Experimenting with LEDs for clock lights

[Easy-X]

Bright sunlight? Can't see your neutral light? This may interest you.

Before:

https://i.imgur.com/Hvobrqd.jpg?2

After:

https://i.imgur.com/mNsH8Z0.jpg?1

Nice!

So here's the things you need to know...

You'll need T5 to replace small wedge bulbs and T10 for the large ones. I would recommend just getting super/ultra/mega/whatever bright white LEDs 12V (i.e. some sort of voltage drop down built in.)

I experimented with green vs white and there was little difference.

Watch out for polarity though - there are no markings on the LEDs or their holders usually so it's just a fifty/fifty guess! Don't worry though, a few seconds of reverse polarity shouldn't do any harm.

I replaced my T10 backlights, T5 neutral and T5 hi-beam. I did want to replace the indicator one...

So we all know that you can't just dump LED indicator bulbs in without your flasher relay having a fit - you need ballast resistors, something to make the LEDs "look" like filament bulbs. (Either that or use an LED specific flasher relay.) But I know now that this even applies to the indicator for the indicators Yes, the flash speed when a bit screwy but not as much as changing the main indicator bulbs.

I'm now weighing up whether to "fix" the little wedge bulb or go LED for everything and change the flasher unit.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Sister Sledge]

Will the dark nights not see you blinded by clock bulbs?
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CCM 404 DS

[Pjay]

[WD Forte]

You just discovered leds?
They've been around for years you know, my old things been all led
(bar the headlight) since 2012 ish
The older load dependant flasher relays dont like them and using load resistors
to compensate always seemed to be a crap workaround to me
so I built my own relays using a 555 and mosfet which will run leds and/or bulbs.

Mind you, electronic relays are so easy and cheap to buy nowadays its probably not worth making
DIY ones.
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bikers smell of wee

[stinkwheel]

As above, for LED flashers just fit an electronic relay.

When I fitted 10mm LEDs in my VFR dash they were WAY too bright so they both dazzled me and overwhelmed the tint of the lenses so they all looked blue/white.

I got round this by painting the top half of them with black paint but I'd use coloured ones in future.

You sometimes get odd effects when its damp, they can start glowing slightly due to current tracking over the surface of the wires.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Easy-X]

[ThatDippyTwat]

[Easy-X]

So, had a ride out this evening just to see what the lights were like in the dark...

Fecking excellent! Especially the backlights, now I can actually read the number on the dials

The neutral and main beam lights were a bit brighter than the indicator one but not as much as I'd expected and yet they look great in bright sunlight. Weird... anyhoo, apart from the backlight these are all things that only come on occasionally so wouldn't be a big deal if they were eye-searing.

I've had a look at my bike's circuit diagram and it doesn't look too much bother to wire in the LED flasher unit I have in my spares box... if I can find where the original is located! (Probably somewhere under the seat.)
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Easy-X]

Damn... not simple!

So my faux-cruiser has Harley-style push-button indicators. When you push left, for example, the button shorts to earth to trigger the flasher. Another push (after ~1 second) cancels the flasher.

Hmm... sounds like a job for an Arduino + double relay
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Easy-X]

I've written this for the Arduino Leonardo. It's not efficiently written code; readability > efficiency There's a 1.5sec debounce feature and you can hold both buttons for hazard warning.

[WD Forte]

Arduino Leonardo for a flasher relay?
Seriously?
Interfacing the leonardos 5v voltage levels to run the bikes 14V flashers
will make it even more bulky, over engineered and ludicrous.

Even if you used a small footprint Arduiono Nano,Micro or even ust an ATTiny, its still OTT
for what it has to do
K.I.S.S.

I reckon You're overthinking it
I've never seen a KY superlite but I bet the flasher switch
is mechanical and just a spring loaded rocking latch type inside.
A type used on many bikes which diverts output from a cheap, common as muck relay
to one side or the other.
Just change the relay.
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bikers smell of wee

[Easy-X]

Sorry but no, this is where the cheeky, cheeky Chinks have 100% ripped off Harley Davidson. I've looked at the 6-wire flasher unit and it has:

+12V
Gnd
Left Input
Right Input
Left Output
Right Output

The switches are momentary short to ground. Press once to activate indicator, press a second time but only after 2.5 seconds to cancel. If you can suggest a way of emulating such an arrangement with just relays then colour me amazed/grateful!

As it is I'm using a Beetle which is about the size of a postage stamp. I have an uncased USB charging board to power it (12V to 5V) and I'm going to try either 2x 5V mech relays or 2x solid state. If the solid state ones work I can make the whole package around the same size as the original unit.

And then you can do stoopid stuff like have the flashers do S.O.S. instead of the bog standard hazard pattern (probably not legal though!)
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[The Shaggy D.A.]

[Easy-X]

There are two variants AFAIK, the original which just has solder pads and is square and one with a PCB etched USB connector (probably a knock-off.)

USB one is obs a lot easier to work with (appears as a Leonardo USB-COM port.) I think you can also configure the Leonardos to do keyboard and mouse emulation.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Easy-X]

If I do use an Arduino my local bike mechanic suggested adding the same tilt-cancel system fancy Harleys have.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[WD Forte]

Ahh I assumed a full sized board
That wee beetle does look fun, may buy a few cheap chinese ones to play with
I'd still maintain the KISS principle though and only add complexity when it
calls for it, say voltage monitoring or alarm.

I'd use the 2 momenetary bar buttons to Trigger 2 active low flip flop type relays one per side
and a common flasher unit.
You'd have both normal and hazard functions as well by pressing both buttons
Cost less than a tenner all in, no voltage level shifting or coding, easy to wire and fix/maintain
forget silly tilt cancel and sos flashing options.

You can buy these for about £2 each
I've been running 55/65W headlights through those Songle relays for years and they're well up to
running flashers, I'm using them on my current bike mods
Simple connections
Power to flasher unit, pulse out to each COM and each NO connects to L or R flashers
T get grounded by bar button/s to activate

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/7GcAAOSw5GZbRIXu/s-l1600.jpg
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bikers smell of wee

[Easy-X]

Nice! I was looking at latching relays this afternoon but there's such a bewildering variety of the things. I know what to look for now

The thing with Arduinos though is the knock-offs are perfectly adequate and add little cost to anything you care to get them working on although I concede your point on voltage regulation (12V to 5V.)

The manufacturer part (for filament bulb indicators) is ~£60 I dread to think what the HD part with the tilt thing costs!

About the only thing I like about going more complex than just latching relays is having a timed debounce on the the switch. The stock 2.5 seconds is way to long and annoying but ~1sec is much more reasonable.

And just to flip-flop again while the tilt cancel sounds convenient I'm not going to have such niceties on my Mod 2 bike so I should really get sharp on cancelling the signals myself!
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Islander]

[WD Forte]

2.5 seconds for a switch debounce is an age!
100 milliseconds (0.1 S) is generous, 50 mS ( 0.05 S) common
The boards I pointed out work at 5v as the big black chip is a 7805 5v voltage regulator.
I see a flywheel diode across the relay coils and a few resistors
and a 6 pin IC which is presumably an (SR type?) flip flop which toggles the relay on and off when T is pulled low.
Those Songle relay coils have a resistence of about 270 ohms IIRC so coil current will be low,around 20 milliamps at 5V.

I reckon you could drive the push buttons at 5V too to minimise any bounce if you felt they needed it.
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bikers smell of wee