I had some led repeater lights that came off my now dead Alfa and found that the lights can fit into the blinkers after I had taken the bulbs out. However when I hooked the power on with one led on the front blinker and the original bulb in the rear one, the blinker took off at a very fast pace. I am aware that the resistance in the led is buggar all and that the blinker believes that a bulb has blown. Any ideas on how I can replace the original bulbs with the leds ? Is it worth the exercise?

You must add resistors, or change the flasher relay.
In my opinion, it`s not worth the hassle.

Inge K.

Thanks for that Inge. There are times that you just stick with old technology. The leds now become spares and will be put in the garage in a spot that is so sacred so that when I go to look for them again I won't remember where I put them.

The advantage with leds is much longer lifetime compared to ordinary bulbs.
......but for direction indicators.......can`t remember last time I did need to change one of those.

Inge K.

A friend of mine left his truck with me when he had to take his wife for medical care 450 kms away. His indicator bulb kept blowing and he kept replacing the bulb. After looking at it myself I found that his replacement 12 volt bulbs did not to work on the truck's 24 volt system!

I have found that not too many people realise that there 24 volt systems out there.

G'day Ainsjac ,
I went through this exercise with my car ( a 76 Kombi ) after replacing the flasher can with an electronic one then replacing all of the bulbs with LED clusters the result was quite poor , the fact is that the reflector in the indicator housing is designed for a bulb that emits light in all directions & when changing to a LED type which are very directional the result was a hot spot of light about the size of a ten cent piece with the rest of the reflector very dark , needless to say I put the bulbs back in , the LED clusters were about 15 bucks a pop to ! , best to leave well enough alone IMHO .

JR

Melbourne Australia

true that jr ....its sensible if there is an advantage ...but for a couple of bucks every 2 years or so ...it makes sence to stick with the proven ....and designed for .

there are led replacements nowdays that have what you could call a wider angle of deflection but nothing really aproaches the spead of a globe ...well a well made globe at least ...im pretty pase about cheap chineese imports that dont last more than a week or so of actuall on time -work ...so far this year i have had to replace my tail light globe twice ...the glass envelope was silver inside ...probably due to over driven fillaments and poor quality inert gasses ...its getting pretty hard to find a good quality globe in most places ...its all about markup for the retailer ...and it sucks

On my RT, I have a combination of LED and bulbs for the stop light.
The major reason is that LED's respond time is a lot faster than conventional bulbs.
I have 2 blocs of 8 red LEDs spaced about 1/8" apart. They are highly visible.

New LEDs are a lot brighter but are still unidirectional.
If you are planning to replace the flasher bulb with a LED, you can find omnidirectional ones. It's in fact a cluster of LEDs mounted in a single assembly.
You still have to install resistors if you plan to keep the original flasher unit (I personally like the self cancellation feature).

CF

Hey CF,
Do you have a pic or two of the brake light install?
Thanks!
OG

I am using (as most of the BMW riders here) the hyperlights
They are very small (8 or 16 LEDS) and come with 3M double face tape.
I first tried to put them inside the tail light, but this is not as efficient as if they are mounted on the outside.
Mine are set to flash 5 times then go solid (You can set them without the flashing option). Hyperlights has a kit specifically designed for the K100 (It doesn't affect the light bulb monitoring system).
LED stop lights are very common in North America. You can find all kind of manufacturers but some of the best ones are very expensive.

I don't have any picture as the bikes are stored for the winter and batteries are off.

CF

Hey OG!

Take a search with this subject and Drake Smith aka Flying Duck aka Frankenduck.

Have seen some threads/articles which he mounted it to one of his bikes, even a
video that shows them in action.

Inge K.

Thanks guys! I've wanted to do something about the brake light, but figured a proper solution wouldn't be cheap...


OG

From the Motobrick forum: Hyperlights installed on the back of a K1100RT

Inge K. wrote:Hey OG!

Take a search with this subject and Drake Smith aka Flying Duck aka Frankenduck.

Have seen some threads/articles which he mounted it to one of his bikes, even a
video that shows them in action.

Inge K.

Duck's solution involves a few relays and other circuitry to get the lights to flash. It seems more complex than geting a ready-to-install product like Hyperlights.

There is also the Vizible Technologies SupraBrake product that converts the standard brake light into a flashing brake light the same as Hyperlights.

I am In Montreal and went to my best electronic discount store (Addison Electronic) and found some amazing cheap products. I will post pictures soon...
Just imagine: a strip of 20 high power white LEDs for $15.00.
The best.... they are highly visible up to an angle of 120 degrees.
We may convert the front parking light of my brother's K100 to LED (to have the Audi look).

CF

Be interseted to see the results of that CF. Was thinking along those lines myself. Will wait and see how yours goes.

