HELP before I JUMP !

[nubee]

Fellow inventors and future billionaires,

Before I jump into this dangerous ( to my perfectly good rear turn signals ) and costly ( about $130.00 including shipping ) new LED project, could a guru come to my rescue ? Are there any glaring problems you can see with my idea ?




Copper sheet from HobbyLobby :



Nibbler tool from RadioShack :




Under the lens :



The finished heat sink/reflector :


A penny is about the same size as an LED star :



LXHL-MDAC Luxeon Star - Red Batwing

LXHL-MHAC Luxeon Star - Red-Orange Batwing

4023B-D-350 BuckToot 350mA DC LED Driver (Leads) - Non-Dimming

[JWSanders]

Neat idea. I have been curious if the 1 watt LED were really as bright as they claim.

I have a similar setup designed using several 50k mcd (or brighter if they make them by the time I actually build it) yellow and red 160 degree LED's mounted on a circuit board proper. I want running lights too!

Anxious to see how it turns out!!

[midnight1980]

just do it go ahead and JUMP!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_jTf_OXkQM

[fredintoon]

How much?

Hi Nubee,
I don't say it won't work or that it ain't cute but how much?
$130 each? And the bike needs 4 of them?
Plus you gotta buy an electronic signal flasher to replace the stocker what ain't gonna work because of the low current draw and then you lose the self-cancelling feature and I betcha the flasher tell-tales are gonna need a tweak or they won't work neither. OK then, no $520 sale to a guy who only paid a grand for his 1980 XS11SG but don't despair! Gold-plate the copper heat sink, double the price and sell to the Harley-Rubbies who'll buy anything that's expensive & shiny and unlike most of that chrome junk, at least your gadget works.
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[planedick]

LED's for sale...

I have a pair of rear turn signal LED's for a standard, the rectangle lens. Includes the flasher and instructions. Anyone wants them it will only cost yuo $10 plus postage.

[nubee]

fredintoon,

The $130.00 would be for both rear siginals. I was planing on leaving the front alone to put some resistance in the circut, at least enough to operate all of my stock stuff. Do you think an 1157 bulb would be enough?

A good metal to put chrome on is copper. Do you think I could peddle chrome plated to the Harley shop down the street for $130.00 each? That would finance the rest of the job.

[fredintoon]

Watts enough?

Hi Nubee,
I'm too cheap to lay out $130 for all four.
That said, the stock flasher needs 2 x 27W = 54W load or the lamps simply light up and stay lit. I found this out the hard way when I removed the bike's rightside turn signals in favour of the automotive signals on my sidecar. 2 x 22W = 44W = stupid things stay on all the time. Oh the agony (I'm cheap, remember?) of having to buy a 3rd turn signal lamp to add to the flasher's burden. 3 x 22W = flashes like crazy but WTF. I presume an aftermarket electronic flasher will still work with a very light load?
They certainly don't speed up under heavy loads. One time Mr Stupid mistook the black ground wire for the dark brown signal wire and so hooked up an electronic flasher in a dead short. It clicked at the same cadence as it did when running the signals for 4 clicks before the fuse blew.
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[nubee]

Hey Fred,

Thanks for the serious advice.

The main reason I want to go with the LEDs was to save juice (watts) and look good too. So you are saying that 10 watts is the difference between blink and no blink huh? I think if I go with a no load flasher I will loose self cancel and I will loose the emergency flasher too. I will be paying $130.00 + two flashers to loose my self cancel. Guess I'll just convert the non-flashing loads to LEDs

[fredintoon]

LED all the way!

Hi Nubee,
electronic flashers are less than $10 in Canadian tire. If you can live without the self-cancelling feature you can surely find the $20 for two of them? Then you can go LED all the way.
And what $130 are you loosing? You already posted the material prices for the LED conversion components and it was far less than that. You are not putting them on a Harley. You don't have to charge yourself the retail cost.
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[Parr8hed]

Nubee looks like a good idea to me. I have an 06 honda accord and it has led taillights and if you follow it at night it almost blinds you. I am all up for the lights in that respect. One day would like to switch mine to all led.

midnight1980 that was not very nice putting EVH on this thread. I now have wasted 1/2 of my saturday looking at every EVH guitar solo that was linked to "Jump" as well as watching the Jump video about 3 times and also the Steve Vai guitar solos that were linked to the EVH video. Now my keyboard on my new laptop is shorted out from drool, and my arms are numb from playing air guitar for a half hour straight. Here it is Derby time and i need to get some things done before the Derby parties and all i want to do is JUMP!!!!!

[Do Lee]

The LED I put on my Special were the 360 degrees, 20 lights 1156 & 1157 amber and red that fit in the existing flasher and brake sockets also purchased one of the electronic flashers for around $85 shipping included. Would have to find the website that they came from. Very happy with the results.

[nubee]

Do Lee,

Do the LEDs put out as much light as the 1157s you replaced and how does the red look through the amber lenses?

What brand of LED flashers did you use and did you replace the emergency flashers too?

[planedick]

LED's for sale...

The rear turn signal LED's I have are white, very bright and include the flasher which will handle the two front turn signals too, whether they are LED or 1157's

[nubee]

planedick,

Thanks for the offer but I kinda like my clear lenses and white LEDs wouldn't work.

I have some SQUARE CLEAR lenses for the front on order from the Harley dealership down the street. We'll see

[nubee]

Eating crow

Had to eat a little crow from the Harley shop boys and girls (new parts mgr. is a woman). Umm umm good !!




Next additions are from Superlumination!

3 watt 1157 amber