A little help installing these Wally World LED lights!?

Hi guys,

I just bought some cheapy LED lights at Wally's. They stick with adhesive and they each have two wires (black/white).

I would like to have them turn on with the ignition, much like the tail light does. I'm pretty sure I can tie into existing wiring somewhere (tail light?) but before I go cutting wires and such I figured I'd ask people who know. That'd be y'all!

So, what would be the right way to power these lights so that they stay on while the bike is running?

I appreciate the help.

Rich

 

any source of switch power will work fine for your application

 

The license plate light is an easy place to draw switched power. This is where I got the switched power for my relay that powers my voltmeter.

 

How do I know which wire on the bike is power? Is there a color coding? Is there a tool to find the power wire?

 

do you own a meter, cheap to buy one. then we can find a switched source with you

 

looks like br-bu would be the switched source back in the tail section, a meter will confirm. ground is green

 

Hi Rich. Where are you planning to locate the LEDs and are they water proof? How many strips of lights did you get? Interrogation over:smile-new:
John

 

If there's a Harbor Freight near by (maybe even at Wally World) you can pick up a volt meter on the cheap. This one should be fine for the simple purpose of finding a 12v lead. http://www.harborfreight.com/7-function-multimeter-98025.html

Also, if you have the Honda shop manual I believe there is a wiring diagram that shows which leads are what and their color code. There are also a lot of electrical connectors that allow you to splice into other wires without cutting and or re-crimping new leads. Check out home depot or even Radio Shack.

 

i tapped to the brake circuit to add additional brake lights with those LEDS, like this: approx $15

there is a thread under my UN that shows the install with more pics

 

Two strips came in the pack. Each strip has about 6 or 7 LEDs on it.

The package says water "resistant" so no guarantees but they're cheap enough that if they last a few months I'm OK with it. I've already applied the lights to the space under the seat. On my 6th gen there is a vertical piece of plastic (part of the rear cowl, I think it's called) that is about 1/4 to 3/8 inch wide. I stuck the lights there so that, with the seat on, the light itself is visible but the light fixture is relatively hidden.

I plan to add more lights later but I'm doing just this one first to make sure that I CAN do it!

 

Thank you. I'll look it up.

Rich

 

Hey SouthTexasRich

I mounted a set of those LED strips (white ones) to the under side of the tail light on my 2000 VFR because the PO cut the fender off on my bike. Since it had no lincense plate light when I purchased it I wanted to make sure I added one. Those little LED strips are indeed water resistant (and I would venture to say water proof) as mine have been on there for about 3 years now and have seen numerous dousings from both road spray and the pressure washer with no ill effects.

 

Thanks. I do have a Harbor Freight nearby. Oreillys wants almost $20 for that same type multimeter.

As far as the cutting and recrimping, quite honestly that is the part that I don't know anything about. Is it acceptable to just cut into a wire, twist on my wire, and then electrical tape it? Or is there a "right" way?

 

you have to solder it and heat shrink wrap it for it to last

 

I gave him the color code switch source is br/bu. grn is ground back there

 

I took those little trailer LED's (3 LED's each, 2 of them) and mounted them across the top bolts of the license plate tied into the brake circuit. I brake they light with the entire taillights. Bright, too.

Larry
VFRrider

 

Thanks for the help, guys.

I ended up just connecting to my battery to get power, that way I avoid cutting into the stock wiring. It just seemed easier and less risky to me. I bought a switch at Radio Shack which I have so far left under my seat. It works great but I have to remove the seat to get to it, so I will mount a waterproof switch on the dash in the future.

By the way, LED lights look freakin' awesome, are cheap, and pretty easy to install. I'm going to light up my whole bike!