DIY: VEX inspired LED turn signals (Picture intensive!)

[Kevin2109]

So this is my first DIY and didnt think to start until I already dove into the project. However its pretty clear on how to do it.

I Found VEX's DIY on his foot peg turn signals and liked the idea and ran with it. Also I found something similar to what I did on another forum, but I think I did a cleaner job with it

I decided to go with RED wide angle 5mm LEDs because I figured that the more light that went in the cagers eyes the more they will notice me turning. You can find the LED's here

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...#ht_1915wt_905

I orders 40 of them in total, only took a couple days to reach me, really great shipping

I decided to use the rear fairings to put the LED's in, there visible to others and are also pretty hidden. I used 18 LED's per side. Now for the pictures



I used a 1/16th drill bit at first to help the bigger 13/64 bit not "walk" Each holes center is a 1/4 inch apart



This is with the 100 ohm resistors that I ended up taking off because it made the LED's way too dim, however thats how they were soldered, + to - (in series) 6 LED's each row creates a load of 12v (each LED is rated at 2V) Even if the voltage jumps to 14v it shouldnt burn out the LED's (i hope )



Thats with all the LED's soldered in with the all the +'s at the front and all the -'s at the rear



Hot glue is amazing, use higher temp glue, it works much better but you have to wait a bit for it to cool. It not only holds everything in place it also makes it water resistant (waterproof maybe)

Notice the resistors still on Had to cut all the heat shrink off then re solder it without them, good think i didnt have to take the LED's and the hot glue out. That would have killed everything



Wire both ends up like this, I try and use heat shrink for everything, it looks much cleaner and much better then electrical tape.



More heat shrink lol



All done and ready to go on the bike



Yes my fender is still on I'm waiting on my hot bodies FE kit to come in

As of now, when the bike is idling the blinkers dont flash, I need to get a new electronic flasher. Just have no idea what one will work
Strange thing is, if if I rev the engine then they start to flash. Makes no sense but whatever


All in all I love the mod, it looks amazing and the red matches better then the amber. It took forever (4 hours) because its such little tedious soldering and drilling but it wasn't too hard.

Any questions?!

[bob706]

That is pretty dang slick Try an fl32 flasher relay from autozone.

[ricochet08]

awesome work man

[Kevin2109]

Originally Posted by bob706

That is pretty dang slick Try an fl32 flasher relay from autozone.

Just got it Works great

However when the bike is revving past 4k the voltage jumps to 14v, meaning i guess it did burn out one of the LED's killing on of the strips I still have 2/3 of my right turn signal but im pissed. Oh well I got new resistors and it should be fine

Originally Posted by ricochet08

awesome work man

Thanks

[AMMOCAN]

Amazing job and love the creativity. However, what is your plan with replacing the burned out LEDs? It seems to me that you have made it where everything is a do or die type set up. It would be nice to figure out a way to do this mod. where you could replace the LEDs easily, as you could be pretty sure that at some point or another one or more will burn out before the rest even if you take care of the voltage issue.

It's still an amazing DIY Mod. I just think some more thinking needs to be put into it.

[Kevin2109]

Originally Posted by AMMOCAN

Amazing job and love the creativity. However, what is your plan with replacing the burned out LEDs? It seems to me that you have made it where everything is a do or die type set up. It would be nice to figure out a way to do this mod. where you could replace the LEDs easily, as you could be pretty sure that at some point or another one or more will burn out before the rest even if you take care of the voltage issue.

It's still an amazing DIY Mod. I just think some more thinking needs to be put into it.

I'm just going to use a razor blade and cut out the strip that burnt out, should be to bad. It will be a pain but it will look better, two still looks good. As for making it more modular I cont think of any way that will be water resistant, which probably isnt a big deal, but still a good idea....

[CZroe]

Certainly looks cool.

[slolane]

Great mod, very clean job!

[Alex]

/linked from the main DIY thread

[Cazper]

That is pretty freakin' sweet Kevin!!! Can't wait to see how you fine tune it and to actually see it in person!! Are you gonna be at the LA ticket to ride? I'd love to see how bright it is in person

[AMMOCAN]

Originally Posted by Kevin2109

I'm just going to use a razor blade and cut out the strip that burnt out, should be to bad. It will be a pain but it will look better, two still looks good. As for making it more modular I cont think of any way that will be water resistant, which probably isnt a big deal, but still a good idea....

