LED Accent lights for your Ride!

So I had the bike in the carport for the winter and was dying to add my own personal touch to it, and after doing the usual sportbike mods - Fender eliminator, LED turn signals, HID headlight, Rim Stripes etc... I decided it was time for some LED accent lights.  I ordered 3 strips of purple 12v waterproof LED light strips off Ebay for about $6 each.  They can be found easily with the search term "led light strip" with color specified.  I also bought 2 LED valve caps for the tires, which light up with movement, but there's no instruction needed for those...

I put the 3 strips in strategic locations to illuminate and draw attention to certain aspects.  I put 2 strips on either side inside the fairings over the engine blocks, where there is a vent hole in the fairing, the lights illuminate the glossy black frame and beefy 4 cylinder engine on either side.  The other strip I put under the tail to illuminate the rear tire and shiny exhaust on either side. 

After a few tries at a power source and a couple fuses later (I don't have a multimeter, I'm pretty ill equipped) I ended up using the brake/running light to power the circuit (which has interesting results, since when the brake is applied, the power is routed to another circuit to brighten the light, the LED's are extinguished.  I think I'll keep it this way because it's more interesting).  I also had an unused SAS (Steering Assistance System?) switch on the 'dash' of the bike which was ridiculously convenient, so I wired the lights to that so I can turn them off during day riding.

Step 1 Materials

So what you're going to need IS:

- Pliers (needlenose)
- Wire Cutters/strippers (I don't have any, I just use the cutter on the pliers)
- Zap straps (zip ties)
- Electrical tape
- LED strips
- Sharpie
- Velcro (industrial strength, self adhesive)
- Appropriate gauge wire
- Multimeter
- Soldering equipment if you feel the need for secure connections (I just twist together and E-tape it)

Anything else you're comfortable using for very simple electronics projects.

Comments

[yo man]

nice bike man!

[corkey123]

Thanks!

[iJDMTOY]

What kind of LED strips did you use for this setup

[hg341]

i dont think i want is enougt to justicefy this^i love it^

[anti lamer]

i was thinking about haveing led's on my honda hawk gt
what do you think?

[corkey123]

Do it! Why not? I'd say LED's would look just fine on any bike in good shape.

[Bhakto]

what if you dont have strips of led's , just separate led's... where i live theres no strips just plain leds

[corkey123]

You could solder your own strip and make a mold for hot glue to secure them would be one option. Here's a link to a website that will calculate the resistances needed with however many LED's you use and the power source so you could make your own strip.

http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

Second option would be to order off Ebay. That's where I got mine and they're super cheap (couple dollars CAD shipped) and reliable (15/15+ sets ordered and received that worked and still do).

Hope this helps!

[Bhakto]

thanks, see thats the problem
i live in Ecuador, and well cant really find strips of led´s just separate led´s they are cheap like in the 0.05 to the 0.25 cents range,

anyway i have a 1993 suzuki 650cc and i have some free time and will want to do something like this i like how it looks plus i have free time

so what are you saying is that i make like a glue casting or frame and make my own strip .. never really tought of that, should i include the resistors in the frame?

thanks