Let there be light!

[Cerberus73]

Right I'm fed up nearly being mown down and cut up by idiots coming out with the old SMIDSY chestnut! (Sorry Mate I Didn't See You.. for the uninitiated) so on my project bike I'm gonna go a little nuts with the lighting. Converting everything to LED that i can (cree super bright LED wherever i can) and H.I.D headlights this is all to add lighting power but cutting down the watts required.

First off I'm fitting dominator style dual headlights with a pair of 35w H.I.D conversion kits, 4x 30mm round alloy indicators which i want to outfit with 5w Cree LED bulbs, all the T10 and T5 speedo and warning lights will be going over to 1w T10 and 0.15w T5 LED bulbs. and the Tailight will be dual 30w Cree dual filament bulbs.. this covers the "standard compliment" of lights on a GS500

Next i want to add 2x 15w (125w equivalent rated) Cree U5 spotlight/DLR's with a switch (i drive on some pretty hairy roads up in the Highlands of Scotland.. where it is literally as black as pitch with very few road markings on a lot of single track narrow roads) and i want to fit a pair of small 1.5" cree red lights on the rear, either into the side panels beside the taillight or onto my rear rack using brackets.. i want these to act as a high level/auxiliary braking light in conjunction with the existing taillight.

Finally id like to add a Cigar lighter adapter to charge my Mobile or power a Sat Nav unit. so i would like the input of any electrical gurus to make sure I'm going about this with eyes open and in the correct fashion. from what i can work out the GS Alternator in good order puts out around 200w of juice. looking at my mods and my basic adding up of all the bulb draws i plan on adding/replacing it comes to something like 188w or there a bouts with them all turned on and full powered at the same time (i know that the indicators/tailight will only draw current when they are in use , so realistically even with headlight, spots etc on it should be around a 160w draw at most) am i thinking right?

Also its hard to figure out from the somewhat limited info on the bulb suppliers sites, will the indicator bulbs require me to fit a LED flasher unit, or do those cree type bulbs have a resistor already fitted so they work with a standard flasher unit? Has anybody e;lee had experience of fitting these kind of aftermarket lights, any advice as to how i go about wiring them in, in a safe manner would be gratefully received.

[Soloratov]

As far as indicator LED's, there is a huge amount if info on here about it, been done many many times. You will need a flasher unit either way, but it's a cheap item and easy to do.

[Janx101]

Oooh sounds like you will have plenty of lumens going on

Don't expect it to stop the smidsy though... making yourself visible not the same as making the dumb bastards actually LOOK!  :roll eyes:

[prmas]

+1 Janxy   

[ohgood]

there is a 20w/30w led (h4) that will swap in directly, from eBay.

I've seen it in action on a dr350, its awesome

good luck

[Cerberus73]

Well here are the lights I've bought. hoping that should get me seen.

Headlight (going to fit 2 x 35w HID kit)


Spot/fog lamps 3000 lumen 15w (125w equivalent)


Extra taillights and low down on belly pan running lights (found these 10w ones instead of the 3w ones for same price)



Mounting brackets


Indicators


i still need to purchase the T10 and T5 Speedo/Warning light bulbs, the HID kits and the LED replacement bulbs for the indicators and a LED flasher unit. and a couple of Switches to control the spotlights and the running lights. I just hope my little GS can cope with the draw when under full load.

[Atesz792]

Great project! Good luck with it, and please provide pics when finished
A truck driver buddy has 600 watts of frontal lighting.. well, obviously not for "being seen" reasons, but he says one flash with 'em and even the dumbest find their high beam switches instantly

[ShowBizWolf]

Yes please lots of pics... this should be awesome!!

[Cerberus73]

I will keep people informed, and pics of the project when its underway.. i have a lot to cover in the process.. full engine rebuild, frame teardown and rebuild after coating. fork rebuild and progressive spring install. and then the painting, polishing, and then the wiring and lights.

I will be asking some really dumb arsed questions regarding installing these lights and switches to control them. i think i will set the extra tail lights to come on when i apply the brakes, and the spotlights and small DLR's to come on via a separate switch. so i have options to dictate whether its headlights, spots or both all at the same time. to help with current draw.. i only will need the full set when I'm out and about in the dark.

regarding the auxiliary tail lights where would i wire them into to allow them to only turn on when i apply the brakes.. they are fitted with a simple red and black wire. so what part of the brake light loom at the rear do i wire these into to allow this to work?

This is a off-season project, so at the moment i am just gathering parts ready for then. most of the lights are now delivered, only some led bulbs to go.. i can't fit the planned HID kit as they don't meet UK/EU regulations as no self levelling beam.. so it will be Xenon bulbs.. still better than the standard halogen H4's

[Atesz792]

What about the LED H4 bulb mentioned by ohgood?

[Cerberus73]

Not legal in the UK.. its about the spread of light. and the diffusion pattern.. they fail the MOT test here. also I'm using those twin lamps.. the available space isn't enough to fit in the LED lamps.. they have a large heatsink/fan on the end. so Xenon H4's it is.

[ohgood]

What about the LED H4 bulb mentioned by ohgood?

the reflector is what matters, and the LEDs placement. I saw no reason to worry with the beam pattern it had

[jsyzdek]

I got the H4 LED bulb for my headlight. I dit a lot of research with optical equipment in grad school, so when I resized the bulbs own reflector, to fit into 1" opening in the headlight, I made sure its geometry is correct. I get the cleanest beam shape I've ever seen. Never got a single flash from anybody and can see the road way better than before, with 30% of the power (17W). 

[Mrlimb]

I would be interested in a photo of the H4 LED bulb. Is it just a mater of fitting it like a standard bulb. I have just fitted the Philips X-treme vision. Great results but not cheap. I am concerned that the extra vibration on the bike will shorten it's life. I guess time will tell.

[jsyzdek]

I'm away from home on business, can upload a picture next week.

I paid $45 (with shipping) for the bulb and spent 4h resizing the reflector (I didn't want to drill in the stock headlight, in case I ever want to put the stock bulb back in). They say it's twice as bright as the stock bulb (2400lm vs. 1100lm) at 30% of the power (17W vs. 55). But it feels much brighter because you are not sending almost any light where it's not supposed to go.

No problems with vibration, it should last for thousands and thousands of hours. And it has no fan or moving parts, just a radiator that gets to ~80C when running for an extended period of time in hot weather, with engine redlining almost all the time

[Mrlimb]

I look forward to seeing how you did it.

[bombsquad83]

Does an E model headlight take the same bulb?

[Mrlimb]

I'm away from home on business, can upload a picture next week.

Did you ended up taking any photos