Running Lights

I spotted these:

http://www.bikevis.com/motorcycle-cree-led-running-lights.html

Any thoughts?

Will they fit on Dennis's light-bar?

Will they run using Dennis's new front connector?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Mike,

I do not see why not. Power draw is only .58 amps per side, 1.16 amps total. Well within the 4 to 5 amp limit off the head light connector. Size is 70mm (2 3/4") x 37mm (1 7/16"). So fare so good.

I down loaded the PDF instruction sheet and the dimensions of the mounting holes is not talked about in detail. Maybe it's because of the lack of the cold beer that is required in the instructions.

Mike

Great find and price too! I have been following the LED lights for a few years now and these are really nice. Like Dennis mentioned the current draw is real low and should work fine and mounted up front on your DLB (Dennis Light Bar) should look fantastic. The Cree type lamps used to be real expensive now they are getting cheaper. One thing I am curious about is their wide angle vs spot beam width. The Denali kits are almost $300. Even if they perform half as good that is still a great deal. Let us know if you get a pair.

Thanks Dennis - I'm compiling a list to send soon. I hoped you'd give me the answers.

Thanks, too, Paul. I've been on the lookout for a while and think these will do just what I want.
I'll let you know when I've got them - it probably won't be until after Easter, though.
Although the Silverwing lights are good I find difficulty on the occasions I ride from Calais to home in the dark - the motorway is flat, mostly straight and featureless except for bridges which seem always to be on bends so it's easy to become disorientated.
I shall point the right-hand light towards the right to pick up the bridge parapets.

From their web site

"Though they don't project light, as a running light and to other motorists they look the same. I think it's safe to say you are unlikely to be missed.

Also known as 'Daytime Running Lights (DRLs)', 'Driving Lights', 'Safety Lights' and 'Marker Lights'."

They may not do what you want them to do.

joncallihan wrote:

From their web site

"Though they don't project light, as a running light and to other motorists they look the same. I think it's safe to say you are unlikely to be missed.

Also known as 'Daytime Running Lights (DRLs)', 'Driving Lights', 'Safety Lights' and 'Marker Lights'."

They may not do what you want them to do.

If you would like a usable LED driving/visibility light is a picture of a single new model 44 ( http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=607184&page=2#1071 ) ... it is worth checking the other pictures that are newer than this post.

Thanks, Jon and Bill.

All contributions gratefully received. I really do want opinions and multi-pairs of eyes are better than my one.

Any views on the Model 30, please? (It's cheaper!)

MikeO wrote:

Any views on the Model 30, please? (It's cheaper!)

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=607184&page=2#1039

What some people do is install the model 30 on the left side and a model 44 on the right side to prevent blinding on coming drivers.

Thanks, Bill.

MikeO wrote:

Thanks

Then you will like this ( http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=431761#1 )

www.Advmonster.com Affordable LED auxiliary lights and brackets, 10% off with discount code "inmate"

Indeed!

Has anyone looked at these from Wal-Mart? (Automtive > Driving light
)

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Blazer-Axxent-15-LED-Rectangular-Light-Kit-White/15111234#Q%26A+Exchange

I am curious if they can be mounted so they can be used with the low beams on. i.e. as driving lights to give better visibility but without blinding oncoming traffic.

I find that my low beam seems to have a very definite horizontal line and is not pointing as far ahead as I would like. I figure a spot pointing to the right shoulder but a little further on would be nice.

Bright beam seems adequate.

Has anyone ever found red bulbs to replace rear turn signal bulbs and made them into a combination of running light , turn signal.

honda_silver wrote:

Then you will like this ( http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=431761#1 )

www.Advmonster.com Affordable LED auxiliary lights and brackets, 10% off with discount code "inmate"

There is a sale was $85.00 now $50.00 ( http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/hstrial-QualiRegResou/-strse-3/24-watt-LED-off/Detail.bok ) ... do not forget the 10% ADVrider discount.

I bought the Model 30 lights and just finished installing them.



In looking at the links above, I noticed the light on sale for $50 is a flood light. The Model 30 like I have, is a spot light. It also consumes half the watts of the flood light.

I was looking for a driving light to shine only in my lane and out past the low-beam light pattern. These do it.

Chris

That's what I want!

The website says they're out if stock; do you know something I don't?



