Side lighting

[MajBach]

Hi, everyone.

Well, it's been two months and I've turned 5000 miles on the bike. Loving every second of it and really starting to feel at 'home' on the machine. Only complaint I have is the hard shifting and lack of self-canceling lights.

I drove downtown Vancouver tonight for a couple of hours. You hockey fans may have seen on the news the after-math of the Stanley Cup loss yesterday. The local news states it was a small crowd of anarchists responsible for the violence but I think it was closer to quite a good size group of undisciplined losers and punk teenagers. Nevertheless, the vast majority of Vancouverites are embarrassed and ashamed of how their world renown city was portrayed last night and they want retribution and justice to those that were responsible. There was a large group of volunteers and passer-byes in general that showed up this morning and were picking garbage and sweeping the streets until downtown was a respectable site again. All the windows that were smashed and subsequently boarded up are now covered with signatures and apologies to the rest of the city and to the country from respectable citizens that wanted the message to get out that Vancouver is a decent city and they waited in orderly lines all day for the oppurtunity to sign these sheets of plywood.

But I digress.

After driving around beside skyscrapers of glass and noticing my reflection in the glass, I noticed just how poorly lit the FJ is from the side. I was thinking this bike would look good with a couple of small stripes of lighting along the sides, either on the saddlebags or around the footpegs.

Has anyone made any modifications to their bike to add some light to the sides?

 

[RaYzerman19]

You can go with the reflector lights from Electrical Connection, which are running lights and signals that flash in opposite phase to you existing signals for an interesting effect. The rear ones though are partially blocked by the bags.

 

[smellthat?]

Just added a link in another post for LEDs - you could find something here that would work fine. CLICKY

 

[Patriot]

LED strips on each fz1 mirror...each wired with a relay so they are running lights plus "wig wag" to the front turn signals

Funny thing...I've had these over a year...on the way to the Smokies a few weeks ago, my riding buddy and I left our homes at o dark thirty and by coincidence met where two interstates merge...in the fog. All of a sudden I hear 2 bros pipes droning along on my six. He said he only saw those amber mirror strips from a distance as he closed on me...he knew it was me from those 50 yards back.

 

[MajBach]

Thats a pretty good start. My former brother-in-law had a snowmobile with some sort of light strip that ran the down the side of it. He bought it at an auto show years ago and Ive never seen anything like it sold in stores. It basically a thin piece of tape that was the colour of a glow-in-the-dark material-kinda white with a little hint of green. One end had a pair of wires for a 12 V source and when you gave it power, it glowed a nice vivid colour. The colour is determined by a then piece of coloured cellophane tape that is over top of the base strip. I wish I could find this stuff somewhere.

 

[SacramentoMike]

I've got the same strip on the edge of my mirrors that Patriot has, except it's just wired in to the turn signal circuit. It's off until the turn indicator blinks. I put it on just to let the guy two lanes over know I'm heading into the lane between us, so he won't. If I was a more savvy wiring guy I'd have it on all the time and then blink with the signals, but I'm not.

The material came in 10" long strips that were wired on each end. You could install it as a single strip or cut it in half and use two 5" strips just as shown on Mike's. It came in white, yellow, red, blue, and maybe other colors for a wide variety of applications. I bought mine at the big Progressive International bike show--the one that tours all over, but I saw the same stuff last week in a regular automotive store--Auto Zone or something. Try Canadian Tire.

 

[ionbeam]

...Ive never seen anything like it sold in stores...I wish I could find this stuff somewhere.

Do an internet search and see if you can find it. There are hundreds of places that sell variations on the LED strips.

ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT places found in milliseconds.

 

[MajBach]

I appreciate the effort but these are not what I am referring to. This stuff was pre LED-lights (in the automotive market anyway). It is basically paper that glows bright. There are no individual bulbs.

 

[rushes]

I appreciate the effort but these are not what I am referring to. This stuff was pre LED-lights (in the automotive market anyway). It is basically paper that glows bright. There are no individual bulbs.

That stuff was determined to be a health hazard years ago.

How's your former brother-in-law doing these days?

 

[ionbeam]

...This stuff was pre LED-lights (in the automotive market anyway). It is basically paper that glows bright. There are no individual bulbs.

That was a useful hint. You may have seen electroluminescent tape?

Tape1....Tape 2....Tape 3

 

[MajBach]

...This stuff was pre LED-lights (in the automotive market anyway). It is basically paper that glows bright. There are no individual bulbs.

That was a useful hint. You may have seen electroluminescent tape?

Tape1....Tape 2....Tape 3

YES!!! I've been on google since your last post unable to find this stuff. Thanks

 

[rushes]

...This stuff was pre LED-lights (in the automotive market anyway). It is basically paper that glows bright. There are no individual bulbs.

That was a useful hint. You may have seen electroluminescent tape?

Tape1....Tape 2....Tape 3

YES!!! I've been on google since your last post unable to find this stuff. Thanks

Mr. Helpful, I-beam....

Takin the fun all out of Fridays.....

 

[MajBach]

This is PERFECT!

e-bay

Imagine a thin blue or red subtle glow strip under the rubber molding on the saddle bags or a strip under the foot pegs on the plastic. And the best part is this design is AA battery powered so easy to install inside the saddle bag without wiring into the bike and easy to turn off/on.

Great!

 

[ionbeam]

I appreciate the effort but these are not what I am referring to. This stuff was pre LED-lights (in the automotive market anyway). It is basically paper that glows bright. There are no individual bulbs.

That stuff was determined to be a health hazard years ago.

How's your former brother-in-law doing these days?

I believe you are referring to Chernobylight, the company's logo looks like this:

 

[rushes]

I appreciate the effort but these are not what I am referring to. This stuff was pre LED-lights (in the automotive market anyway). It is basically paper that glows bright. There are no individual bulbs.

That stuff was determined to be a health hazard years ago.

How's your former brother-in-law doing these days?

I believe you are referring to Chernobylight, the company's logo looks like this:

Yup...

:lol:

 

[Bounce]

Maybe something like this?

https://www.goldwings-northwales.org.uk/engine/swf/player.swf?url=/videos/blp10-static-light-show.flv&volume=100

 

[Dorian]

...Ive never seen anything like it sold in stores...I wish I could find this stuff somewhere.

Do an internet search and see if you can find it. There are hundreds of places that sell variations on the LED strips.

ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT places found in milliseconds.

These LED strips look good for auxiliary turn signals and brake lights on the mirrors and bags. My question, for those electrically knowledgeable, can they just be attached to the turn signal lights wires or do they need relays or other stuff to make them work?

 

[Checkswrecks]

...Ive never seen anything like it sold in stores...I wish I could find this stuff somewhere.

Do an internet search and see if you can find it. There are hundreds of places that sell variations on the LED strips.

ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT places found in milliseconds.

These LED strips look good for auxiliary turn signals and brake lights on the mirrors and bags. My question, for those electrically knowledgeable, can they just be attached to the turn signal lights wires or do they need relays or other stuff to make them work?

A reasonable few for the FJR would be very low power and will run fine on the stock wiring.

As you approach the hundreds that the "Gangsta" HD guy has down the street, you'll probably want to start thinking about adding new wires. Something like this: :blinksmiley: