just ordered $40 worth of leds for my bike

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rudyauction509

New Member
May 8, 2012
160
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Spokane, WA
just ordered $40 worth of leds for my bike - suggestions???

I just ordered some leds for my motorized bike. Blue and green strips for the front shocks and handlebars, white for low beam, h3 replacement for my high beam, red replacements for my tail light and red strips for the frame next to the tail light. I also have 10 multi color lights, http://www.ebay.com/itm/170962822393 that I don't know what to do with. I have a few extra white lights that I was planning on using to light up the motor. I also have a couple of those valve stem lights. They will run from 3 switches. Does anyone have any suggestions for the multicolor lights or any other places to light up? also they run off of a 12 volt 5 AH battery mounted in the frame with duct tape. Does anyone know a better way to mount the battery with or without duct tape and make it look good? I haven't started the led's yet, they will be coming in the mail over the next week.
 
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bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
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38
Lebanon, PA
The more lights you add to the same battery, the more chance of it overheating, especially at higher wattages. My lighting setup is going to be very simple, and my brake light will run on a separate battery than my headlight. My headlight will run on 2 7.2v nicads wired in series, giving me 14.4v, and the bulb I'll be using is only 5W, so 2 2600mAh batteries will run the light for over 7 hours on a single charge. My brake light is a 6v bulb run on a single 7.2v battery. I use nicads from r/c cars, they're small and easy to fit in a saddlebag. You dont need a big battery or high wattage lights to get decent lighting. What you really need to know is how to calculate how much current you're drawing. To calculate amps, divide the wattage by the voltage. For example, 3W divided by 6v would give you 0.5A. Then to calculate how long a charge will power a device at that current, divide the amps being drawn by the amp or milliamp hours of the battery (1A =.001mA). For example, you have a 5Ah battery. If you had a 0.5A light, 5 divided by 0.5 is 10, so the battery could power that device for 10 hours. In terms of milliamps, let's say you had a 2500mAh battery. 2500 x .001 = 2.5. with a 0.5A draw, the battery could power that device for 5 hours. The amperage of the devices you are wanting to power is at least as important as the voltage of the battery you are using. Higher wattage bulbs will consume energy much faster than lower wattage bulbs.
 
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rudyauction509

New Member
May 8, 2012
160
1
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Spokane, WA
Thanks for the advice. I have been working with batteries for many years and have already done some calculations for my specific needs. Most of the LEDs are for show and will only be on for short rides or in traffic for better visibility. My main head light and tail light setup runs about 20 watts or 1.7 amps. The battery is rated for a max current of 10 amps. The 1.7 amp draw will give me nearly 3 hours of run time and even long trips for me are rarely over an hour. I am doing this crazy setup because I think it will look awesome and be fun. The total wattage of all of the lights combined is still less than my current 55-watt halogen headlight.
I still don't know what to do with those multi-color lights. I'm thinking of using a few of them to add to my tail light setup. Maybe on the seat?
Any suggestions of any special wire to use? I am planning on using some thin small appliance wire from the hardware store.
 
rustycase

rustycase

Gutter Rider
May 26, 2011
2,746
5
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Left coast
Rudy, if you run the 16g stranded automotive wire from the hardware store you will probably be OK... gotta watch polarity with the LEDs...
have fun!
rc
 
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bowljoman

New Member
Aug 7, 2010
370
1
0
Wa
yeah, just look up an LED array resistor calculator to get the amperage draw correct and there shall be no such thing as heat problems :)
 
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