New farkle arrived and installed - tail light

[mikeboileau]

Cheater.

Wimp too!

 

[ZG]

Wimp too!

 

 


No love for being honest here eh... Ok fine, I have black gunk under all my fingernails and my knuckles are all busted up, better?? 


I feel more manly now!! 


Ok, the gunk under my nails is probably from making my espresso this morning and I think the red stuff on my knuckles is some high priced no-preservative jam my wife got from Whole Foods...


 

[Flathead]

I'll admit, I love to ride but always screw things up (especially electrical) when I try to do my own work... 
 
I paid my local shop $50 to intall mine while I went next door and ate a samich... I'd rather just eat lunch then screw something up that ultimately results in me having to take it in anyways to fix what I jacked up, my time is precious...

"A man's got to know his limitations."

[SVonhof]

O.K., so, if I had not decided to also at the same time, add my blinking LED's (brake only) made by StreetFX, I could have had this done in less than an hour and that's only because I have never taken the back of the bike apart. Had I done that before and been familiar, I could have had it done in about 20-25 minutes.

So, it's installed and within 2 minutes of each reading, I was able to check the stock light and the replacement light for brightness. Granted, this is a sensor on a camera and is using a program to check the lighting for taking pictures (values are in "Lux"), but it's the first one I found that looked easy to use.
Stock light, running: 40 lux
stock light, brake: 320 lux
aftermarket, running: 225 lux
aftermarket, brake: 640 lux

Ignore the white cable ties, they will be removed as they are only on there for the adhesive to set on the LED's:


Here is how far I had to take things apart:


Here is a quick and dirty video I took after getting everything installed:
VIDEO0006.3gp

Well worth the money (under $30 shipped or $40 shipped if you do the buy-it-now).

[ZG]

O.K., so, if I had not decided to also at the same time, add my blinking LED's (brake only) made by StreetFX, I could have had this done in less than an hour and that's only because I have never taken the back of the bike apart. Had I done that before and been familiar, I could have had it done in about 20-25 minutes.

So, it's installed and within 2 minutes of each reading, I was able to check the stock light and the replacement light for brightness. Granted, this is a sensor on a camera and is using a program to check the lighting for taking pictures (values are in "Lux"), but it's the first one I found that looked easy to use.
Stock light, running: 40 lux
stock light, brake: 320 lux
aftermarket, running: 225 lux
aftermarket, brake: 640 lux

Ignore the white cable ties, they will be removed as they are only on there for the adhesive to set on the LED's:


Here is how far I had to take things apart:


Here is a quick and dirty video I took after getting everything installed:
VIDEO0006.3gp

Well worth the money (under $30 shipped or $40 shipped if you do the buy-it-now).

  Thanks SV for taking the time to record that and post it up here!!   

[OCK913]

The video kind of left us hanging though.......did it get mapped out? did she get left hanging? I hate cliff hanging endings...... 

[Conrad]

"A man's got to know his limitations."

 

[SVonhof]

The video kind of left us hanging though.......did it get mapped out? did she get left hanging? I hate cliff hanging endings...... 

My wife was talking to my sister who is in another state. I don't know what the conversation was about and I didn't want to turn and tell my wife that she had to be quiet since I was going to record a video. I was hoping I could edit out the sound, but I don't know how to do that with the video type my phone takes so everyone is going to have to deal with it! 

I forgot that I was going to check off-axis brightness. It looks like at about 45° off axis of the bike, the brightness of the brake light portion drops to about half of what it was or about the same as the stock from straight on.

[maxtog]

I forgot that I was going to check off-axis brightness. It looks like at about 45° off axis of the bike, the brightness of the brake light portion drops to about half of what it was or about the same as the stock from straight on.

I suspect that is a narrower "brightness" zone than the stock.  But if you really think it is 45 degrees on both sides, that should be wide enough for just about any situation.

[SVonhof]

I won't get to it tonight, but I will someday take the stock light and hook it up to power and set it on top of the rack and take pics with both of them on from straight-on, off axis and running and brake lights.

[mikeboileau]

I won't get to it tonight, but I will someday take the stock light and hook it up to power and set it on top of the rack and take pics with both of them on from straight-on, off axis and running and brake lights.

There you go!  Make sure the voltage is the same.

[OCK913]

Alright, to those who have installed it yourself .... I need help. What needs to come off to get the original light harness to come out without cutting the plug off. And route the new plug back through to get to the harness. The black piece that houses the turn signals ..... what is holding that damn thing in?

[mikeboileau]

I didn't get mine yet.......

[SimonSaysDie]

Alright, to those who have installed it yourself .... I need help. What needs to come off to get the original light harness to come out without cutting the plug off. And route the new plug back through to get to the harness. The black piece that houses the turn signals ..... what is holding that damn thing in?

You have to remove the seat (obvious I know but...), the rack, the 2 screws holding the tail light housing to the cross bar and the tool box.  Then move the tail light back a little and loosen the 2 screws under it (you don't need to remove them), then the cover that's under the rack will pull out towards the front of the bike.  Move the ECU out of the way and you can get to the plug inside of the black rubber boot.  On the right side of where the ECU sits, there is a clip that the tail light cable loops through (that's probably what is holding you up).  Remove the cable from the clip and you can pull the light out.  It isn't necessary to cut anything to remove the old or install the new.  Hope that helps.

[SimonSaysDie]

I suspect that is a narrower "brightness" zone than the stock.  But if you really think it is 45 degrees on both sides, that should be wide enough for just about any situation.

Actually, I did an off center walk around with the stocker and new and find the new to be much more visible from off center than the stock light.  The stocker starts looking washed out where this one doesn't.  Just my observation.

[ninjawarrior1400]

Simon...are you saying the new light is a plug and play install?

Ninja

[SimonSaysDie]

Simon...are you saying the new light is a plug and play install?

Ninja

Pretty much.  The only reason you would have to tap or splice any wires is if you want to use the turn signal functionality.  If so, you would have to tap/splice the 2 additional wires into the existing turn signal wires, but the brake/tail light portion has the right plug on the end so you can just unplug the old and plug in the new.  I didn't hook the turn signal wires up, but I did test them to see if they worked.

[mikeboileau]

I got mine today.  The smoke is a lot darker than I thought it looked like in the pics.  Maybe the flash has something to do with it.

[ZG]

I got mine today.  The smoke is a lot darker than I thought it looked like in the pics.  Maybe the flash has something to do with it.

Mount it up and take some pics already Mike!

[mikeboileau]

Mount it up and take some pics already Mike!

I dunno......looks real dark.