I am In Montreal and went to my best electronic discount store (Addison Electronic) and found some amazing cheap products. I will post pictures soon...
Just imagine: a strip of 20 high power white LEDs for $15.00.
The best.... they are highly visible up to an angle of 120 degrees.

Crazy Frog wrote:We may convert the front parking light of my brother's K100 to LED (to have the Audi look).

My thought exactly. minimal current draw, they can stay on all the time . I never liked the fully dressed harleys with all the driving lights , but i am beginning now (nearly 40 yo ) to see a great need to be seen by the cage drivers (mouth breathing tv watching pokie machine playing window lickers to the last ) .
sorry i digress, L.E.D s are the go , there is a variant , organic light emitting diodes (OLEDS) worth a look , they submerge them in oil for the diffusion.
Top marks for the forum CF
N.

I personally am having major problems picking newer cars, particularly European ones, seeing if the indicators are on or not at roundabouts. They just don't seem to be bright enough. Audi's,Beemers and some newer Japaneseare the worst over here. That is they have LED indicators I meant to say.
RT

Here is what I found and will play with:

Specs and ordering options are found here

I did the same modification to my K100RT earlier this year. Very easy and trouble-free once done. I don't know if the one you purchased, CF, is the same flexible one that I used in my bike.

Look for Flexible SMD Light Ribbon (similar to what's illustrated near the bottom of this page). This comes in a roll and the vendor will snip off the length you specify so measure the width of the headlamp assembly and subtract an inch to give some inside slack. Solder two 18GA leads to the SMD ribbon and crimp on 1/4" male connectors. Make the leads long enough that they are 3/4 of the length of the SMD ribbon. Test on the bench before inserting the assembly into the headlamp.

To insert, remove and discard the old pilot lamp base. Fold the ribbon in half and insert on both ends into the hole where the lampbase was. Carefully fish the ribbon into the headlamp until fully inserted and the two male connectors are hanging out the hole. Easy peasy.

CF, if the LED strips you bought ar not flexible, you'll have to dismantle the headlight lens assembly to insert it.

The completed installation will look similar to this picture:

Those look good Bert and they ship worldwide nice one.

BIG D

We couldn't resist and yesterday we open the headlight to replace the parking light bulb with a strip of LEDs.
Now, the parking light can be use as a day time driving light. This assembly is extremely bright, but don't blind you. It's the equivalent of the lights on a Audi car.

It took 1 hour to remove the fairing and have the headlight on the bench, and another 1 hour to to install the strips of LEDs.
Cost of the modification: $15.00

Here is how we installed 2 strips of LEDs (This is the long strip that we cut). The strip can be cut in segments of 3, 6, 9, 12... LEDs


This video shows the angle of diffusion of the LEDs.


Here is the additional LEDs working with the flashers, tail light and stop light.
This is the Skene P3 kit (available here)

nice one bert....double row leds ?

il be looking to get some

(first vid is marked as private though)

Problem corrected with the first video!

Looks great Bert, next job on the books for sure.

BIG D

The double row of LEDS is EXCELLENT and yes I am shouting that is a really good result. I have had the hyperlights for a couple of years and am very pleased with the result.

When at the head of a queue at the traffic lights if I see a car coming up behind I always release the brake and put it on again to trigger a fresh round of flashing. I also stay in gear so as to be able to ride out the way if it looks like they are not going to stop, that's never happened to me but several of my friends have been rear ended on their bikes at the lights.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Here is the perfect example...
This is the saddle bag of my brother's K100.
He was at an intersection, stop then prudently moved about 2 feet to be sure that the road was clear. The woman on its back was under the impression that he was clearing the intersection and rammed him on the left saddle bag. Guess who won between the Volvo and the BMW saddle bag?
The good think is that when the bike crashed, it was on the bag and the crash bar. It was not a scratch on the paint of the RT fairing and my brother was totally protected.
The yellow fluo jacket and highly visible back lights didn't help in this case

This is a true story but I am sure you will all doubt it. When I worked on research at Imperial College in London there was a brilliant man there Doctor Eli Kahan and for a while I was privileged to work as his assistant. He was the kindest gentlest man I have met and I think of him often. He had strong religious convictions and went out of his way to be kind to others, he was and has been a powerful influence on my life.

Dr K was a keen motorcyclist and one morning arrived late and a bit the worse for wear, on his way to Imperial from Golders Green that morning he had been rear ended 3 times BY THE SAME LADY! each impact was separated by some 10 minutes or so.

