In another Topic about Turn Signals, I went off into an idea of my own that I thought would be better started as my own Topic instead of derailing the other guy's topic. The other Topic can be found here...
http://motorbicycling.com/f11/turn-signals-rite-aid-9408.html
So... Here's My Build for the Turn Signals and Lighting that I have on my bike now:
Growing tired of the cheap bike lights that were only designed for a Pedal Bike, I built for myself a system that is more like a Motorcycle. This really holds up well to on road use at speed, even with the vibrations from the engine.
The amber turn lights are actually trailer side lights that I had and never put on a trailer. The Headlight is actually a Fog Lamp (so I have another one if something ever happens to this one) that a friend gave me, and the Tail Light is actually an old side marker light from an old delivery truck from work. There's an LED version on the 1156 bulb in there now to keep the battery drain to a minimum.
The headlight is a halogen bulb, so after a couple hours of use the battery will need a recharge. I now have a small battery Maintainer that is Fully Automatic, and I can let that run all night and the next day without worry of burning out the battery. (I store the bike at my shop away from home, so this was a concern of mine.)
The flasher and turn signal lights are the 194 style bulbs, so they don't take much power either. The best Flasher to use is the more expensive Electronic unit. The cheaper Thermal unit suffers the same vibrational issues as the Bike Lights do- fast flashing due to vibes. With the electronic flasher they blink nice and steady just like a car. No matter what bumps or vibes are going on.
For the switch, I used an On-Off-On Switch, with Off being in the center. Here's a Pic of that and how I mounted it very handily near the clutch lever.
The Battery: Main power for all of this to work is just a nice and small Motorcycle battery that I strapped into my milk crate box on the bike.
$23 bucks is all that it cost at Farm and Fleet, and the lights above are all things I had laying around at the shop. The LED bulb was about $10 bucks for two of them (so I still have a spare) and the switch was maybe $4 bucks? The better Flasher was about $6 bucks. I got them all from Autozone and wired/installed the whole system in one afternoon after getting off work at noon on Saturday.
In the Battery Pic, you see that key switch? That is another part I had laying around in the shop. It is actually an old Forklift Ignition Switch! Just like and older car, the positions are Acc. (accessory), Off, On, Start. Acc. is one click to the left, Off is in the middle (key is removable in Off) and On is one click to the right. Start is a momentary on, second click and is not used in this application.
I wired the switch to run the Tail Light and Turn Signals in the Acc position, and when in the On position the tail light, turn signals and the Headlight are ALL on. That switch is just behind me in the seat and is easily reachable with the left hand even at full cruising speeds. This systems has been working well for me for the last few weeks and maybe a couple Hundred Miles! I thought that maybe some others may want to do this as well. Any Questions, Please feel free to ask.
____________________
What About a Brake Light?
My plans are to add a couple of small LED Tail lights on both sides of the current one, and convert that single light I have now into a Brake Light that will use a switch I still have from a cheapo Pedal Bike version of turn signals and a brake light. That brake light switch mounts onto the actual cable for the rear brake and works pretty well is adjusted properly. This should turn out pretty darn good when I get that last part done soon.
Looks like I may have a Project to do after work tomorrow!
http://motorbicycling.com/f11/turn-signals-rite-aid-9408.html
So... Here's My Build for the Turn Signals and Lighting that I have on my bike now:
Growing tired of the cheap bike lights that were only designed for a Pedal Bike, I built for myself a system that is more like a Motorcycle. This really holds up well to on road use at speed, even with the vibrations from the engine.
The amber turn lights are actually trailer side lights that I had and never put on a trailer. The Headlight is actually a Fog Lamp (so I have another one if something ever happens to this one) that a friend gave me, and the Tail Light is actually an old side marker light from an old delivery truck from work. There's an LED version on the 1156 bulb in there now to keep the battery drain to a minimum.
The headlight is a halogen bulb, so after a couple hours of use the battery will need a recharge. I now have a small battery Maintainer that is Fully Automatic, and I can let that run all night and the next day without worry of burning out the battery. (I store the bike at my shop away from home, so this was a concern of mine.)
The flasher and turn signal lights are the 194 style bulbs, so they don't take much power either. The best Flasher to use is the more expensive Electronic unit. The cheaper Thermal unit suffers the same vibrational issues as the Bike Lights do- fast flashing due to vibes. With the electronic flasher they blink nice and steady just like a car. No matter what bumps or vibes are going on.
For the switch, I used an On-Off-On Switch, with Off being in the center. Here's a Pic of that and how I mounted it very handily near the clutch lever.
The Battery: Main power for all of this to work is just a nice and small Motorcycle battery that I strapped into my milk crate box on the bike.
$23 bucks is all that it cost at Farm and Fleet, and the lights above are all things I had laying around at the shop. The LED bulb was about $10 bucks for two of them (so I still have a spare) and the switch was maybe $4 bucks? The better Flasher was about $6 bucks. I got them all from Autozone and wired/installed the whole system in one afternoon after getting off work at noon on Saturday.
In the Battery Pic, you see that key switch? That is another part I had laying around in the shop. It is actually an old Forklift Ignition Switch! Just like and older car, the positions are Acc. (accessory), Off, On, Start. Acc. is one click to the left, Off is in the middle (key is removable in Off) and On is one click to the right. Start is a momentary on, second click and is not used in this application.
I wired the switch to run the Tail Light and Turn Signals in the Acc position, and when in the On position the tail light, turn signals and the Headlight are ALL on. That switch is just behind me in the seat and is easily reachable with the left hand even at full cruising speeds. This systems has been working well for me for the last few weeks and maybe a couple Hundred Miles! I thought that maybe some others may want to do this as well. Any Questions, Please feel free to ask.
____________________
What About a Brake Light?
My plans are to add a couple of small LED Tail lights on both sides of the current one, and convert that single light I have now into a Brake Light that will use a switch I still have from a cheapo Pedal Bike version of turn signals and a brake light. That brake light switch mounts onto the actual cable for the rear brake and works pretty well is adjusted properly. This should turn out pretty darn good when I get that last part done soon.
Looks like I may have a Project to do after work tomorrow!
