Idiot lights

[Nick Calne]

Bit of an odd question but .... do you find the idiot lights too dim and not noticeable enough?

I'm finding I'm forgetting to cancel my indicators occasionally and not seeing the green light on the dash at all.  The lights are very low in your field of view owing the bike's design which doesn't help either.  As a result I was very nearly collected by some old girl who thought I was about to turn left yesterday.  In law it would still be mostly her fault if we'd collided, but I don't like pain or doing front wheel emergency stop skids!

I suspect the battery isn't the strongest - Do you think replacing it with a gel type one would help?  Or is there some other modification I can make?  :idea:

[Mustang]

the idiot lights are just hard to see in the daylight ..........

some people years ago used to effect a repair for them by gluing little plastic jewels , you know the ones for kids that are shaped like a prism  to simulate fancy jewelery and come in different colors

they  were very happy at the results and it made it so you could see the blinker lights

the wife just learned to live with it on hers
me ....I wired in a beeper to the blinker circuit sounds like a fork lift or construction vehicle back up alarm .......I don't leave my blinker on anymore

[NeilD]

no they are noticably dimmer than the ones on my TBS... at some point I'm going to try some coloured LEDs in there...

[Mustang]

no they are noticably dimmer than the ones on my TBS... at some point I'm going to try some coloured LEDs in there...

that's because they are trying to shine thru a piece of dark smoke plastic  :shock:

[JetdocX]

You can get plug-in high intensity LEDs for them, and I keep threatening to, but not yet.  I'm paranoid about the blinker so I cancel it every few minutes while riding. :lol:

[NeilD]

I'm paranoid about the blinker so I cancel it every few minutes while riding. :lol:

 :D same here!!

[Nick Calne]

Since yesterday...me too!

[oxnsox]

Over cancelling works for me too...

@Nick,  Changing battery won't do anything.... as it's about the brightness of the bulb at the available voltage.(And the voltage is determined pretty much by the charging system... lets not go there.) LED's would be brighter though, but then they would farckle you off at night. :lol:

[ramseybella]

You can get plug-in high intensity LEDs for them, and I keep threatening to, but not yet.  I'm paranoid about the blinker so I cancel it every few minutes while riding. :lol:

Always pushing that little yellow button :) , my EMG switch gets stuck and it is almost as bad as installing the air filter a Bi**h to get the button out once you push it in..

[Mustang]

M

very good info
I am reposting this as a sticky in the steamer forum
thanks

[Nick Calne]

...you may have just saved a life or two! Nice work.

Funny how the fuel light doesn't work with LED's but is miles brighter than the other lights anyway...Why is that I wonder?

[Jomama]

I also replaced my rear/brake light and indicators with LEDS from superbright leds. LEDs draw only a fraction of the power needed for bulbs (1/10th or so). Because my headlights are the only bulbs left on the bike they get an voltage increase of a few % because of the LED conversion. This will let them shine MUCH more bright because the relation between voltage and light (lumen) output is not lineair.



Always use the same color LEDs as the lens cover color.

Do you know which bulbs you used for the Tail/Brake?  

I tried some from Superbright last year, but I think I got the wrong configuration (how the LED's were laid out on the connector)..  They were not as bright, and there was only a very slight increase in brightness between the tail/brake light intensity...   It really was not bright enough for braking imo..

[oxnsox]

Funny how the fuel light doesn't work with LED's but is miles brighter than the other lights anyway...Why is that I wonder?

I suspect the resistance of the bulb filament forms part of the circuit. An LED is effectively a diode so it will limit power available in the circuit, and the 30mA or so it uses (limits too) just isn't enough for the sender circuit to register/work correctly.

[MtheTiger]

the fuel light doesn't work with LEDs because the switch in the tank is kind of a resistor which when it gets warm (fuel level drops) lets more current through => the warning light starts to light up ever more bright.
If replaced by a LED the light does light up but way too soon because the current needed to light up a LED is very small.

I replaced my rear/brake light with an universal aftermarket one which looks the biz and was relatively cheap......something like this:
http://www.louis.de/_40727efb998e5b22a6 ... r=10033589 (http://www.louis.de/_40727efb998e5b22a65c52f9ebf497061c/index.php?topic=artnr_gr&article_context=detail&grwgr=490&wgr=412&list_total=38&anzeige=0&page=0&artnr_gr=10033589)

[Milton]

I just took the dash panel apart and pushed the green colored plastic covers out. Looks kind of crude when they are flashing but at least I can see them. I like the beeper idea Mustang, can you hear it through ear plugs?