| Author | Message | ||
     Seanp |
Well, I went and rode the new bike for a few hours today, and I think the Uly felt neglected, so I spent some quality time with it this evening. A week or two ago, I bought a flexible LED strip from a place called Oznium, (great service, good prices) thinking I could mod my topcase. So tonight I decided to work on this project. The LED strip is available here: http://www.oznium.com/thin-led-strip and is about $20 for a 12" length. I also bought an extender and an extra four-pin connector. Altogether it was about $28 or so. I apologize for not having photos, but I wasn't sure it was going to work until after I'd done it, and by then I didn't want to start taking things apart. But I will try to give as detailed an account as I can. I started by taking the red reflector off the topcase. It's held on by two screws inside the cover, and it has a white reflective piece of paper behind it. (I think I'm going to replace the paper with reflective tape instead, but that's another project.) After that, I stuck the LED strip right down the middle of where the reflector goes. There's a space behind the reflector, so the LEDs fit, although they're a little tight. Then I cut a hole at the end of the LED strip to run the wire into the top case, although I could just as easily have run the wire around the outside. But I like to live dangerously. I put another hole in the front of the topcase, right behind the frame. I ran the wire through, and filled the holes with Goop. In order to wire it to the brake, I had to take off the tail light assembly and splice the wires. There are three wires that come out of the tail light assembly: black is ground, yellow comes on with the ignition, and black/white is switched with the brake. The LED wires are black and black/white, so it was pretty easy to match up. I spliced the wires and put the tail light assembly back onto the bike, running the wire between the assembly and the body. It's tight, but I don't think I'll have any problems with it. There's a removable connection right where the LED wire comes out of the topcase, so I can disconnect it if I need to remove the topcase. I rarely remove it though, so I used electrical tape to weatherproof the connection. If you take your topcase on and off the bike a lot, you may want to get a better weatherproof connector. I'm an electrical idiot, so I don't know if what I did is going to cause a short eventually or what, but it works right now. And, come to think of it, when I remove the topcase will the brakes still work? I don't know if that will affect things, considering there will be an open circuit now. Oh well, I guess I'll find out when I try to ride without the topcase. I made a short video to show how it looks. | ||
| Rwven |
I've been wanting to do that, thanks for showing the way! | ||
| Mnrider |
 You should have warned me so I could have put my sun glasses on. | ||
| Maximum |
Nice job!  | ||
| Ratbuell |
Very nice. I have a similar setup on my topcase, but I gave up on trying to fit it in the lens. I got one of the run/stop LED strips off an old "back-off" license plate frame and mounted it under the case, right behind the case-to-bike latch. Wired it up with a spare set of heated gear connectors so I can plug/unplug it, and since I had a spare taillight I bought a spare harness-side connector, and plugged in an adaptor under-seat so I didn't have to hack into the bike harness. I have a flasher that I'm thinking about putting on that light, but my wife says "it's BRIGHT" - and she was following me during the daytime - so I might not. I'll get some pics posted later today, after work. | ||
| Ulywife |
That's great. I like the fact that at that level, it should be more obvious to those driving SUV's and big trucks. | ||
| Widowmaker2011 |
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| F_skinner |
looks great Sean.  | ||
| Johnboy777 |
Great job...plus it looks factory. | ||
| Xbimmer |
Great job...plus it looks factory. Looks better than factory IMHO... I always thought the non-functional red lens back there was cheesy. This looks like a great mod, might try it myself. | ||
| Rwven |
Sean, Did you use the white lights or the red ones? I ordered the white, since they have a much higher lumen output than the reds do. Hopefully they won't be too bright. | ||
| Seanp |
Thanks for all your comments, folks. Xbimmer - I always felt the same way. That reflector looks like it should be a light, and it's too bad it doesn't come standard like that. Rwven - I used the red ones, but I'm sure the white ones will work just fine, since they'll be shining through the red reflector. The LEDs were pretty cheap, are quite flexible, and easy to wire. Now I'm thinking of all sorts of other uses for them - some auxiliary turn signals on the back of the saddlebags, some conspicuity lights on the front of the bike, etc. | ||
