LED Accent Lights

[Lou Wambsganss]

Due to my work schedule, a lot of my miles are done in the dark. I found a bunch of cheap flexible LED accent light strips at Autozone on sale. I mounted 2x 8" strips under the tail, 2x 24" strips over the engine, 1x 8" strip under the beak, and 1x 8" strip in the Frunk as a courtesy light. I wired them all in to a switchable, shielded bus bar (also from Autozone). The bus bar is wired into the Honda Accessory relay location. Each slot in the bus bar (6 total) has its own on/off switch, so I can turn each pair of lights on/off as desired. Here are some pics. LEDs look weird to my camera phone, but in real life the bike has a significantly more noticeable side profile in the dark.



This is the bus bar. You can also see the LED strip to the right. The bar is not waterproof, so I didn't want to mount it outside of the frunk. All the terminals are screw-lock, so the wires can be removed and reinstalled easily. I can also double-up the light circuits later if I need the bar space.




Frunk Light on.




Standard lighting




With all accent lighting turned on.




Beak Light




Engine Light




Tail Light



While I was at it, I also disassembled the bottom cover and spray painted the middle gray part with "Aluminum" colored engine paint. The gray looked weird to me. It didn't match anything, and I have the 2012 Silver. Has anyone else just painted the whole thing black? If so, please reply with pics. I'm curious to see what that looks like.

 

[nemesis98]

That looks wicked cool!

Can you take a pic of the switch layout you have for them? You mentioned different switches for each light setup and I would love to see how you did that.

EDIT - never mind, I think I figured it out - the switches are on the bus bar? Push button ones? Is that right?

Thanks!~

 

[Old Can Ride]

Looks very nice. You will stand out at night.

 

[happy]

Tron?



Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ziggie]

I painted mine with black plastic dip.

 

[Fuzzy]

Looks great. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Lou Wambsganss]

That looks wicked cool!

Can you take a pic of the switch layout you have for them? You mentioned different switches for each light setup and I would love to see how you did that.

EDIT - never mind, I think I figured it out - the switches are on the bus bar? Push button ones? Is that right?

Thanks!~

Yes, the push buttons on the bus bar are the switches. They feel kind of cheesy, but they should be good enough for the few milliamps that the LEDs use.

 

[gpd211]

Painted mine with flat black Krylon (the paint that bonds to plastic). It is permenent and won't peal off like plastidip will. The pealing can be a good thing or a bad thing depending how you look at it

 

[Lou Wambsganss]

Honda certainly didn't spend any extra money on making this engine look nice. The LEDs don't really have much to show off. When these are installed on a Harley or Victory, at least they have some chrome and hardware to reflect on. Here, you basically just have the associated hoses, tubes, and wire bundles. Like I said, I did this for conspicuity at night, not to impress the ladies with my many sensors and emissions vacuum tubes.

 

[frozenpoet]

My only question is the legality of this while riding. At least as it comes to my state, I like the idea, and sticking to white lights should be good, but idk what the coppers would say.

 

[Lou Wambsganss]

My only question is the legality of this while riding. At least as it comes to my state, I like the idea, and sticking to white lights should be good, but idk what the coppers would say.

That thought had crossed my mind. I agree that the white should be the least risky color for law enforcement. Red, Blue, or Yellow, they might have more of a valid point of confusion with emergency services. Since the lights are on their own switches, I would hope that even if I do get pulled over, the officer would just let me turn them all off on the spot and "promise" to remove them when I get home.

 

[happy]

If you get pulled over, just say you are Santa's little helper....
...and that you know they have been good....

 

[gpd211]

As a cop it white light can't show from any angle except the front of a vehicle. A broken tail light lens emitting white light to the rear is illegal here. This is only for IN check your local laws.