Auxiliary Lights

[bogieboy]

Originally Posted by Danimal

These are the ones I just ordered.

I'll see your 5 LEDs and raise you one LED

Urge Overkill!

ill see your 6 leds, and up the ante to a dual-B-Zenon HID projector retrofit on my shineray....



http://chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=15572

[Danimal]

Originally Posted by bogieboy

ill see your 6 leds, and up the ante to a dual-B-Zenon HID projector retrofit on my shineray....



http://chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=15572

FAIL

To usurp you would have needed more LED's Son.....

And I hate to say it, but based on my experience (retrofitted bi xenon projectors in my regular bike) that two of the 18W 6Cree lights I have coming put out a combined 3600 lumens.
THAT is on par with any HID system

[bogieboy]

Originally Posted by Danimal

FAIL

To usurp you would have needed more LED's Son.....

And I hate to say it, but based on my experience (retrofitted bi xenon projectors in my regular bike) that two of the 18W 6Cree lights I have coming put out a combined 3600 lumens.
THAT is on par with any HID system

fine... maybe i could plop my 2 18w LEDs in those turnsignal holes and use em as aux lights...hehehe

[Danimal]

So my 18W Cree XD8 LED lights came in (each unit has 6 x3w LEDs) and I mounted them up.
Bought mounts from Drag Specialties that are pretty much just like the one's CSC sells.
Everything was straight forward. Lights heavy duty and very well constructed.

A few pics.
Lights are so damn bright that my camera will not distinguish them at any real straight-on angle
so here they are at an angle


and from above


took em for a spin. They are usable as main lights. Put out more than the 55W halogen main.
Altogether was awesome. Trying to make sure they're not aimed too high

[SpudRider]

The lights look good. Please post photos showing the mounting system. Also, can you post a link for the Drag Specialties mounts?

[Danimal]

mounts

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281760136084...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

picture of light showing mounting bolt, which goes through hole in clamp


back of light, showing pivot mechanism

[SpudRider]

Thanks for posting the link to the Drag Specialties Mounts, Dan.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281760136084...AIT&rmvSB=true

[keithmaine]

Thanks Dan, I like em, I like em alot

[rtking]

Many thanks, Danimal! I followed in your footsteps and ordered up a pair of the lights and the Drag Specialties mounts. I wired them up this evening and am impressed by the amount of light they give out. Can't wait to give them a road test... hopefully tomorrow AM.

Cheers!

[rtking]

Just a follow-up on the GP Thunder lights. I like them pretty well, but they're a wide angle/flood type light, not a focused "spot beam." It works fine for my purposes which is to provide more light in front of the bike and off to the sides, and it makes me much more visible to other motorists.

One note for anyone ordering the GP Thunder lights: Check the mounting block on the light themselves. They should have a washer, then a bolt in the light body itself. Mine did not have the washer and the mounting bolt would not tighten well. Hence, if you look in the attached photo at the right side auxiliary light, the light rattled free of the bolt and was hanging by the wire. No bueno.

The solution is to take the side of the light off (the side without the wiring) and add a washer to bolt and then thread on the nut loosely. Then slide the bolt (with washer and nut) onto the aluminum light body. There's a cutout for the washer in the aluminum body. Once you do this, tightening the bolt is no issue. Other than this issue (which I hope was an oversight on my set of lights only), I like the lights really well.

Hope the New Year is treating everyone well and that everyone was able to get some riding in!

[Danimal]

FWIW, I have an unused set of GP Thunder floods for sale. Noticing the flood description too late I went and ordered another set from another vendor that are spot focused.
Was thinking maybe right side spot left flood? But never tried it yet.
Even the spot configuration lights up the surrounding area well.

[rtking]

Originally Posted by Danimal

Even the spot configuration lights up the surrounding area well.

Hi Danimal - do you recall if your spot lights were 20 or 30 degree angle spots?

I'm somewhat torn as the floods do a nice job of lighting up a surrounding area (including in front of the bike), but doesn't project very far down the road. I understand that a mix of flood and spot is best, but perhaps the floods might blind drivers since it's 60 degree light output in all directions.

The lights are cheap enough that I'll order a set of spots and give them a try. But I think the floods will work great as a set of project/garage lights if I mount them to a set of clamps or stand and connect them up to a LiPo battery.

[DanKearney]

Joe Berk mentioned the aux. light mounting that the AKT guys are selling down in Colombia. They're mounted on each side of the headlight nacelle and are (I think) part of the headlight lens guard.



They look the most practcal setup I've seen so far as when the bike inevitably falls over on the trail this mounting position looks much less likely to be the first point of contact with the ground. Unfortunately, most of the other mountings I've seen make the aux. lights look very vulnerable.

I hope CSC decides to import them.

Cheers,

Dan K.

[rtking]

Originally Posted by DanKearney

They look the most practcal setup I've seen so far as when the bike inevitably falls over on the trail this mounting position looks much less likely to be the first point of contact with the ground. Unfortunately, most of the other mountings I've seen make the aux. lights look very vulnerable.

I hope CSC decides to import them.

Agreed Dan! I like the AKT setup of the headlight guard and the auxiliary lights integrated. If CSC imports them, I'd bet they'd get a lot of sales of that item.

I also considered the tip over and mounted the rectangular auxiliary lights I ordered inside of the crash guards. Unfortunately there's about an inch of clearance between the plastic pieces on the fork and the lights, so if the lights were to ever shift inboard from their mount, there would be contact.

Good news is that, with the lights on and riding in the morning sun, cagers around were able to see me. I think the brighter LED lights help to make me a bit more visible which, in my mind, is a HUGE plus.

[SpudRider]

I'm positive the conspicuity of LED lights adds greatly to motorcycle visibility, and safety, at all times.