| Rwven |
With three times the lumen output of the red ones you used, they should make a good weapon against tailgaters. | ||
| Hooper |
Just awesome...I've been thinking about that big reflector for a long time, and this is a fantastic safety mod. I only take the topbox when I'm running a multi-day trip and have all the luggage on, or if I'm just running a quick errands when I don't want the hassle of putting on the side cases. Therefore, WHEN I do this, I'll find a good plug arrangement. That said, I'm just jealous you have a garage. Almost none of the houses in my neighborhood have them. I can dream... | ||
| Crusty |
I'm just jealous you have a garage. Almost none of the houses in my neighborhood have them. You live in the wrong neighborhood... | ||
| Court |
That's a really nice job . . . . . well done! | ||
| Hooper |
Crusty, you're darn straight...however, way back then I could buy a nice house close to the city (DC), and build some equity as a young pup. I live in a classic postwar expansion neighborhood where families only had one car and no need for a garage... Then...I got into motorcycles... So now I have four bikes lined up in front of my pad...it's sort of a dream come true...  (as you can see, all are the fastest, black color) (Message edited by hooper on March 22, 2009) (Message edited by hooper on March 22, 2009) | ||
| Ironhead1977 |
Just ordered the parts to add the brake light to my Uly top box. Sean, you get the product safety improvement award. Thanks for sharing with the rest of us. | ||
| Methed |
what about half led strips--one on each side adding some hi-viz, high-mount turn signals? | ||
| Stevem123 |
Hey I've been wanting to do that ever since I bought the bike. So I ordered 1 red strip and 1 white strip. I'm thinking the red one for extra running light and the white brighter one for the brake light. I'll test first before mounting permanent. Stuff should be here in a week or so. Thanks for doing the footwork on this Sean! BC Steve | ||
| Mortarmanmike120 |
Looks great man! I'm thinking your actual brakelight should still work even with the top box light disconnected. The tail light still has a path from battery to bulb to ground. When I get my XT that is mod #1. Good job. | ||
| Stevem123 |
Well I was suprised and the package arrived today so the testing began. I found that although the white LEDs are brighter, they make the red lens look faded and pinkish where the red LEDs look natural. I tried using both strips but I feel the effect is better without the extra set as running lights and I decided to go with just the red LEDs as brake light only. I'll figure another use for the white LEDs on something else. You can fit two strips in there if you wanted to but I only bought one red strip and one white strip so I'll just use the one red one. No need for pics as it works just like Sean's does. I like the mod and highly recommend it to those that want more rear attraction! LOL! BC Steve | ||
| Seanp |
Steve, I'm glad you found success doing the brake light mod. Maybe you can add the white ones as accent lights or visibility lights somewhere else on the bike. I'm thinking about putting a half a strip of yellow LEDs on each hand guard just to add some visibility from the front now. | ||
| Ourdee |
I want attention not attraction, So I ordered the kit. Seems like a good mod. | ||
| Ourdee |
Now I have a third er uh second brake light. I tapped into the wiring harness under the seat for mine. It was a red wire with yellow lines on opposite sides.(08 XB12XT) Here is what I learned. 1. If you hook up one of the 4 prong connector backwards, it wont work. Just flip it around and you are in business. | ||
| Midnightrider |
Here's mine. A little different though - the package I bought had two LED strips/ I installed both. The bottom strip runs all the time, the top strip is wired off the back of modulator so it blinks just like the brake light. You can also see the little LED i previously mounted just below the license plate. There are two modes/flash patterns on the back off so I wired the small LED to the opposite mode of the other two. Video 1 shows the brake light and the top case light. Video 2 if from a different angle and shows mostly the top case light. It's a cheap camera and the stock tail light/brake light causes an artifact on the video that makes the top case light hard to see. Video three shows the blue LEDs I also previously wired into the license plate bolts. They really overpower the red lights but I'm afraid I'm eventually going to get a ticket 'cause they're blue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YojTErEmpN0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2KNWW43lXk&feature =channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdSBLdRqnaE&feature =channel (Message edited by midnightrider on April 13, 2009) |
