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White LEDs on the FRONT!

StratTuner

StratTuner

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I've been doing a lot of lighting work on the rear of the NC, so today, I thought I'd use up the WHITE LED strips I bought and do something with the Front of my NC... Here's what happened....

Some very smart people helped me with this today. Thank you.

I was careful about cutting in to the wires that feed the headlight. In short.... I didn't have to.

The three pronged plug that connects all those headlight wires to the headlight... I observed... had a hinged door on it!

Gently prying the clips back to let the door open (careful make sure you get all of them) revealed the wires crimped inside.

There was room next to each to simply wedge in the my wires next to the honda wires. I pushed them in with the same very tiny flat head screwdriver, and the stripped ends make contact with the wires already there.

wedge in one red for dim, one black for ground, and close the door on the fitting. It snaps in and holds the wires exactly where I needed them.
(the wires in the photo are too big... I went with slightly smaller, and that worked much better.)

I removed the plastic plate under the beek, connected the LED wires to the red/black leads I'd attached in the honda plug, and done.
(the LED strips are connected to the leads with removable crimped connectors.)

I laid down a strip of black tape for each LED strip. The reflective black tape sticks very well to the beek plastic, and then the LED strip will bond better with the smooth black tape surface than it would directly to beek plastic..

Here's the opened Honda plug connection....
plug.jpg

and here's the finished LED strips in place.
(NB: they are ON when the low beams are ON...OFF when you go high beams! Not sure how'd you'd wire it for them to be on all the time... probably to one of the turn signal running light wires.)
lightledfront.jpg

Do I like it? I'm not sure yet.... Nothing is permanent, so if I find I have "pimped my ride" a little too much, I can take it all off with no penalty.

I'm not happy with the LED strips and how they are attached by adhesive ONLY.
It would be more secure to attach them with very small zip ties, but that requires drilling holes,
and that's NOT REVESABLE.
 
Last edited:
I like it....has that alien vibe....

Anything that causes drivers to notice you is a good thing.
 
I've seen it at night now, and it balances well with the red marker lights in the rear.
There's something "zen" about balance... I like it.

I'm keeping it. :)
 
As a matter of interest. you can make it come on for brights and dims quite easily. Insert your negative(ground) wire as normal, but split your positive wire into a Y-lead so it has a connection to the high beam positive and low beam positive leading into a single positive wire going to the LED lights.. Its quite easy to do if you solder 2 wires to a single wire. and then use heatshrink or insulation tape to seal it up. There will only be one working at a time, except when using the passing button. even then you wont have more than 12v going to the LED's
works just fine. try it.
 
Are the wires just stuck in there? No crimp or solder, or even tape to make the connection?

A good electrical connection should be a good mechanical connection (able to withstand a bit of a tug apart) otherwise it will vibrate and the lights may flicker, moisture may get in and contacts may corrode.
 
speedfox_2002 said:
As a matter of interest. you can make it come on for brights and dims quite easily. Insert your negative(ground) wire as normal, but split your positive wire into a Y-lead so it has a connection to the high beam positive and low beam positive leading into a single positive wire going to the LED lights.. Its quite easy to do if you solder 2 wires to a single wire. and then use heatshrink or insulation tape to seal it up. There will only be one working at a time, except when using the passing button. even then you wont have more than 12v going to the LED's
works just fine. try it.
Click to expand...

Doing this connects your high beam and low beam together. Both headlight filaments will have 12 volts applied all the time. This is a bad idea.
 
speedfox_2002 said:
As a matter of interest. you can make it come on for brights and dims quite easily. Insert your negative(ground) wire as normal, but split your positive wire into a Y-lead so it has a connection to the high beam positive and low beam positive leading into a single positive wire going to the LED lights.. Its quite easy to do if you solder 2 wires to a single wire. and then use heatshrink or insulation tape to seal it up. There will only be one working at a time, except when using the passing button. even then you wont have more than 12v going to the LED's
works just fine. try it.
Click to expand...

Well, I did do that (I think) when I first wired it.

I wired:

  • the GROUND wire to the light strip GROUND.
  • the HOT wire from DIM to HOT on the light strip
  • the HOT wire from HIGH BEAM to HOT on the strip.
When I turned on the power, The high beam went on and stayed on. The low beam was probably on at the same time.

I reasoned that the wiring created a link (through the LED strip) from DIM HOT to HIGH HOT..

DIM and HIGH hot can not have any crossover or they will both stay ON all the time.

Am I missing something here?

The long term solution will be to pull HOT in from the running lights in the front turn indicators. Those are always ON when the key is on.... but as I don't know where to find this wire in the neatly bundled and taped wires by the headlight, it's not time to attempt that yet.
 
anglachel said:
Are the wires just stuck in there? No crimp or solder, or even tape to make the connection?

A good electrical connection should be a good mechanical connection (able to withstand a bit of a tug apart) otherwise it will vibrate and the lights may flicker, moisture may get in and contacts may corrode.
Click to expand...

I used smaller wire than pictured and had to wedge them in next to the existing wire with a small, flat head, screwdriver. It was a tight fit made even tighter when I closed the hinged door on the fitting. I also zip tied all the wires together just below the fitting to mitigate the tugging effect.

It would be easy to go back, open the hinged door, and solder the wires to Honda's wires. At the time, I didn't want to do anything permanent (if soldering is permanent) in case I wanted to reverse it.

I'd like to draw from a different hot wire (front signal running light) as soon as I find out what that is. That one will get a Posi-Tap connection, now that I know what those are.
 
You could insert a 1N4001 diode inline with each positive lead (dim and high) and either will light the LEDs but it will block the cross-feed.
 
Beemerphile said:
You could insert a 1N4001 diode inline with each positive lead (dim and high) and either will light the LEDs but it will block the cross-feed.
Click to expand...

I agree with this solution.

Here's a bit more information regarding diodes, for anyone not familiar with them.

2011-08-28_225257_1.gif


diode.jpg

The "Silver Band" should always the closest to the item your connecting them to, when being used as a blocking diode.
 
Just tying it to the front running lights, as StratTuner suggests, solves the high/low beam wiring concern.
 
670cc said:
Just tying it to the front running lights, as StratTuner suggests, solves the high/low beam wiring concern.
Click to expand...

I was just thinking that since he was having trouble locating the running light wires and had already accessed the two wires mentioned that splicing in a couple of 20 cent diodes would be easier. (In fact, I could even mail him a couple of them for freebies).
 
OK... Anyone know where to get at the wire that keeps the front turn signals ON all the time?
(when they aren't signalling that is)
I think it's time to wire the LEDs to that.

I'm hoping to tap the wire at an exposed point so that I don't have to disassemble the NC!
 
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