Lights on bags

pcarrell · July 08, 2015, 08:55:21 AM

That's a big improvement!

DC · July 06, 2015, 20:23:33 PM

UPDATE! What a long strange trip it's been. . . . . . Anyway, I started thinking about the flicker and the fact that the installation direction sheet was different from what I saw on the Technostalia site. So I started asking the supplier some questions, like where these lights were manufactured and who manufactured them. It turns out that although the supplier used the Technostalgia part number on their site, the lights I bought were not made by Technostalgia in the U.S., but were made by some unknown import concern. I really felt it was entirely a dishonest thing for them to use the Technostalgia part number, as I thought I was buying the genuine article. They even had the stupidity to copy almost word for word Technostalgia's product description text. They also mentioned using RapidFire technology, which is a patent held by Technostalgia.

I contacted Technostalgia to alert them about the problem. I reached the owner of the company and gave him all the details. He thanked me for alerting him to the people producing the illegal knock-offs and said he would set me up with the real deal. I received the real 6063 LEDs and installed them today. There definitely is one major difference. NO FLICKER! For your viewing pleasure, I've made a new vid showing the real deal. Compare that to the knock-offs in the first vid, and you'll see there's no comparision . . . . . flicker vs. no flicker.

https://youtu.be/YQ3xq4OaVxE

DC · June 21, 2015, 22:15:34 PM

Quote from: greenbarn on June 20, 2015, 22:07:09 PM
Nice look DC. Tell us more about the brake light kit for the turns/brakes etc. Where does that module install?

For the '39 Mini Zephers I added, there is an integrated module in each tail lamp housing. So there is no separate module to deal with.

"Many of our complete taillights and LED retro-fit kits include our RapidFire brake lights function. With RapidFire, the brake lights are pulsed rapidly three times within the first 1/2 second of pressing the brake pedal followed by constant ON. This cycle is repeated every time the brake pedal is pressed. We think this is a valuable safety feature, but can be overriden at time of installation."

One of things I struggled the most with on this mod was installing a flat tail light housing on a curved bag. I put some metal bracing in the bags the week before and that took out some of the sag. But when I was trying to fit the cutting board mounts in, the bags just would not give. So I spent a lot of time massaging the leather towards the bottom of the bags, in order to work out some more give and hence mounting space. To do this, I used the business end of a pipe wrench and massaged from the inside of the bags.

The main original Kaw tail light is unchanged. The two stock turn sigs were wired with an LED kit from Electrical Connections company. I added that right after I got the bike, some years ago. Looking on their website, it appears they no longer offer this kit. Someone posted on here that another company makes a similar kit though.

Here's the info on that install.. . . . . http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/drifterdonled.html I'm so glad I had this to reference, when I did this mod. With this kit, you end up with a rat's nest of wire in the tail light housing, but you CAN get it all squeezed in. This kit was well though out and came with the necessary pre-wired pigtails. The hardest part of this mod is squirreling the two LED wires through the turn signal mounting shoulders. Adding some liquid soap to the wires makes it easier.

DC · June 21, 2015, 21:51:26 PM

Quote from: pcarrell on June 20, 2015, 10:21:59 AM
Really nice work! That adds a lot of safety in the rear of the bike.

Thanks PC. I feel I can finally be seen a little better, as I have some lights that are higher up now.

greenbarn · June 20, 2015, 22:07:09 PM

Nice look DC. Tell us more about the brake light kit for the turns/brakes etc. Where does that module install?

pcarrell · June 20, 2015, 10:21:59 AM

Really nice work! That adds a lot of safety in the rear of the bike.

DC · June 19, 2015, 23:14:56 PM

Okay, well I finally got the lights installed. They appear to be flickering in the vid, but that's because the pulse modulation is syncing with the video camera.

https://youtu.be/UZuP-fXVtVk

DC · June 02, 2015, 16:35:54 PM

Well, I finally got the lights. I looked around at a lot of sites and considered gobs of choices. In the end, I went with the ones Troll found.

