Installing Universal Brake Light Flasher/Strober

[Grumpy]

I am going to try these first: Clicky then scroll down to Matrix II 32 LED bulbs

But then, if those don't work out I will be skipping the hyperlights and going with these as the final Phase: Friggen bright SWPS LEDs

The reason to pick those over the Whelen super brights is the SWPS lights have a "low intensity" mode they can switched into at night. I'd probably rig them up with a manual on/off switch for group rides too.

Too big for me.

 

[radman]

On my '03 the yellow wire runs down the left side of the bike, in the black sheath, between the ECU and the lights in the rear. It doesn't split until it reaches the rear. I split the sheath, pulled the yellow wire out, and spliced in the flasher (different brand), put it back and taped up the whole thing. And then stuffed the whole fuckin thing and sold the motor off to some whore monger.

FTFY

 

[Fred W]

So, what's the story behind the story here, Grumpy?

(I checked your topics and no mention of how you stuffed it)

 

[MT home]

Very nice write-up, Fred. All of your posts that I've seen are thoughtful and complete. I like your Molex pin-only [no housing] solution for low-profile connectors in protected environments. I'll use it in appropriate situations for my own stuff.

Living in Montana, I would never have thought of considering that brake lights could be too bright at night, but I guess that in more densely populated areas [high traffic] locations that might be an issue. Do you have any direct experience with "too bright" brake lights being an issue, either at night or during the day? I don't ride in groups very often, but can see where modulating brake lights could be really annoying for everybody behind me.

Good food for thought.

 

[Grumpy]

On my '03 the yellow wire runs down the left side of the bike, in the black sheath, between the ECU and the lights in the rear. It doesn't split until it reaches the rear. I split the sheath, pulled the yellow wire out, and spliced in the flasher (different brand), put it back and taped up the whole thing. And then stuffed the whole fuckin thing and sold the motor off to some whore monger.

FTFY

Yeah and he's busy replacing parts in the engine.

 

[Grumpy]

So, what's the story behind the story here, Grumpy? (I checked your topics and no mention of how you stuffed it)

I used lots of breadcrumbs

 

[Fred W]

Very nice write-up, Fred. All of your posts that I've seen are thoughtful and complete. I like your Molex pin-only [no housing] solution for low-profile connectors in protected environments. I'll use it in appropriate situations for my own stuff.
Living in Montana, I would never have thought of considering that brake lights could be too bright at night, but I guess that in more densely populated areas [high traffic] locations that might be an issue. Do you have any direct experience with "too bright" brake lights being an issue, either at night or during the day? I don't ride in groups very often, but can see where modulating brake lights could be really annoying for everybody behind me.

Good food for thought.

Thanks for the kind words.

The idea that these Whelen LED lights may be too bright at night came partly from my own observations when coming upon an emergency vehicle at night with its lights strobing.

I have yet to test my brake light in the total darkness, to see how annoying it is, as I just don't ride after dark all that often. I did ride in a group this past weekend and some folks commented about how bright and eye catching the light is, but nobody seemed very annoyed by it. And that was even with my brake pedal getting sticky (needs to be lubed) and the brake light getting stuck on a couple of times. :blink:

So maybe the over-ride switch is overkill, and not actually needed.

 

[TruWrecks]

Pep Boys sells 1W LED 1157 bulbs for $20 per pair. They are at least twice as bright as factory bulbs, but they turn on much quicker.

 

[Fred W]

Pep Boys sells 1W LED 1157 bulbs for $20 per pair. They are at least twice as bright as factory bulbs, but they turn on much quicker.

I have been through the local Pep Boys and didn't see anything labeled as such. Do you still happen to have the packaging to show?

I'd also be very interested to see a side by side comparison of the LED and conventional lights in both tail light and brake light modes. Especially in tail light mode since I now have the Whelen that lights up when braking, but would be interested in putting them on my other bikes if they are as bright as you say. I'm a believer in LEDs being better (more eye catching) due to the fast turn on time. I just haven't yet found a "replacement" 1157 bulb that lives up to claims.

 

[Fred W]

While answering a PM about brake light flashers, I discovered that I had never finished updating this thread (that I started), but instead had tagged the following post onto a different thread on brake lights and flashers started by Da Judge.