Your Burgman looks the business!

You might want to look at TechArtGuy's review on BurgmanUSA of some other LED Driving lights he purchased. http://burgmanusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=493405#p493405

The vendor he references has more options, and while the prices seem higher, they are for two lights, not one. So they come out about the same.

Sean took a number of pictures of the lights in action. He has modified his headlights to fit HID projectors. It is interesting to see how much brighter his lights are than the HID lights.

One thing you'll note is that he's mounted his driving lights down low on the fender attachment bolt. That's great for a fog light, but not for a driving light. You're lucky in that Dennis has the light mounting bracket custom fit for the Silverwing that allows you to inexpensively mount a driving light up high where it can be used properly.

Chris

Daboo wrote:

You might want to look at TechArtGuy's review on BurgmanUSA of some other LED Driving lights he purchased. http://burgmanusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=493405#p493405

It is important to compare the amount of light available and pattern for LEDs ... comparing just Watts is insufficient. For example the ADVrider doubled the amount visible light with about the same amount of Watts with the newer Model 44 lights.

Most vendors do not supply night photos with the lights to make the comparison.

It is important to determine what kind of light you want "Driving" or "Flood" and the pattern and amount of visible light for usage ... not to mention the vendor that is willing to stand behind their product.

Thanks, Chris - I shall read carefully!

These one look the same as the ones I want from the other site:



http://24x7diy.com/product_info.php/cPath/33/products_id/33





If my reading of the thread about Dennis's front connector is correct I should be able to run a pair safely; the calculation of the head-light current draw leave 4 amps spare - these lamps draw 1 amp each.



Will someone who understands electrics confirm this, please - I shall be most grateful.

After seeing Daboo's post (hello Chris) on the BurgmanUSA forum I found these on ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180685089437&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

I also bought the dimmer unit so I can run with them as additional daylight lights or use them as spotlights.

Daboo has found a good way to fix them onto the Burgman, hopefully I'll find a way of fixing them onto the Silverwing, otherwise they will be fitted onto the Burgman instead.

Cheers,

Anyone? Please!

Mike, it comes down to trust... In yourself and others. All the facts have been presented to you and talked about before on this forum.

The LED lights, your looking at, should work just fine. If you have a problem with the Headlight Power Connector running your lights, just unplug it and send it home and I'll pay for the shipping and give you a full PayPal refund for the connector when it gets here.

You can always run the wires off the battery to a relay and then on to your lights.

Mike, I think I would look at some others. Those only put out 550 lumens. There are others on the 24x7diy.com website that put out 1500 and 1800 lumens. The lights I would look at are these http://24x7diy.com/product_info.php/cPath/23/products_id/35

Their prices seem high till you realize you are getting two lights, not one. I think I would call them before ordering, or at least send them an email. They quote 27W for the lights. That figure sounds right for the total wattage of both LED lights, but not for each. The lights I bought from the ADVRider source seem identical, but only consume about 10-11 watts each. That would be my only concern in buying those.

TechArtGuy on BurgmanUSA bought their 1800 lumen lights with 4 LEDs. I believe he wrote somewhere (maybe in a PM?) that there was some heat buildup on his. I get none to speak of. So I wonder if putting four LEDs inside that small light case is too much for the heat...which shortens the life of electrical parts.

While I could figure out the amps for you, I think you have another way of telling if your Silverwing can handle the electrical load.

It seems like many people have added halogen lights to their Silverwing by using Dennis' light bar. Has anyone had a problem with those? If the halogen lights are what I'm thinking of, then each light consumes 55W of power, or 110W total. Even if the lights I put the link above for consume 27W each, that's still half of the power consumption of only one halogen light...and people mount two on there with no problems.

It also looks like Dennis is giving you about as risk free a purchase of the parts he makes to take the worry out of that part of the purchase.

I'm not making fun of you with this next comment. Just remembering back to when I made the decision to buy the lights I bought. I had no doubt of the electrical side of things. Like Dennis wrote, you can always wire your lights directly to the battery and use a relay to keep from inadvertently running your battery down if you leave them on when you stop.

My hesitation, that seems like yours, was in the mounting. I don't have a Silverwing. The bracket Dennis makes seems like a foolproof solution to mounting lights there. And while I spent less money with the materials on what I kludged together, it wasn't that much less and I would've welcomed a nice professional mounting bracket like that. So my concern was in buying the lights, and then finding out I had no way to mount them...after drilling holes in my Burgman. I had a lot of hesitation and concern on that. So I feel for you.

