motorcycle stock turn signal LED replacement

I've searched high and low to find a high power LED replacement for the bulbs in my 1999 Yamaha V-max motorcycle. I've found probably 20000 different LED turn signals however they are all utilizing lots of 5mm junk LED's and that truly bugs me, so I made my own. I'm utilizing the stock socket in the "lollipop" turn signals and wiring the High intensity LED's into the socket.

Since I've decided to use Cree XP-E amber LED's I needed to use multiple LED's. One single LED is not going to "fill" the reflector well enough to replace the stock 1157 incandescent bulb. The bulb has a dual filament in it so I'll use 3 LED's with each connection. This is what it looks like when it was done.



Since the bulb is a dual element, I'll utilize 3 LED's for running lights, and 3 for the turn signal. I've yet to find a driver that is dual output (350ma as running lights and 500ma as turn signals) so I'm stuck utilizing a resistor to reduce the current down to roughly 350ma.



I decided later that I wanted to use 500ma for the turn signals so, I used a different resistor set for the turn signal only LED's.

I mounted the whole thing inside the lens housing



Here is a comparison of the light compared to the stock bulb.



https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3175365/turn test 3.wmv

light output doesn't seem impressive, but it truly is. well enough to replace the stock bulb and vastly superior to those 20-50 5mm LED replacement units.



https://dl.dropbox.com/u/3175365/turn test 4.wmv




This is essentially done until I can locate a driver to replace the resistors. I'd like to find one that has dual inputs (the stock light is a dual element and does have a different wire settings for each element) with dual output. (350ma for running lights and 500ma for blink) and has to be a BUCK driver. If anyone knows of anything, I'd be eternally grateful and maybe willing to show my appreciation in the form of a gift.

I like these. Replace the current sense resistor (R27) to 500mΩ for 500mA or 710mΩ for 350mA.

May I suggest the latest flexmod? Its a qu current of up to 1A and an additional 4A when the analog input goes HIGH.

I'm using them to run my pt-54 brake lights, and they work reliably at it too!

Since when is the flexmod a buck driver?

nice effort man!

Nice project.... BUT....

From the Posted Video the original Light output seems to be
more visible at a distance since the plastic lens element over
the bulb and the Bulb reflector was specifically designed to
spread the light from the original bulb as efficiently as possible.

Since the reflector is now gone the plastic lens can't spread
the small narrow LED outputs efficiently and I suspect a lot of
the LED light gets reflected back to the inside by the lens.

All I see in the Video is 3 or 6 dots on the LED side light...


Jerry


You can contact us at any time on our Website: J.BAUER Electronics

I have a few of those drivers from DX on order to do exactly as you suggest cyparagon. I also have a few of these on order as well: 1w LED Driver MBI6651 Luxeon White Green Blue Constant Current output 350mA | eBay

While the suggestions for a single output driver are good, they aren't the dual output I'm really looking for. But I thank those that put forth their ideas.

They're cheap enough to just use one driver for low and one driver for high (assuming both filaments aren't on at once - are they?).

All the dual output drivers I'm aware of rely on switching of the input power to change modes rather than having two inputs. One exception might be the flexmod, but compared with two simple resistors (one for low, one for high):

$35 more
Much harder to find
Much larger
Same efficiency

disclaimer: I'm not advising what you should do, since we all know that you should put your stock bulbs back in. But if it were my bike, and I weren't planning on driving it on public roads, here is what I would suggest:

Since you can't match the output pattern of a filament, and a single high power LED in the focal point of the lens probably won't cut it in terms of brightness, I'd suggest a voltage regulated series-parallel array of high flux LEDs. Use the marker input to trigger a PWM generator to trigger the regulator to turn on at 50% duty cycle, or whatever looks appropriate, and use the turn signal input to bypass the PWM circuit and trigger the regulator to be constant on.

BShanahan14rulz said:

disclaimer: I'm not advising what you should do, since we all know that you should put your stock bulbs back in. But if it were my bike, and I weren't planning on driving it on public roads, here is what I would suggest:

Since you can't match the output pattern of a filament, and a single high power LED in the focal point of the lens probably won't cut it in terms of brightness, I'd suggest a voltage regulated series-parallel array of high flux LEDs. Use the marker input to trigger a PWM generator to trigger the regulator to turn on at 50% duty cycle, or whatever looks appropriate, and use the turn signal input to bypass the PWM circuit and trigger the regulator to be constant on.

Click to expand...

Wow, politically correctedness at it's worst. Just hate that. I refuse to bend to the offroad only rules and the output of this far exceeds that of the stock bulb.

Kenom said:

Wow, politically correctedness at it's worst. Just hate that. I refuse to bend to the offroad only rules and the output of this far exceeds that of the stock bulb.

Click to expand...

Not by the Video I saw....:undecided:


Jerry

You can contact us at any time on our Website: J.BAUER Electronics

Can't be too safe ;-) Also, disclaimers are like rules. Often, they are meant to be ...