Sounds good! As long as you have a plan worked out. Yes, I agree that making sure it stays free of moisture/water is a good idea. I can't really think of any other ideas right now, as my brain is fried due to getting ready for finals next week, but maybe you can figure out a way to hot glue some type of cover over the lights instead actually hot gluing on the lights directly.

Again, Great job!

[Kevin2109]

Originally Posted by Cazper

That is pretty freakin' sweet Kevin!!! Can't wait to see how you fine tune it and to actually see it in person!! Are you gonna be at the LA ticket to ride? I'd love to see how bright it is in person

I wish! I have work I cant get out of I'm going to see what I can pull though lol lets hope i can

Originally Posted by AMMOCAN

Sounds good! As long as you have a plan worked out. Yes, I agree that making sure it stays free of moisture/water is a good idea. I can't really think of any other ideas right now, as my brain is fried due to getting ready for finals next week, but maybe you can figure out a way to hot glue some type of cover over the lights instead actually hot gluing on the lights directly.

Again, Great job!

I was thinking the same thing. but the space between the fearing and the undertail is really tight, so some cutting of the undertail would be involved. i'll take pics next time its apart!

[spooph]

Excellent! I had no idea this idea came from Vex! Glad to see you did them the right way. Here's my try at the same thing, not nearly as pretty as yours...
http://www.newninja.com/forums/f98/s...t=Travisty%27s

[Kevin2109]

Originally Posted by spooph

Excellent! I had no idea this idea came from Vex! Glad to see you did them the right way. Here's my try at the same thing, not nearly as pretty as yours...
http://www.newninja.com/forums/f98/s...t=Travisty%27s

Dude! The side mounted ones for the turn signal is pure genius! Hope you dont mind if I steal the idea :P

[Kevin2109]

This is what im thinking right now, my co-worker has an A4 and the lights are awesome. On the Audi they dont actually flash as the blinkers but that wont stop me :P





EDIT: Just re-thought my idea, it wont work cuz my HID's are so F'ing bright no one is going to be able to see the turn signals, lol

[spooph]

Go for it dude! Yea, I have another idea for the front mounts as well... I need to get off my butt and make it happen..

[spooph]

Here's an update to the fronts:
http://www.newninja.com/forums/f98/s...tml#post149024

[00NissanNinja]

Those look awesome kevin and spooph I'm gonna have to check yours out spooph. I like what you are doing with the fronts.

[wayanlam]

what do i have to do to see the imageshack images? it says that the domain is unregistered...

W.

[Kevin2109]

Originally Posted by spooph

Here's an update to the fronts:
http://www.newninja.com/forums/f98/s...tml#post149024

Amazing! One question though... Do you think there going to stand out from the headlight enough? I know with my HID's its had to even look at them lol let alone notice a blinker behind it. I cant wait for the updates

Originally Posted by wayanlam

what do i have to do to see the imageshack images? it says that the domain is unregistered...

W.

Seems to still work for me.... I can PM the pics or Email them to you if you would like

[Doerrman]

Originally Posted by Kevin2109

Just got it Works great

However when the bike is revving past 4k the voltage jumps to 14v, meaning i guess it did burn out one of the LED's killing on of the strips I still have 2/3 of my right turn signal but im pissed. Oh well I got new resistors and it should be fine



Thanks

You might actually want to look into a voltage regulator rather than resisters. I was reading yesterday in another thread that resisters are great for constant voltage, but when it's below 14v, your LEDs will get dim because less voltage is making past the resisters. If you think about it, your turn signals will be used more at red lights or slow turns than high RPM riding.
Here is the voltage regulator at RadioShack: http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2062600
You probably want to put one or two of these on it since it will get hot too: http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2102857

Let us know what comes of it!

[Kevin2109]

I think you were reading a post that I put Yeah I ended up using those 12v regulators. This is just a rough drawing I made for someone. Used one regulator per side, and put it all in a project box with heat sinks and cut a hole in the box so the heat sinks could vent. I'll have the bike apart this weekend and will take pictures

[g21-30]

^^^If you install the LEDs in parallel, you only lose 1 LED (not a string of 6) when 1 burns out!

[IndyTwoFiddy]

looks awesome.....

[Luiz Gaia]

Good job, looks very nice.

[Xepher2792]

Could you put a single voltage regulator before the indicator switch so you would get a constant 12v to all the indicators at once and you wouldn't have to deal with project boxes at every site?

[Steven250R]

nice job. looks cool.

[Kevin2109]

[Little Green Machine]

As a waterproofing agent, we use Red and Blue RTV silicone from time to time to make good liquid proof seals on our equipment, might work for this too?