Cheap eBay find to nice running lights

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Sidecar Bob
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Cheap eBay find to nice running lights

#1

Post by Sidecar Bob »

About 13 years ago I bought a pair of 35W halogen lights from Princess Auto. I had some 1/2" square aluminum bar so I cut a piece about 21" long for a light bar (attached by using longer screws for the brake splitter) and installed them on Mr.H, connected this way.
When I added the sidecar in '09 and changed to HID headlights on the bike and sidecar I no longer needed them for lighting the road but I subscribe to the idea that running lights on either side of the headlight and a little lower help other drivers recognize that it is a motorcycle coming toward them so I replaced the halogen bulbs with 1W LED bulb replacements and wired them so they were both on when the key is on.

Image
(pic from 2011)
1 Old running light.JPG
1 Old running light.JPG (81.01 KiB) Viewed 272 times
Last fall I decided that those lights were getting tired so I started shopping and eventually found these for about $3 CAD each
2 New lights from eBay.JPG
2 New lights from eBay.JPG (209.31 KiB) Viewed 272 times
Since they had to travel half way around the world, Mr.H was hibernating when they arrived but I hooked them up to a battery for testing (nice & bright but instead of the 10W that the seller claimed they actually burn only 4W each) and decided they would need a bit of work before I could use them because they were not even close to waterproof.

The simple thing would have been to bend the flimsy brackets to aim them and seal up the openings with silicone but the brackets looked sooo cheap and I knew they wouldn't last that way so Step 1 was disassembling one to see what I had
3 Disassembled.jpg
3 Disassembled.jpg (128.41 KiB) Viewed 272 times
I spent a rainy afternoon messing around with a few dead end ideas. If I used the cheap brackets I would have to either replace the bar or have unused holes in it. If I wanted to use the existing holes in the bar I would have to fabricate some kind of bracket (if I did that I would want them to be adjustable).

Hmmm... What if I cut a couple of pieces of that 1/2" square bar to fit between the brackets from the old lights and attached them to the backs of the lights? But that would require #4 screws more than 3/4" long to attach them to the lights...

It was getting late so I slept on it...
(to be continued)
Mr. Honda ('83 GL1100/Dnepr) summer How a motorcycle evolves thread
The Famous Eccles ('84 CX650EI/VeloUral) winter Never Ending Build (CX500forum)
Click: Colour schematics for all GL1000 & GL1100 and GL1200 standard models plus instructions on how to download the full size version
"A guy with two sidecars can't be all bad." - Cookie
Another guy with two sidecars..... Hmmmm... must be something to that....
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Sidecar Bob
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Re: Cheap eBay find to nice running lights

#2

Post by Sidecar Bob »

I forgot to mention that while I was taking one apart and trying to figure out how to mod it I had the other one hooked to a battery to see how hot it got - warm enough that they definitely need the heat sinks but not so hot as to be dangerous. So the first thing I had to do was cover the openings at the back of the heat sinks and that would have to be fender washers. I thought probably 1/4" but I found two 3/16" fender washers 1.5" O.D. that were perfect. I had also decided that using the brackets from the old lights was the best option and the easiest way to adapt them would be to bend up a couple of pieces of metal...

Among the stuff I inherited from my Dad were some 70cm long pieces of 11mm x 1.5mm aluminum strip painted brown with 2 sided tape on one side (from the brown paint, I figure they were meant for screen door or window trim of some sort) and after rattling around for a couple of decades the 2 sided was coming off of one so it was ripe for making something out of. Not the strongest stuff but the lights only weigh a couple of ounces and it bent easily with pliers without cracking, the tape adhesive was easily washed off with mineral spirits and it cut & filed easily. I also have a bunch of #10-24 nuts and bolts with 11mm diameter heads left over from steel sheds. With the old lights removed and their brackets on the workbench I cut & bent the new pieces that would fit inside them and hold the new lights, then drilled 7/32" (5.5mm) holes for bolting them to the old brackets and for bolting them to the fender washers. Next I measured the centres of the screws to attach the heat sinks to the brackets, laid them out and drilled them, then bolted the new pieces to the fender washers and drilled them to match. I also drilled holes in the washers for grommets for the wires. Since the shed bolt heads were the same size as the strips I used a bolt as a pattern for filing the ends of the new pieces round (since its plating is now damaged around the edges the bolt I used is now marked for this use only).