Therefore, for completeness, I am duplicating my last post from that other thread here:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, after trying to install just the programmable flasher module, I was somewhat underwhelmed with how eye catching it is to flash the incandescent bulbs. The slow response time of the bulb's filaments means that you can't use the strobe or faster flash modesd and have to back to the slowest of the 3 flashing modes. Yeah, it's better than nothing. Kind of similar to flashing the brakes by flicking the brake lever a few times.

Video of Flasher and Stock lights

Next I tried ordering replacement LED 1157 "bulbs", which do allow you to run the brake light modulator in a faster flashing mode due to their faster response time, but the amount of light output from the tail lights in "running light mode" (when the brakes aren't depressed) is completely inadequate. The next video shows the stock light in the left side and the LED "bulb" in the right side.

Video of Stock lights vs LED replacement bulb

So I finally rewired the tail light back to stock (no flashing) and installed one of the Whelen Lin-3 accessory brake lights in parrallel, per Da' Judge's original recommendation. It is superb.

The lamp mounts very neatly right under the tail light of the 1st gens. There is a little flat area that is perfectly sized and drilling through it puts the wires just in the correct place to be hooked up behind the passenger seat. The Whelen does not block any of the plate light as there is a "batwing" mask in the tail light that blocks the light near the fender anyway.

And here is the final video of the Whelen Lin3 light being driven by the programmable brake light flasher.

Whelen Lin3 flashing brake light (Warning - 13Mb File)

I currently have the light flashing 4 times and then solid at it's fastest rate as I think this is the most eye catching. Sorry, the video doesn't seem to capture the flashing very effectively in its compressed format (Tip: wait for the advertisement to finish playing before viewing video). But as you can see the light is quite bright even from an angle. I am very pleased with the result. I'll install a switch to disable the Whelen for when others are riding behind me or at night, as it may be somewhat blinding after dark.

I bought these components from the same place that Da Judge linked to earlier. Highly recommended.

 

[RadioHowie]

(Warning - 13Mb File)

Thanks for the warning, Fred. The 13meg file ALMOST overloaded my 50mbps pipe for almost 3 seconds!

I thought I was gonna die of boredom waiting for it to download.

:finger:

:wub:

 

[Checkswrecks]

Pep Boys sells 1W LED 1157 bulbs for $20 per pair. They are at least twice as bright as factory bulbs, but they turn on much quicker.

?????????

You can have a set that I took out of my bike.

Forget what the numbers and marketing says. The reality is that I got tired of people telling me that there was so little difference between the how bright the running light and brake lights were. The brake lights worked but were basically ineffective. I went back to plain incandescents and they really are better than the Pep Boy LEDs.

There are a couple of LED replacements that do work, but expect to pay at least $75-$110.

 

[puppychow]

+1000 (lumens)!

I can still see red on my retina's! Installed it in the same place on the bike as Fred's.

Thanks for the pointers Fred!

 

[wabill]

Just finished the install of the LIN3 and flasher mod in time to get some Doritos and watch the Super Bowl. Damn, these things are so bright that I wish the flasher would remove power at the end of the cycle. I didn't wire the stock tail lights to the flasher.

 

[RaYzerman19]

I have one of these now, brighter than Hyperlites and not as blinding as LIN3's.

https://www.strobesnmore.com/whelen-strip-lite-series-led-lightheads.html

 

[tcfjr]

Wabill:

What did you use for the light brackets, and how are they attached to the Pelican mounting plate?

 

[puppychow]

Wabill:

What did you use for the light brackets, and how are they attached to the Pelican mounting plate?

Probably something like this..

Link here

 

[wabill]

Wabill:

What did you use for the light brackets, and how are they attached to the Pelican mounting plate?

I bought stainless steel sheet and had it cut and bent at a local supplier. Then I had the joy of drilling the holes with my hand held electric drill. The brackets use the rear Pelican mounting bolts for attachment. The small hole in the plate will hold a pin that will keep the plate from rotating after the final position is settled.

 

[Fred W]

Having ridden with one LIN3 on the back for a couple of years now, all I can say is:

Wow! Having two of them back there must be wicked bright! I love it. :yahoo:

If you really wanted to create a dimmer for these you could try making a little variable PWM circuit that could be switched on for night time use. During the day time, I say fire as many lumens back there as you can make.

 

[wabill]

During the day time, I say fire as many lumens back there as you can make.

Totally agree with you. I gently touched the brake to see if I'd get a forward boost from a photon propulsion effect but I might need a few more modules back there to reap that benefit.

I think I'll leave them as is except I still need to put in a cutout switch for group rides, next snowfall, perhaps.