reflector and just do a panel of LED's.

The tinted versus clear lens I'll have to do some experiments with. What I've read though is the red lens does not filter the led because it is only emitting in that spectrum. Where as an incandescent is emitting a much larger range of the spectrum. So the other colors are blocked.