I ended the day by cleaning up the old brackets, sanding everything to be painted, wiping them down with lacquer thinner, putting them on hooks and painting them with Armor Coat gloss black from a rattle can.

It was pretty humid so I let the paint dry for 36+ hours and I even warmed the parts with a propane torch a couple of times to help bake the paint.
NOTE: If you try this technique be very careful to just heat the parts enough to bake but not enough to ignite the paint (it is routine for me now but the first time I tried it I ended up repainting a few parts).

Here's all the bits & pieces ready for final assembly:
Back row - the silicone I used to seal them, Threadlocker (only used on the nut & bolt that attach the new piece and fender washer) and thermal grease (applied to the backs of the boards so as much heat as possible will be transferred to the housing so the chips stay as cool as possible)
Middle row (L to R): nut, modified fender washer, grommet, new piece, #4 x 3/8" pan head screws and shed bolt, old bracket with bolts, nuts, washers (not shown: inside star lock washers for under the nuts)
Front row (L to R): bezel (threaded to screw onto plate on heat sink), lens (has recesses to fit over LEDs on board), circuit board (after I took the pic I decided to add heat shrink to protect the wires where they pass through the board), 3.9mm bullet connectors (I later decided to use heat shrink instead of the supplied insulators to better support the thin wires), heat sink/front plate assembly.
4 Parts pre-assembly.jpg
4 Parts pre-assembly.jpg (143.13 KiB) Viewed 245 times
I applied a thin bead of silicone inside the lip of the bezel to seal the lens, then applied the thermal grease to the back of the board (LED panels have aluminum on the back for this and the lens is designed so that it holds the board firmly against the plate), put the board & lens in place with the LEDs aligned so they would be horizontal when mounted and very carefully threaded the bezel on while holding everything in alignment (it only took 3 or 4 tries for each light), then wiped off the excess silicone with a rag & mineral spirits and painted around the inside of the joint between the heat sink and plate with silicone (silicone sealant is not a great conductor of heat so I didn't want it between the plate and the heat sink).
The next step was to bolt the fender washer to the new piece, being careful to keep the screw holes lined up, then butter around the edge of the opening where the washer would meet the heat sink with more silicone (working it into the extruded ribs that the screws go into), install the grommet, push the wires into it (with a dab of silicone on the inside to help seal them) and screw the new parts onto the heat sink.
After that all that remained was to repeat for the other light, add the bullet connectors and bolt the assemblies into the brackets
5 New lights modified.jpg
5 New lights modified.jpg (106.41 KiB) Viewed 245 times
And bolt them onto the light bar. I aimed them to the right and down a bit so they should be noticeable without dazzling oncoming drivers. They lit up the garage very well so I need to find an excuse to go out at night and see just how much light they put on the road.
6 New running light.JPG
6 New running light.JPG (103.01 KiB) Viewed 245 times
7 New lights installed.JPG
7 New lights installed.JPG (132.32 KiB) Viewed 245 times
Mr. Honda ('83 GL1100/Dnepr) summer How a motorcycle evolves thread
The Famous Eccles ('84 CX650EI/VeloUral) winter Never Ending Build (CX500forum)
Click: Colour schematics for all GL1000 & GL1100 and GL1200 standard models plus instructions on how to download the full size version
"A guy with two sidecars can't be all bad." - Cookie
Another guy with two sidecars..... Hmmmm... must be something to that....
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Track T 2411
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Re: Cheap eBay find to nice running lights

#3

Post by Track T 2411 »

Very nice work!
"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

"He that is good with a hammer tends to think everything is a nail" - Abraham Maslow

"If you can't take the time to do it right the first time, how are you ever going to find the time to do it over?" -Unknown

Current Rides:
'Grumpy' - '81 Standard, now fully dressed.
'Layla' - '81 Standard w/dealer installed fairing and Hondaline bags.
'Scarlett' '76 'Survivor' nekkid as a j-bird!

Under Construction:
The 'Jalopy' '78-'79 Mash-up
'Quikie' '81 gl1100I back on the lift, project with the step-son!

In The Shed:
'81 gl1100I barn find aka "Josie, the farmer's daughter." (almost comatose build)
'77 gl1000, roller parts bike.
'82 gl1100I, 'Old Crusty' titled roller parts bike (free!)
'82 gl1100I, My first 'Wing, and an expensive lesson!
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