HOW TO: update to LED

[jarheadoo7]

I was tinkering with my lights and decided to change the 10 year old bulbs out for some more energy efficient LEDs.

I had to get rid of the old 2057 light bulb in my tail light.. it was just lame. I used a Chrysler/Dodge tail light socket.. you can get them at the junkyard for 3 bucks. Here is what i did.

Make sure your housing can hold one of these bad boys with clearance to turn them secure.

rip out the old connections, drill out the hole to fit the new socket and notch the hole by marking the pattern of the bulb notches with a marker. ( i used a hacksaw blade and a half round file.. not very high tech)

test fit, test fit, test fit.

once you are done with that, its easy, reassemble,

pop one of these 48 LED light-tower-fire-balls in

lit up..day light

and enjoy!



Wiring will be the same if you already have a brake light (3 wires), you have to figure out on the socket what controls what function, easy to do, (usually the arrow on the socket points to the GROUND lead) just strip the ends of the wires and hook em up. Make sure they are not touching and turn the power on. Reconfigure the wires if its not right and buy plenty of 15A buss fuses ;D


hooked up...
frontview

topview

The REVERSE NEUTRAL was easy.. (don't have a lot of pics sorry)

Basically gut the old stuff (bulb and socket), and pull out the light housing (green/red things) from the top..they just pull straight out..

the rubber grommets pop out too..

I filled the light housing with clear silicone RTV. I took a couple LEDs I had layin around..

put the little mounting tabs on

and jammed them face up into the hole in the back of the light housing... (crude sketch)

i spread the silicone that oozed out around the back for added waterproofing protection, now let it dry for about a day..

FIRST PUT THE light housing/LED assembly through the correct hole in the display,
SECOND put the wires from the led through the grommet.
NOW crimp weatherproof quick release connections on.. if you do it in any other order you will kick your own ass and have to do it all over, or force the connections through the rubber grommet.
which is not easy.

remember LEDs are sensitive to + and - , so when your crimping the male and female quickconnects.. test to make sure your crimping the right parts on the right wires!

finished...


off

on

 

[1998yamahawarrior]

holy brightness

 

[DeadLastRacing]

Cool stuff Jar. Where can you pick up one of those tower LED's at? You have any plans for the headlights?

 

[jarheadoo7]

I got everything from ebay at some point, the tower was pretty expensive but i thought i needed it for my dark taillights on the truck (NOPE). they sell cheapie towers at autozone for 8 bucks.

the single LEDs can be had for a 1.00 with free shipping, if you want to really pimp it out buy a red and a green one. I didnt want to create an extra expense so if someone does it post a pic!

I believe that LEDs are good for BEING seen not SEEING, but they are coming a long way, I picked up some LED fog lights to test the output.. maybe ill replace the headlights with something similar. I am pretty partial to the stock bug-eyes so it might be a custom bulb upgrade..

 

[henroc]

I have the trail tech lights on my warrior and have the mr16 led bulbs on mine $7.bucks on ebay. They work pretty good, not only that but they don't put that big of a load on your stator. As for the led tail light bulb, Also purchased on of ebay for about $4. bucks & you can order it to fit any bulb size you need if you don't want to deal with the fab work. I haven't done the reverse & nuetral lights.....good idea!

 

[jarheadoo7]

I have the trail tech lights on my warrior and have the mr16 led bulbs on mine $7.bucks on ebay.

is that the replacement bulb for the stock headlights? how does the output of the LEds compare to a standard filament? got any night pics?

 

[henroc]

No the stock replacement bulb is a h6m bulb. The mr16 bulb will only fit the trail tech light. Unless you don't mind doing more fab work. As for the displacement, the more leds the brighter your headlight will be.I like the led because the color. It doesn't have that same old brownish/yellowish look to it.

 

[yamarider]

If you want something that's actually bright forget leds, go HID. If you are willing to do some slight modifications you should be able to get an h4 hid kit to work with the stock headlight housings. I bought an HID kit for a car to use on my dual sport, and just left out one light and ballast, so I have extras if one burns up. Cost me about $100 and the single headlight on my bike is brighter than the headlights on any car you'll see, makes it a lot safer riding at night.

 

[jarheadoo7]

yea i looked into HIDs too much for me now but maybe later on.. and how durable are they can they last against the jagged, bumpy, sometimes violent terrain we ride?

 

[yamarider]

$100 doesn't seem like too much to me, considering you'll be at least tripling your light output while still keeping the strain on the electrical system to a minimum. The ones I have only draw about 35 watts per light, which is well within the range that the stock stator can handle. As far as durability goes, theoretically they should actually be much more durable than a standard light bulb, because they don't have a filament to burn out or break. They produce light similar to a welding arc, the high voltage jumps from point A to point B through an inert gas creating light, nothing to break. The only thing that can kill one is if the glass bulb itself actually cracks. My only concern would be making sure that the headlight housing is waterproof, moisture inside would be the biggest risk for cracking the bulb due to temperature changes. On mine the ballast and all of the electrical connectors are waterproof, so as long as everything is fastened down properly there shouldn't be any reliability problems to worry about. I've had mine for close to a year, but to be fair my dual sport rides a lot smoother than a quad and doesn't see a lot of off-road abuse.

My HID and LED conversion on my dual sport:

 

[DeadLastRacing]

^ DAMN Graig, that 350 has come a long way! Looks great man!

 

[yamarider]

Thanks, that thing is my baby, more so than my rappy even though the rappy cost me about 8 times as much. It's too damn cold out to ride but that still doesn't keep me from getting it out about once a week and putting a couple miles on it.

Didn't you see any of the up to date pics of it? It looks better in the daylight.

 

[warriorgirl09]

trail tech makes a HID kit for ATV's.
i'm thinking about getting there HID helmet mount spotlight

 

[4tracker]

They sell 35w led bulbs, anyone try replacing factory bulb with 35w led's?