I spent a lot of time figuring out how to get the SupraBrake-3 to produce a serious light show when hitting the brakes. But I finally got there. The results are a sequence that starts with a 24 Hz blink rate (that's fast!) that decays down to solid on. Here's a good feature. There's a parameter called "Grace Period". During that period, the brakes do nothing but solid on. Which means that if you're stuck in traffic, the car behind doesn't see the light show every time you tap the brakes. The default time is 12 seconds. After that, the light show can start up again. Well, not quite. If you're tapping the brakes outside of the grace period but not by much, only a bit of the light show happens. Use the brakes more, and the flashing becomes shorter, with fewer flashes before reaching solid on. If traffic opens up and many minutes (or more) go by, getting on the brakes will give the whole light show. In short, the SB3 is "guy behind" friendly. Which is a good thing to avoid road rage.
After finally finding out where to SB3 connects to the wiring loom (hidden behind the B panel), unplug the only 6 pin connector there. Plug right gender SB3 plug into the right FJR connector (only one way this can go) and strap the (tiny or very small) module down with supplied cable ties. Button up and the installation is done.
Programming... whoo-boy. This is not blindingly obvious. The easy part is hit the brake lever or foot brake, turn on the ignition (don't need to start the motor) and waiit about 30 seconds. During the wait, at about 15 seconds there's a fast double blink. Ignore it. About 30 seconds out, the light will blink once (it's obvious), wait, blink twice, wait - right up to 6 blinks, and start again. These blinks say which attribute (I like parameter) is available to be changed. One blink means setting the grace time parameter.
Right after the blink(s) you want for a parameter, let go of the brakes. You're now able to set a value ("variable" in the manual) for that parameter. Any easy example: Get to parameter one (grace period) and let go of the handle, pull it back in and now wait until the brake light blinks 5 times. Let go of the brakes. Pull them back in and there's a series of quick blinks, That confirms a value has been programmed into the SB3.
Stick with grace period set to 5 blinks - 12 second grace period. Why is explained below.
Here's where life gets interesting. To program another parameter, turn off the ignition, grab the brakes, turn on the ignition, wait 30 seconds. Again. AFAIK there is no way to do two or more parameters in the same "after waiting 30 seconds" session. Go to parameter 2. (two blinks, brakes off and back on after the second blink). Hold the brakes in until 12 - yes, 12 - blinks go by. Release the brakes and the pull them back in. There's the same fast blinks showing the SB3 is programmed.
Key off, grab brakes, key on, wait for 3 blinks. Release brake, grab brake, wait for 10 blinks, brakes off, brakes on, fast blinks happen. Key off. The parameter is called "Modulation" and the value is "Berserk D". All you care about is the SB3 has a 12 second grace period, the warning blinks start with a fast blink rate which slows down until the brake light is full on. To see this, turn on the key (no brakes this time), wait at least 12 seconds (15 or 20 seconds is a good idea), and hit the brakes. Shazam! Light show!
Try different values for parameters 4 and 5. They change how long the show runs. An hour long brake light show is ...um... not a winner. Shorten things to what seems right.
Parameter 6 disables or enables the SB3. Set the value to 1 and the SB3 does whatever it's set to do. Set to value 2, the brake light works as it did before the SB3 was installed. This handy if your state inspection people don't like blinking brake lights. Disable SB3 until you have your new sticker, then go back to a blinking brake light. Woohoo!
If you have an incandescent brake light, high blink frequencies are going to blur together. The bulb doesn't switch on as fast as an LED. The SB3 will work with an incandescent lap, but think about shifting to an LED.
Here comes a weird thing... If you shorten the grace period, the entire blink sequence will shorten. I don't understand why this is so; it just is.
If you've made it this far, you should have some idea of what the SB3 can do. The decaying blink rate (the brake light is on longer and longer until the brake light is on 100%) is IMHO more noticeable than just a few blinks at the same rate. That's just my opinion, but there it is.
The SB3 isn't cheap - $115 with plugs for a specific bike. Somewhat less for pigtails for tapping into wires. Is the SB3 worth it? Mostly yes. The programming process and learning how to get the most out of the SB3 has a steep learning curve. If that's not your style, then the SB3 isn't for you. But if you want an aggressive, "in yo' face, mo' fo'!!", brake light modulator, welcome home. It's spendy but I think it's a case of "$5 helmet for a $5 head" only "$5 modulator for a $5 bike". YMMV
