An amazing Brake/Tail/Turn signal light system

GoldenMotor.com

Sgt. Howard

Active Member
Sep 28, 2010
186
58
28
69
Okanogan, WA
Go to Meritline.com and look at their 14 LED bicycle indicator light unit. Runs on two penlight batteries and will mount on any bicycle in minutes. $7 each. I do not lie, $7 each! $6.50 if you buy two at a go (two pack option). I goobered my order and now have four. As I have four motorbikes built, I shall not complain- I will probably buy more anyway.
There are no instructions... given the company name of JING YI, I'm not sure instructions would have been very useful anyways. The light unit clamps to the post underneath your seat. A control unit goes on your handlebars- I put it to the left grip just upstream of the clutch handle. Then there is this wierd plastic minuature concertina-shaped greeblie on a light black double-lead wire- this is the brakelight switch. This is squeeze activated by the cable of a brake- like the space between adjustment cup and the lock-down on a side-pull caliper. Take apart the cable attatchment of the lockdown- hopefully, the end of your cable isn't all frowsey. Thread the widjit (I decree that to be the OFFICIAL name of the device) onto the brake cable with the set screw of the widjit towards the end of the cable. ReClamp the lock-down and adjust your brake to function. Very likely the squeeze between the cup and lock-down should be sufficiant to activate your light- if not, use the set screw to cover the slack. The control box has a slide for left/right turns, a switch for tail light (8 different light patterns including full on) and a push button for a peizio horn!
There is enough wire to hang the light from the seatpost, but in time I will splice in enough wire to hang it off the rear fender- THEN we shall see how durable these things are. The control box flashes a left/right light when you use the turn signal, but it is insufficiant to signal oncoming traffic... at most it lets you know it's going. It also has a peizio 'chirp' with each blink, again to get your attention. I will eventually splice front LED ambers into the system for that purpose. There's an interesting selection of songs/annoying noises that the 'horn' comes off with, but nothing loud enough to get the attention of a stoner vegging out on rap at 80 decibles while driving his de-tuned Gremlin... certainly enough to let the cute blond with the short skirt walking down the sidewalk know you are looking at her...
Turning the running light (tail light) on, you will find that you have to cycle the switch 'off' 'on' eight times to SHUT IT OFF as the on/off switch actually selects the rear light pattern... odd way to do buisness, but it does work. Turn signal and brakes are on once the batteries are in place- they activate as needed. With a minor amount of fuss, this set has great potential for a minimal expenditure- I consider it worth the risk.
the Old Sgt.usflg
 

Sgt. Howard

Active Member
Sep 28, 2010
186
58
28
69
Okanogan, WA
Two of the four units do not work- one has no running lights the other no turn signal. I will see what their policy is here and let you know how well they abide by it.
the Old Sgt.usflg
 

Ernst

New Member
May 28, 2011
363
0
0
Turlock Ca
I went for that kind at first too. It broke up with vibration. The electronics are not soldered to withstand impact.

Not even the Bicygnals units hold up under impact stress.
 

anim8r

New Member
Jul 15, 2011
243
0
0
Michigan
Got the same light. I'm trying to reverse engineer a working version from it. The wires are hair-thin, & the brakelight mechanism is just plain unreliable. It's pretty ugly,too. I have more bad things to say about it, but I figure somebody else probably wants to take a shot at it so I'll step aside.
 

Sgt. Howard

Active Member
Sep 28, 2010
186
58
28
69
Okanogan, WA
It does not like rain. The switch for turn signal is flakey at best. The ... horn... is annoying. The EMP of the motor scrambles the program running the taillight. So far the brake light has been dependable- THAT much is worth the $6.50 I paid for it, but I am now looking to re-invent the whole tamale. I wanted to go 6v, but most LEDs I encounter are 3.2 to 3.6 range... 3 'AAA' batteries- hey, I never knew that 'AAA' batteries are 1.2, not 1.5 volts! Well, either I figure how to choke down 4.5v to 3.6v or I design the set to run on midgit batteries and keep spares handy as they will be pushing Headlight, Taillights and four turn signals! The other option is to use 12 volt and use the pricey operations designed for cars- $14 a light! Grumblegrumblegrumble.
the Old (and disgruntled) Sgt.:-||
 

thedude

New Member
Sep 10, 2011
28
1
0
San Francisco
This light is almost identical to the one I'm using (mine runs 2-AA batteries, switches are black, and i cut the wire to the horn, hated the sounds) For the price it works very well, Ive been told cars cant see the turn lights in the day and the mount snapped going over a rough bump. But after making a new mount, I still use it and have not seriously looked for a replacement. I also bought it for the brake light switch and would use it with another circuit board. As for the batteries, from the factory they are 1.5v, but it doesnt last long. By the time you have them in your hands they have typically discharged to 1.3-1.4v. They hold above 1v pretty well though depending on the application. If you want something so you can say "look, i have lights" get it, if you want something that will reliably last....keep lookin.
 
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Kahlas

New Member
Nov 27, 2011
72
0
0
Illinois
Just got mine in yesterday. Looks pretty prone to breaking and is definitely anything but water resistant. It does work and I plan on cutting the cable to the speaker as the chirping when the turn signal is on is very annoying. But for the price it's easily thrown away and replaced with a new one.
Honestly I think I'll probably wind up using the board/leds from it as the gut to a homemade system that's waterproof. Mainly I want it waterproof in case of rain and want to move the turn signal leds to the outside of the handlebars for visibility front and rear. And secondly because it fits my rear cargo rack light mount right out of the box but is upside down so the left turn signal side of the switch is now the right turn signal.