Finally, LED upgrades

Plug and play running light/turn signal installation

Years ago, when I acquired this bike, I wanted to find a way to reduce the electrical load from the lighting since the alternator was only designed to run the original 40w headlight bulb with a little bit of a safety buffer. I knew that when I upgraded to a 55w halogen bulb that I was pushing the limits of the charging system.

I didn't run into trouble but I wanted to do something to get the safety buffer back. I wanted to convert the signal, brake and head lights to LEDs but 5 years ago, the technology was not quite ready for me to safely make the switch due to dim low output bulbs.

Day maker style headlight assembly with halo ring

I found this day maker style led headlight that has received poor reviews on youtube but it seemed to be fairly bright for me. Unfortunately, I shorted out the halo when I was testing the connections due to the light not coming with any directions or wiring diagrams.

When I got it back together, I could not get the light aimed properly because my headlight bucket keeps gradually moving the headlight up. I think the wiring harness is causing me some trouble so I will need to open the bucket, adjust the height and tighten everything down some more to prevent excess movement.

Those turn signal LEDs did not survive the winter. I decided to pull them off because I could not keep the headlight aimed properly and the turn signal visibility got lost from the brightness of the LED headlight. Over the winter, I pulled them off and added bar-end lights in the old turn signal stalks to get a little separation from the headlights.

I also plasti-dipped the headlight bucket and I really like the new black and chrome look.

Comments

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Old Car and Bike rambling

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