Chris

Can anyone through some light on this (pun intended!)

I thought LED lights didn't create any heat but that all the energy was transformed into light. Are the 'CREE' LEDs different?

Cheers,

Thanks, Denis, and everyone.
The difficulty for me is that there's such a variety of lights (in this case) and, my having decided on a particular set-up, someone comes along with another which looks better/more appealing but is technically different.

The wiring is an issue, too; having set two vehicles on fire through installing additional wiring I'm never very happy about doing it although I've had more success than failure.
Were it not for the rear plug 'n' play connector I probably wouldn't have installed the Admore light bar.

I need two spotlights to pick out the edge of the motorway on left-hand bends; the particular stretch where I have difficulty seeing is mostly flat so it crosses canals, railways and minor roads on bridges which go up and over.
For some reason the approach to most of them is curved to the left so that when one approaches the flat summit the headlight beam disappears into space above the barrier and one is faced with blackness.
Because of the nature of the bridge-construction, anything other than a concentrated beam will dazzle the on-coming traffic - it's bad enough when vehicles are running on dipped beams.
There are no trees, buildings, banks or road furniture to fix on to aid vision and road markings are totally non-reflective.


I know it sounds feeble but that's my situation - I don't mean to be irritating.

The heat TechArtGuy was referring to, was from the electronics on the inside. If you look at the LED lights, you'll see that the back of them where the wire comes through is finned. It's a large heat sink. The electronic part of the light is on an aluminum plate, which contacts the base of the light case. The finned part screws onto that.

If you open it up, you'll see thermal grease inside at the contact points. I first ran across thermal grease when building computers. You use it there for the contact between the CPU and the heatsink and fans to help the transfer of heat.

Chris

tarmacburner2 wrote:

I thought LED lights didn't create any heat but that all the energy was transformed into light. Are the 'CREE' LEDs different?

http://www.cree.com/products/pdf/XLampThermalManagement.pdf

Here are three pictures to show you what the inside looks like on the LED lights. I don't think the bulbs themselves get hot...but those components inside do. honda_silver's link does a great job of explaining the heat issues, but sometimes a picture can help to visualize what's going on.






Those parts you see behind the LED bulbs themselves are what generates the heat. My assumption is that with 4 sets of those components, and not just 3 as shown, that the extra set of LED drivers are allowing heat to build up to be noticeably felt when you touch the lights. With only 3 LEDs, I'm not feeling any heat buildup.

Chris

Mike,
I'm the last guy to want to take away any business from Dennis.
He does a great service to this community. However...
Noticing the reasoning behind your quest for additional lighting,
I invite you to consider fork mounting the lighting that will turn with
the wheel and light where you're going rather than what is directly ahead.

Of course, with the minimal draw of LEDs you could certainly do both.
A pair on Dennis' light bar and a pair on the forks.

Dan

MikeO wrote:

...I know it sounds feeble but that's my situation - I don't mean to be irritating.

FWIW, I don't think any of us find your reason "feeble" or "irritating". We commonly drive our 4-wheel vehicles at speeds that overrun our headlights. If we run over a 2x4 piece of wood on the road, no big deal. At the worst, it will bang up the underside a little. We might even get by with straddling it with our tires. But to run over something you can't see on a 2-wheel vehicle is potentially life-threatening.

Chris

Thank you both very much for your supportive remarks; I am spurred on to pull myself together, go back and decipher the previous suggestions, and to consider seriously mounting extra lights on the forks - I didn't think of that!

As for my not buying a Dennis B light bar I shall search about for some suitable very low consumption LED running lights to enhance my 'be seen' presence on the road which will run off the DB front plug 'n play connector.



Another question (dare I?): I have studied the method of running power from battery to front without removing tupperware - rather than connect directly to the battery, is there an unused fuse in the fuse-box which I could connect to?



I do have a proper auto-electrical kit containing crimp spades, bullets, etc. and a proper crimpling-tool and various gauges of electrical cable.



Just had a thought; are there any DB fork-mounting brackets for lights on the horizon?

