How can I get headlights, brakevlights?

[oceanotter]

Hello!

I'm interested in hooking up some headlights and brake lights to my bike to make it safer to ride in the morning commute traffic. I'm on roads that are not used to seeing motorized much less, regular bikes so I wanna make sure I'm seen! I was thinking all I'd need is a battery, the lights, and maybe attach the battery to the motor? Is that right? I feel like that's too simple for a 12 v.

 

[2door]

You didn't tell us what engine you have but we'll assume it is a Chinese 2 stroke.

If you have one of the new style magnetos with no white wire you can forget using the engine to power lights. However if you have that notorious white wire there are pages of discussion here about using it. Just type 'white wire' into the search box and settle in for some lengthy reading.

A good number of us would never use the white wire, going so far as to remove it from the magneto. It will only produce something in the 6 to 9 volt range and less that three watts. That won't give you much light and will probably reduce performance from your engine.

Many of us rely on battery power alone for lighting. A small compact SLA (sealed lead/acid) battery will give you sufficient power for extended night riding and can be easily recharged. I like something in the 6 to 8 AH (amp hour) size. I can get well over an hour of useful light from it and that's head, tail and brake lights. My headlights are 35 watt and one is a 55 watt. Lots of light to see and be seen.

Tom