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Front conspicuity LEDs/ DLRs


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I have often praised the effectiveness and great value of these little items, which I've fitted to a number of new bikes.   But now seeking

another pair on E Bay, I cannot seem to find them!  Plenty of alternatives, but I prefer to stick with what I know and love.

Can anyone kindly help and post a link I can use.   Thank you..

P1020095.JPG

Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia.   

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Thanks very much indeed, piotr!   Dunno why I couldn't find them - it wasn't for want of trying.   

These are exactly what I've had before - even the brand-name SAFEGO seems familiar, and at USD$21 a pair post-free (AUD$29) they are unbeatable in value.  The pic below shows them mounted on my BMW Roadster.

I use them purely to highlight my presence to others on the road, not as lights to illuminate the road ahead, for I never ride at night.   I have also had a pair of the excellent, but expensive, D-Zell handguard-mounted LEDs, but frankly they are less conspicuous than these LED lights.   

I highly recommend these individual driving DRLs (which I now know stands for Daytime Running Lights)!

I appreciate the heads-up!

 

P1020182c.jpg

Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia.   

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9 minutes ago, wordsmith said:

Thanks very much indeed, piotr!   Dunno why I couldn't find them - it wasn't for want of trying.   

These are exactly what I've had before - even the brand-name SAFEGO seems familiar!   At USD$21 a pair post-free (AUD$29) they are unbeatable in value.  I use them purely to let others see me on the road, not as lights to illuminate the road ahead, for I never ride at night.

I appreciate the heads-up!

 

I’m considering the same thing... have figured out a good way to mount those on the GT?

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No, I don't have a GT handy!   But there are several branded light bars out there that could be considered.   For maximum visibility and therefore effectiveness, common wisdom has it that such DLRs should be mounted as high up as possible on the bike and as far apart as possible - within sensible limits! - thus forming a sort-of triangle with the bike's headlights, which is said to give optimum visibility to other vehicles and drivers.  

On my last Tracer I mounted these lights on a length of ~20mm o/d thin-walled metal tube (actually a piece of a discarded broom-handle!) which was bolted through the faux carbon honeycomb part just underneath the headlights.   I covered the tube with some stick-on carbon-look PVC, which chimed nicely with the surrounds on the bike, and finished it off neatly with a round plastic chair-tip 'plug' in each end of the tube.   Easy to do, inexpensive, functional, even if not quite creating the desired high-viz triangle (but the D-Zell handguard-mounted LEDs do).

When I do my next install I'll post some details and pix if you wish.   The pic below will give you an idea. 

P1040348.JPG

Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia.   

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5 hours ago, piotrek said:

Available here... and here... and possibly elsewhere. Yours look to be flood... so just select the right type.

Thanks again, piotr: I have just ordered the first-mentioned, @ AUD $29 inc GST (VAT, sales tax).   Free postage, ETA Jan 8th to Feb 17th.

Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia.   

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, so I got the ebay 21 buck/ 10W lights. Nice cast aluminum housings, def worth the price. But....

I didn't notice that they were FOG lights, meaning not spots, thus have an opaque front lense.  I didn't notice till I went back to ebay that there ARE spot versions available. So...

I opened them up, removed the cast lenses, and sanded/polished the little bump array from the front surface, leaving them clear.  Fixed!

While I was in there, I checked out the little Cree LED board. If you've never seen them, they're typically small boards of ceramic/metal, which are meant to be firmly affixed to a heat sink (behind them) to wick out the heat. Heat kills LED's.

In this design, the boards are pressed into the housing back plane by the lens assy/bezel being screwed on. OK, fair enough, but 2 PROBLEMS:

1, there wasn't any heat sink compound between the board and the cast housing, meaning, an air gap. Very poor heat conductivity.

2, in both units, there was a little spot of splashed epoxy on that surface where the cable comes in from the back and is potted as  a strain-relief. This little droplet/bump keeps the board from even sitting flush against the aluminum housing, dry or not.

Just a heads-up for the tinkerers, they're easy to open up, 3 screws, and tilt the board forward to apply a little blob of heat sink paste.