Mike,
You seem to be very concerned with electrical consumption.
In 8 years of being active on Silverwing forums, I have seen people install heated everything, every sort of communication device, and LOTS of lighting, and many other assorted things, and I have never seen anyone claim they overloaded the electrical output of the bike.

I have HID headlights, and a pair of 55 watt lights mounted on my forks.
This was before LEDs came out powerful enough to be worthwhile.

I know it isn't in your budget, but I could put four of these:
LZR LED - 8" Rnd Long Range - Black/SS - LED 35 Watt
http://www.kchilites.com/lights/lzr-led/lzr-8-rnd-35w-led
on the bike which are 385,000 candlepower EACH, and still not have a
shortage of power.

Hmmmm....Now that I think about it...If you could mount just one of these on top of your fender....

Thanks, Dan.



It's not so much the total consumption, rather whether I can find lights that I can connect using Dennis's front connector which, I think, plugs into a lower powered circuit on the bike.



Out of interest, what do you use for the fork mounts?

I've had a look on the Internet but haven't seen anything which obviously fits the Silverwing.

If you click thru these pictures you will find one of motolights mounted on the Silverwing:
http://www.motolight.com/motolight_motorcycle_lights_for_hondas

Installation instructions show the parts clearly:
http://www.motolight.com/files/1953750/uploaded/Installation%20Instructions%20-%20Motollight%20Strap%20Mounted%20Light%20Sets.pdf

Thanks, Dan.

I really like the look of them; I shall have to start saving my cents.

Managed to order the Model 30 LED spotlights this morning.

I won't go into details but Paypal manages to block my Visa credit card, even though it's one issued by HSBC, one of the biggest and most reputable international banks.
Ed did it for me in the end - his RBS card is acceptable even though they had to be bailed out by the British Government.

I accept that private individuals need extra protection but why companies use Paypal I shall never understand.

Are you and your credit card registered with PayPal ?? This can be a source of the trouble, it was with me. Then you will have Verified Visa to deal with, it goes on and on, I know how you feel but I did find Paypal useful for sending payment to Dennis for his excellent bracket and connector! (usual disclaimer, just a delighted customer )

I'm happy to send Dennis payments by Paypal, although again Ed has to do it.
The 'problem' is that Paypal seem incapable of acknowledging that it's perfectly legitimate for one to reside in one country and have bank accounts in another - my billing address country is different from the country of the dispatch address.

It's hopeless trying to communicate with them - I tried that but one receives replies which are generated either by computer or half-wits who are incapable of answering questions.

In fact, sending credit card payments by telephone is no problem as long as the company will accept them.
Unfortunately, neither the one I've been dealing with nor the hand-deflector one will.

I have installed the brightest led's I could find on the forks running direct to the battery and even though they are not that effective in lighting up the road, they do look great and make me more noticeable and there is no filament to break when you hit a pot hole.

This week I had made, a light bar as Denis sells and must say that I should have just bought his in stead of running around finding the steel bar and then paying a muffler $40.00 to do the work.

It looks fantastic and now with the $65.00 Round Projector Lens Fog Light set I bought from J.C Whitney (item No H5788183) I am really visible even in the fog.

Did I mention I also have the head light modulator pushing H7 Piaa 4100K intense white upper and lower head lights.

My Model 30 LED spotlights have arrived.
They feel good and look exactly like the pictures.

A PM will wing its way to Dennis soon although I know parts-production is currently suspended.
Light bar and connector are on the list.

Hello
I am Rahul from India.
I am happy to see my light here.
I am manufacture of these lights.
I design and manufacture these lights.
if you need any tech info about these lights please free to ask.
I am happy to reply all your quarries
I have various models of these led light 9watt to 30watt models.
Each models is with different led and Lumen.
Regards
Rahul

Daboo wrote:

I bought the Model 30 lights and just finished installing them.



In looking at the links above, I noticed the light on sale for $50 is a flood light. The Model 30 like I have, is a spot light. It also consumes half the watts of the flood light.

I was looking for a driving light to shine only in my lane and out past the low-beam light pattern. These do it.

Chris

Hello Rahul,

Welcome aboard. Nice looking lights you make.

Thank you Dennis.
I hope I will able to give my best product and service to all your forum members.
And able to solve all technical queries.
I have special offer for all your forum memebers.
I will give discount to all your forum members on my my ebay store