Changing your light bulbs for LED light bulbs has been a lot easier lately. Many direct replacements can be found for most of the old filament bulbs. Most of those are for negative ground systems but some for positive ground systems like those on stock british bikes are available, but they are somewhat pricy. I recently had to wire up an old Honda 250 dual purpose single. Originaly it had a six volt lighting system and what I was given to work on was a mix of parts put together without any checks for compatibility.
Nothing worked except the ignition system which is a self contained CDI not requiring any battery. All the switches were corroded beyond repair, some bulbs were 6 volts and some were 12 volts and some were just plain burned out. I wanted to change everything over to 12 volts electrics. When I started the engine, the main windings of the alternator gave me more than 20 volts AC so it was very easy to just replace the regulator with a self contained rectifier/regulator like a Podtronic. To keep the battery small enough to fit in the battery compartement I used a sealed 1.2AH 12 volt battery. With such a small battery, LED lights were the ticket, but to keep costs low, I deceided to make my own using LED light strips. For $20 I bought a 5 meter lenght of cool white LED strip. These LEDs work on 12 volts and can be cut in sections of 3 LEDs.
I started with the flashers. I glued a thin sheet of PC board material as a backing surface and put 3 little strips of 3 LEDs wired together, then I glued the lens on since these will most likely never be opened again to change bulbs ( I used silicone as a glue, it can easily be taken apart)
These are for the instruments and indicators
And this is for the daytime running lihght, the little tiny bulb did not inspire me any confidence that it would be very visible with only 3 LEDs made up like the instrument bulbs. I wanted to tape more on the inside of the reflector face by bending the LED stip flat, then I noticed there was a fairly flat area right where the glass met the metalic reflector and access trough the main bulb hole was big enough to insert my fingers (well one) to press the strip in place. I cut the proper lenght of strip, soldered the wires and put the thing inside the front headlight. The light from a few LEDs is quite bright and would most likely be OK for city riding even at night.
I also did the taillight using 6 LEDs and 12 more LEDs for the stop light
With a flasher on
I still have enough LEDs from the strip to change many many bikes. The LEDs on the bike use less than 200mA (about 2.4 watts) so the small battery can run the LED lights for a long time. I kept the main bulb in the headlight, but it is switched so it can be left off most of the time.
Jean
Nothing worked except the ignition system which is a self contained CDI not requiring any battery. All the switches were corroded beyond repair, some bulbs were 6 volts and some were 12 volts and some were just plain burned out. I wanted to change everything over to 12 volts electrics. When I started the engine, the main windings of the alternator gave me more than 20 volts AC so it was very easy to just replace the regulator with a self contained rectifier/regulator like a Podtronic. To keep the battery small enough to fit in the battery compartement I used a sealed 1.2AH 12 volt battery. With such a small battery, LED lights were the ticket, but to keep costs low, I deceided to make my own using LED light strips. For $20 I bought a 5 meter lenght of cool white LED strip. These LEDs work on 12 volts and can be cut in sections of 3 LEDs.
I started with the flashers. I glued a thin sheet of PC board material as a backing surface and put 3 little strips of 3 LEDs wired together, then I glued the lens on since these will most likely never be opened again to change bulbs ( I used silicone as a glue, it can easily be taken apart)
These are for the instruments and indicators
And this is for the daytime running lihght, the little tiny bulb did not inspire me any confidence that it would be very visible with only 3 LEDs made up like the instrument bulbs. I wanted to tape more on the inside of the reflector face by bending the LED stip flat, then I noticed there was a fairly flat area right where the glass met the metalic reflector and access trough the main bulb hole was big enough to insert my fingers (well one) to press the strip in place. I cut the proper lenght of strip, soldered the wires and put the thing inside the front headlight. The light from a few LEDs is quite bright and would most likely be OK for city riding even at night.
I also did the taillight using 6 LEDs and 12 more LEDs for the stop light
With a flasher on
I still have enough LEDs from the strip to change many many bikes. The LEDs on the bike use less than 200mA (about 2.4 watts) so the small battery can run the LED lights for a long time. I kept the main bulb in the headlight, but it is switched so it can be left off most of the time.
Jean