I can recall when he called her at home to go through the insurance issues she went into hysterics and her husband had to take over the call. That whole story is absolutely true, however knowing it as I do even I cannot conceive how anyone could be so incompetent a driver as to do it three times on the same day to the same guy. Dr K was one of the earliest riders apart from the Police who used to have his bike with orange reflective saddle bags and wear a fluoro jacket. Visibility helps but when we are exposed to people like the lady who rammed Dr K just not being on the road at the same time is probably the only sure defence.
Regards,
K-BIKE

As the bike is decommissioned for most of the winter, I installed the strip of LEDs on my own bike and took the fairing outside to see the result during day light. I am quite happy with the result.
Here is the front parking light during day time (Power consumption is 5.75Watts):

That is an amazing result, what a superb improvement for a very reasonable amount of cost and effort.

You have really shown us all the way to make a major improvement on our bikes.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Thanks K-BIKE,

I forgot to mention something.
No modification has been done to the bike. I only remove the reflector from the parking light and use the original screw holes to install a piece of plexiglass. I then glued a piece of rubber on the plexiglass and glued the strips of lights on the rubber.
If a problem occurs, I can revert to the original bulb without problems.
This is important as here in Canada, few provinces have regulation preventing you to modify the original lights on a motor vehicle.

CF

Your photo of Canadian daytime is interesting. Is it true that winter daylight consists of about 2 hours? Santa may bring you sunlight if you ask nicely.

Sometimes I reckon it just makes it easy for the goons to get ya

Unfortunately flashing brake lights are not legal in Oz. We had a rather large discussion about it recently at work. I am very keen to do the double row LEDs in the park light though. Would you get any better light throw if you used the reflector of the original park light?

Don't think so. Led's are directional and don't give (sufficient) stray light to be reflected. Further, for the reflector to work properly you need a source of light in a particular location relative to the reflector

LED parking light update..

Not much riding as the temperature is too low.
I tried it at night (-9degrees tonight) just to see if my mod is worth the time that I spent to remove the fairing.
It' very dark outside, and here is what the LEDs shows. (You could drive if your headlight is out). The pictures were taken a very low speed (1/2 sec) and this is why they are blurry. It just gives you an idea of what to expect.





Without the LEDs, you would not see anything in this backyard..


I am very happy and jut want to try it on the road now!

an excelent mod bert ...we all looking for sometning similar here

Really nice work CF! I like how clean and unobtrusive it looks.


OG

Well done with the leds. I wonder when the authorities in Oz outlaw the lights. Safe things are often outlawed here.

I like it!! Trying to find something similar on Fleabay.

Something to do in the winter....

ReneZ wrote:I like it!! Trying to find something similar on Fleabay.

Something to do in the winter....

I advise caution when buying LED's on fleabay ReneZ, quality is very variable. I've had a couple of disappointments on marine and auto lights.

I'm amazed at the night performance of the ones Bert used. My parking light bulb is gone and this is a mod I've been considering a while. My minds made up to do it.
88KE

Just wondering if you have nothing better to do or just have alot of LEDs laying around. To much trouble to update for very little benifit. Just my thoughts.

adding some thing that gets noticed ...(whilst on the road ) is never unproductive ....its the near misses that you dont have ...that makes all the difference.... in my opinon

besides ...tarting up the old "k" is a sign of interest ...or love ...not of complacency that exists in many spheres of appreciation

i keep hearing the same old song .....if i have to spend money of that xoxoxoxo..... ill sell it ..

to each their own ...

but i rejoice in the fact that us enthusiasts share a common interest and are eagar to share that with the forum members here ..

viv la k and all the friends here life is far too serious not to have some fun ....grin

Cooo-eeee if any blokes from Oz are looking for these LED strips, if you have a Battery World location handy they stock them. Item is called LED Waterproof Multipurpose Strip Lighting and it is marketed by a company called AXIS. I paid $26 for a 1 meter length (60 leds )and can be cut into 3led sections.

Regards Brett

thank you Brettmass (wasn't it just memass? ) Battery world do some cool toys , they will fit a battery to your enclosure dimensions, that impressed me . this light mod makes so much sense to me , thanks for the info amigo !

Above - you could drive if your headlight was out - ! sold !

"To much trouble to update for very little benifit."

Nah...just havin' a go. Trying something different.

I must admit, there are a lot of tinkerers on this Forum...and they're worth their weight in gold.

no way bro really 75 kg at 1500 a kilo . i'm worth like 112.5 K ?
dude , i hear a working K100 riders balance at slow speeds is invaluable !

Hi

I'm Bert's brother and we had some nice time playing on my bike during the Christmas vacation. The LED option is a great improvement for the K100RT front side. But don't forget to upgrade the rear side with an easy to install kit : the Skene P3 lights (I have no shares in this cie). I am so happy with this device wich is much more powerfull than the Hyperlight. It worst the price : 157 CDN $ including shipping. (only 5 days to receive the parcel).

http://www.lights.skenedesign.com/P3_Features.shtml

Must admit I do like them, but find the cost very high......