I saw an R1 today on the way to work that had some LED's tucked into the fairing making the whole thing kinda glow. It looked really good. Has anyone done this on a 2001 VFR, or any other year for that matter? Thanks, Mel
I haven't done it, but I've seen it on other bikes & it does give the bike a unique look. It should not be hard to do LED's are very easy to work with & require very little amperage to run. So it shouldn't be a problem tying into the running light circiut. I've seen premade LED strips on ebay that you would be able to install w/ a good quality double stick tape(3M is about the best) & pretty much mount where ever you wanted inside the body work. Just make sure that you make a disconnect for each side of the bike so panels can still be easily removed.
Hey Gang, I have done it on both my VFR's. Red lights on the 800 and blue light on the 700. I always get lots of 2nd looks with both of them. I will say that you should check with you local laws. since we found that Blue lights on a Motor vehicle in Louisiana is reserved for the State Troopers. also red light cannot be directly visible from the front. Iwill try to post some pictures of my bike with the lights on at night.I bought mine from www.morepowerracing.com. be sure to check your local states vehicle lighting laws oa find out like we did and have LEO tell you and possibly get yourself a citation.:lever: my pearl white bike really stands out with them. I 'll post pictures soonas it stops raining which might be saturday.
Please post some pictures when you get a chance, I would like to see what they look like. Did you get the strips of LED's or the squares of them? Also, I have seen other brands that are cheaper, did you go with this brand for any particular reason? Thanks, Mel
Mel, pictures are in my gallery. take a look, more power racing has a starter kit of lights that sells for 79.95 I think. it includes 6 small pod and 2 7" bars 8 6 led pods for $10. each quite a deal even if you don't use them all which I did, you could split the set with a friend or keep em as spares or add more later
Hey mwohlgem I have a set on my 05 VFR. I picked them up from westcoastcycle.us. The ones I have are tubes with 12 LEDs in each tube. I also have 7 light color options and the lights are controlled by remote. I put the bike away for the winter so it's kinda hard to get pics. If weather holds up I will shoot a video of lights so you can see them
That red lighting and white fairings looks really good. Great contrast. I used to have an orange bike which I installed orange colored single LED's throughout the fairings. Just tapped them into the running lights. Super easy to install and adds an eye catching look at night.
That does look awesome. Is it difficult to install them? I was thinking of having them intensify with braking, but I wasn't sure how hard that would be.
The only good way I can think of would be to install more LED's power some w/ running lamp circiut & the other off the brake lamp circiut. Intially I was going to say a resistor on power wire from the running lamp circiut & a one way diode for power from the brake lamp(to avoid feedback to brake lamp) but that would not work LED's are either on or off. You could use a relay to control the afore mentioned idea.
tbones86, Actually you are right about changing LED brightness Most LEDs are at maximum brightness when there is 15 mA of current flowing thru them. if you increase the series resistance they will be dimmer. For a 12 volt circuit to limit the current to 15 mA they have put a resistor of 800 ohms in series with it. Ohm's Law say V=IxR ergo R=V/I. So you are right that thay are either on or off but, the degree of on-ness can be regulated. Continuing with your example if you put a 1600 ohm resitor in series with the power and An 800 ohm in series with brake light using isolation diodes a s you correctly stated they will be approximately half as bright with running light and twice as bright with brake light switch. there are already resistors in series with the light when you get them so you would only have to measure the resistance of the LEDs out of the box. and add one of equal value to get half brightness. this can be easily accomplished with a good multimeter. Sorry I got carried away with my answer and explanation but I love this Sh&*t How do I know all this? you wonder. I have been and still am an Electronics Tech Since my high School days. Trained formally by Uncle Sam During a 6 yr hitch as an RO for US Navy. RO= Reactor Operator on Ballistic Missile Sub. 1978-1984 Danimal
I don't necessarily love it, but it is a necessary evil in my occupation. Digital dashes, multiplexors, data buss communications between multiple ecu systems & the like on Class 7 & 8 trucks. I don't always now how the stuff works, but I'm very proficient in figuring out why it doesn't & repairing it. Even better @ making up grandious stories to get warranty to cover just about anything.:smile:
Installation finished Well, I opted for the 2.1 million color version at westcoastcycle.us. I figured, what the hell, it's 10 more dollars for millions more colors. You can put the LED tubes anywhere, which is nice. I thought I would start with an arrangement to increase my visibility when I'm coming home at night. http://vfrworld.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/3430/ppuser/1725
Actually, after SLOVFR said that you might get a ticket, I checked the vehicle code here in California. It looks like you could probably get a ticket here in Cali if you came across a cop who wanted to be a jerk about it. From what I have read, you cannot have any lights that are red other than the tail lights and brake lights. There are all kinds of strange restrictions on other colors you can read about in the vehicle code at ca.dmv.gov. I am not going to worry about it until I get pulled over, though.
Yeah the law is pretty clear about the use of red/blue lights that are visible from the front and NO Blue lights at ALL . The old Blue dots that were stuck in the old tail lights are even illegal. Yes it depends on the cops that will enforce it, but around here they have nothing better to due but look for these kinds of things, even no front license plate will get you a warm welcome around here. They even go as far to restrict the use of RED/BLUE windscreens and sunvisors that are translucent ! California....we have sunshine to offset this thou....