Now I'm ready to install them. I put some metal bracing in my bags, so they don't sag as much. I might add more bracing though. I'll also add some cutting board to further beef up the back of the bags.

My question is, where should I tap into for power for the lights? Should I go into the already-overly-crowded existing tailight bucket, or is there a better place along the frame to pickup the connections for running lights, LT, RT, Stop and ground?

greenbarn · April 06, 2015, 20:36:47 PM

Could be wrong, but I don't think you would need a load equalizers, since you're keeping your original turn signals.

If you want more options, start doing some "vintage tail light" searches on Ebay and the like. There are a tons of repop vintage lights available - some of them pretty good quality.

DC · April 05, 2015, 20:04:30 PM

Do you think I would need a load equalizer with these?

After looking at these lights some more, I found some other differences. I didn't realize it, but after comparing these, the one with the two horizontal bars is actually larger.

Single Horizontal bar - 5-19/32" long and 2-7/8" wide (P/N 6063)

Double Horizontal Bar - 7-7/16" long and 3-7/16" wide (P/N 6059)

So I decided to make some rough paper mock-ups to see what they might look like. You can see from the pics, the 6059 (left) is way too long for the bags and hangs off the bottom into space. The 6063 just barely fits. It should be okay, once I glue in the cutting board stiffener.

DC · April 04, 2015, 17:11:54 PM

Quote from: Troll on April 03, 2015, 12:46:32 PM
How about something like this?: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Style-1939-FORD-LED-Signiture-Series-Tail-Lights-COOL-CUSTOM/151609573471?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D28790%26meid%3D0f08f82b688f4e52a4ebfbca177eb383%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dlo%26sd%3D201300879682&rt=nc

Very cool! That's definitely the vibe I'm going for.

I also saw these Lincoln Zephyr lights sold by the same seller. The lights above have 14 LEDs and the Zephyr lights have 21 LEDs. Would the latter be too much current draw, or would it be okay?

CDNRatMan · April 03, 2015, 13:52:45 PM

Now Troll those look really nice and would look good on a set of bags.....

Troll · April 03, 2015, 12:46:32 PM

How about something like this?: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Style-1939-FORD-LED-Signiture-Series-Tail-Lights-COOL-CUSTOM/151609573471?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D28790%26meid%3D0f08f82b688f4e52a4ebfbca177eb383%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dlo%26sd%3D201300879682&rt=nc

gdrudd13 · April 03, 2015, 10:59:40 AM

You should put some of the flexible LED lights on the back. they're thin, led so low power consumption, and they can be mounted pretty much anywhere and come in all sorts of lengths. Not an actual assembly, but probably easier to mount and gives you more mounting options. While not the cheapest, Custom dynamics has some very good ones that work well and are made to take the elements and vibrations that will be experienced on a motorcycle. I'm sure there are cheaper ones, but I don't know how they work or how well they hold up. I just know these do.

http://www.customdynamics.com/magicflex_led_accent_lights.htm

CDNRatMan · April 02, 2015, 23:27:40 PM

I put a LED plug and play into the tail light socket on my 800, and it is really bright. The small side marker type of lights would look good......

I might be able to get you a Radio Shack helmet and it has a light,......

DC · April 02, 2015, 22:12:48 PM

I started out to work on one project and it's snowballing into another.

I wanted to stiffen up my bags, since they are droopy. This happens with age. So I bought a couple of small cutting boards to glue in to the rear part of my bags. Then I got thinking. . . . I always wanted to have more visibility at night, so why don't I add some lights to the back of the bags and have them tie in with the mounting of the stiffeners?

That said, I've been looking and looking for some lights that are appropriate, not too gaudy, blend well with the rest of the bike, and are easy to install. I mainly want them as running lights, but if possible I could go with full run/turn/stop lights too.

So I've seen all kinds of light assemblies, but nothing is really grabbing me. Here's a sample.

I'm looking for something very bright and noticeable, not subtle accent lighting.

Any ideas?