I'm thinking of attaching them to the 2 tabs at either side of the radiator where all the body plastic affixes.

rain

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Mine arrived today - will be fitting them tomorrow and will take note of your observations.

LATER EDIT - I took a good look at my just-delivered LEDs and unlike earlier ones I've bought they too seem to have a 'frosted' or semi-opaque front lens that I don't recall on earlier models.   But I'm sure they will be OK, and have almost completed the front mounting bar for them.

Vendors are, IMHO, somewhat at fault here and seem to label these LEDs as 'spot-fog' or 'fog-spot' entirely at random.   My amateur understanding is that the two are not the same.   Spot-lights (think anti-aircraft searchlights of WWII) are tightly-focussed with a decent 'throw' down the road in front of a vehicle to illuminate and highlight any obstacles.   Fog-lights on the other hand are largely intended to accentuate the presence of a vehicle, for normal spots do not perform well in fog or heavy mist.   

I usually refer to my fog LEDs as 'conspicuity' lights, not just because it's a long word but it describes what I want from them, which is to make me and my bike as visible and as conspicuous as possible to other road users.

I totally agree with rain: they are excellent value, and I'm now on what must be my 6th or 7th pair, and have never been let down or dissatisfied with them, cheap though they are!

Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia.   

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  • Supporting Member
17 hours ago, piotrek said:

I have the lamps connectorised, like so...

Capture.thumb.JPG.7d75c5dab60dfab382715a2125f7ab2a.JPG

Connectorised...that sounds like a bona fide moto term.  👍

2019 Yamaha Tracer 900 GT (Annabelle)
2013 Suzuki V-Strom DL650 (Juliette)
2013 Yamaha FJR 1300 (Rachel)
2008 Suzuki Bandit 1250S (Fiona)
2006 Honda VFR800 (Jenny)
2005 Suzuki V-Strom DL650 (Hannah)
2003 Honda Shadow Sabre VT1100 (Veronica)
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Just got these for Chrsitmas... Haven't had the time yet to install them but very excited to get them on. They come with an inline voltage dimmer so that you can program the lights using the headlight switch to be any brightness from 0% to 100% in 10% increments while on low beams and then 100% when high beams are engaged! 

 

Now I need to figure out where I want to mount them and what brackets to use.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • Supporting Member
1 hour ago, bigw34 said:

I just installed these Denali LED lights to my FJ. I'm going to make a seperate thread about them/install.IMG_20190104_232117.thumb.jpg.21c118863a1af5b988999cd22eca445f.jpg

 

Those look great.  I recently installed the Denali lights as well, I chose the model that mounts to the radiator.  They are very high quality and VERY bright.

 

DRL2.jpg

***2015 Candy Red FJ-09***

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On 1/3/2019 at 6:03 PM, piotrek said:

Never experienced any overheating issues, but I did lose one of these lamps due to an intermittent short (it was still alive, but very dim). The circuit board was wiggly and was pinching wires against the housing, and eventually bit through the insulation. That took two years. At that low price I had bought two sets, just to be able to swap the lamps quickly if needed. I checked the remaining lamps for the issue, and all I really had to do was tighten the boards down a bit as they were loose and nudge the wiring here and there. No other issues noted... excellent value. I have the lamps connectorised, like so...

Capture.thumb.JPG.7d75c5dab60dfab382715a2125f7ab2a.JPG

It's interesting you could 'tighten the boards down a little'.

While there are 2 threaded holes in the back of the housing to screw the boards down like they should be, none of the 2 sets that I just purchased were screwed down. The front bezel/lens simply presses  the LED board against the rear of the cavity.

Good design, but lousy assembly.

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On 12/18/2018 at 2:40 PM, wordsmith said:

I have often praised the effectiveness and great value of these little items, which I've fitted to a number of new bikes.   But now seeking

another pair on E Bay, I cannot seem to find them!  Plenty of alternatives, but I prefer to stick with what I know and love.

Can anyone kindly help and post a link I can use.   Thank you..

P1020095.JPG

Wordsmith, do you have a tracer GT?  I ask because you posted this thread in the GT section. 

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