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Web maintained
by JohnnyRide
Nthegruv@comcast.net
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I believe that
colors other than white light attract more attention than white light itself. If
white attracted attention better than other colored light, then why do EMS
vehicles use red, yellow or blue lights? My goal was not to end up with a
pseudo-police bike, (even thought the feature set of these LED Heads has 12
built in patterns in each head, which is actually pretty cool), but to have a
stronger than usual amber marker light on the front end which helps to further
define the width of the bike, therefore emphasizing the side of the bike so on
coming traffic can better judge my closing speed. We associate size with how
close an object is to us and hopefully that will help them to not misjudge my
speed and turn in front of me and get me killed. I notice that when people are
in a hurry or distracted while driving, they don't take the proper amount of
time to turn their heads to the right or left long enough to verify the road is
truly clear of oncoming traffic. They do one of those super quick left-right
head sweeps and then they pull out. While they are turning their head so
quickly, something will really have to stand out to grab their attention. In
that .5 to .25 second scan if where I want to stand out with a color which not
be confused with a street light, light on the side of a house or other smaller
"visual footprint" lighting devise. So this is what I have done.
Whelen LIN3™ Series Super-LED®
Lighthead - Amber
LIN3™ Series is the tiny Super-LED® module with a big attitude.
5 Scan-Lock Flash Patterns
with Phase 1 and Phase 2, plus Steady Burn. Four Wire Synchronizable
Version.
Encapsulated, low current LED’s are tough as nails so they’ll go to work
for you anywhere on your vehicle, shrugging off moisture and road
vibration. Perfect for mounting in the grille, on side mirrors, on
bumpers, over steps, on motorcycle boxes and fairing, on ATV’s,
forklifts and material-handling vehicles ... Wherever high intensity,
wide angle warning is required. Clear outer lens and black flange -
Amber LED. 3.5" W x 1.1" H x 1.2"D
Mount
Used: RBKT4
Mounting Kit is a swivel mount for the Whelen TIR3 or Linear 3 series
lights.
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I used
the BLM mounts, which can be purchsed from Spoiledbiker.com . The metal bracket is the Whelen
BKRT4 which is specially for use this this product series. You can see
where I mounted the small momentary push button switch to change the
modes on the LED head. Since these are going to be used in the Steady
Burn Mode, I did not connect the Gray Sync wire which is connected
between the units so they blink exactly opposite of each other. These
are really cool because all the electronics are built into the head. No
external flash units to mess with.
The BLM mounts have
pretty simple instructions and procedures to install. I started by
removing the windshield, all push/snap rivets and screws which hold on
the very top fairing cover, installed the 2 speed clips in their
targeted location on the bike frame. I snaked the bracket thought the
front right fairing, if your standing in front of the bike, and bolted
it up. Cool how "easy". Now moving to the left side of the bike, I look
down in there where the 2 speed clips will go and I say that word...."S..t".
This is where easy-quick turned into, crap-o-la. When I installed the
Stebel 139db air horn in that really cool place, which is more or less
right in front of the drivers right side storage comparment but inside
the fairing, and uses that hole in the frame to bolt to which you have
to enlargen a little for the Stebel mounting bolt to go through, who
would have thought that is where the bottom speed clip need to go and
the bottom of the BLM mount needs to bolt to. Great..... oh yeah...
hummm... poop. So even thought it isn't difficult to remove the
tuperware and I got pretty good at it, Quick and easy took longer than
desired.
So, be warned, if you have installed the Stebel air horn like this and
as others have done, horn install
HERE you will need to drill out the
bottom mount hole of the BLM bracket to 5/8" in order to place it next
to the frame and then the Stebel mount goes "on top or through" it. The
bottom speed clip will not be used and the Stebel bolt holds everything
together. The top speed clip is used on this side. Tighten it all down
and it is fine.
The BLM mounts are perfect as advertised so just wanted to say there is
nothing wrong with them by design. I encountered the unexpected.
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The
purpose of these pictures is to show that even off at a 2:00 angle from
the front of the bike, the LEDs are still bright and that is
because each LED has its own mini reflector as well as Whelens Defuser
Bar technology. LEDs are pretty directional
in nature so I thought the reflector idea was pretty neat. You can see
in the far left picture that once you rise above the "LED plane of light
output pattern, the brightness drops like a brick. So these really have
to be aimed to get the most out of them. The light pattern is similar to the
pattern of a fog light, but not identical 
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Here is
a block diagram of the circuit. I have wired the heads into the run and
turn circuit. Honda's front run signal cuts off when the turn signal is
engaged, so by using 2 diodes as shown, we make the heads blink with the
turn signal. However, the Emergency Flash only flashes the stock turn
signals. click to enlarge
Click here for a short movie clip
of the light in Turn Signal Mode
SignalA lert (Phase1) (Phase2)
VIDEO CLIP NIGHT
VIDEO CLIP DAY
CometFlash (Phase1) (Phase2)
VIDEO CLIP NIGHT
VIDEO CLIP DAY
DoubleFlash (Phase1) (Phase2)
VIDEO CLIP NIGHT
VIDEO CLIP DAY
SingleFlash (Phase1) (Phase2)
VIDEO CLIP NIGHT
VIDEO CLIP DAY
ComA lert (Phase1) (Phase2) VIDEO CLIP
NIGHT
VIDEO CLIP DAY
Steady Burn VIDEO CLIP
NIGHT |
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