FARKLING MY NEW AUSTRALIAN 2019 TRACER GT

[betoney]

4 minutes ago, Suu Kyi said:

Been toying with the idea of fitting one of those or similar on mine too, and did look at that position. However; I'm wondering whether the mudguard is going to collide with the bottom of the horn when the front suspension compresses? Did you do a front suspension compress test before you installed the horn in that position? To see how far up the mudguard comes. Thanks.............

If you are compressing the forks enough for the fender to hit the horn then its time for higher rate springs.

[wordsmith]

Have fitted these before, as have many here,  and never had an issue - the max possible vertical movement of the fork, judged to be about 14cm, comes nowhere near the bottom of the horn @ 18cm.   But it was worth your enquiry!

[wordsmith]

I relocated the two DRL LEDs today, putting them onto a horizontal bar that both lifts them up a few inches, and outwards about 200mm/ 8" overall.

I think this makes them more effective overall, tho' nothing will stop a suicidal driver who wants to take me on.

Need to re-wire them tomorrow as the leads were too short after the relocation - shouldn't take too long.

Edited July 23, 2019 by wordsmith

[fjrpittsburgh]

@wordsmithMuch, much better on the location of the lights.  I really like that setup and am quite jealous.  Really nice work!  Congrats!

[wordsmith]

Finished wiring-in the relocated DRL LEDs, another fiddly but not difficult task - as it shouldn't have been since I first installed them only a matter of days ago.   I made sure to check all connections as I went, as it's a tedious task having to take off all the behind-the-screen elements that hide the access to the aux leads.

By a very happy coincidence, the mailman delivered my last farkle as I was halfway through, the tiny 12V voltmeter, so I quickly incorporated that into the day's job.   I only fitted this as I had battery problems on my last Tracer and found it reassuring to be able to check battery condition at any time, rather than waiting until the bike wouldn't start.   $8.46 well-spent!

Pix below show the before (first pic) and after (second pic) DRLs (alignment needs correcting), and the voltmeter

I'm pretty sure that's all my (present) farkling done - let's hope so.

Now I have to go and tidy-up the house, for Mrs Wordsmith returns tomorrow!

Edited July 23, 2019 by wordsmith

[wordsmith]

4 hours ago, fjrpittsburgh said:

@wordsmithMuch, much better on the location of the lights.  I really like that setup and am quite jealous.  Really nice work!  Congrats!

THANKS, FJR!   One feature I didn't mention is that the light-bar that carries the LEDs is an aluminium extrusion sort-of rough aerofoil section.   Thus, when I am proceeding at pace, the down-force generated keeps the front wheel on the ground, like the front wing on racing cars.   Of course, it took a bit of calculating and computer time to get the angle of attack just right... 

[AtoB]

On 7/17/2019 at 12:06 PM, wordsmith said:

Farkle # 13 – July 17^th.      I have just completed the installation of one of the more satisfying safety-oriented farkles, the rear-mounted brake-operated flashing/ pulsing brake lights.    

Components comprise the tiny GS-100A Modulator, aka a ‘brake light strobe controller box’ which creates the pulsing function; a relay; an in-line 5a fuse; a single Posi-Tap into the yellow brake-light lead; and some wire.   The few joints were soldered and heat-shrink tube applied: crimp-on connectors would be as good and easier, but I enjoy soldering.   I pre-fabbed most of the wiring while awaiting the delivery of the Modulator, so the final steps took only a short amount of time.  

The satisfaction is largely because I know as much about electronological stuff as the average Neanderthal cave-dweller, but this is the latest of several such installations I’ve done on various bikes, and it gets easier every time.   The hardest part is waiting for some of the components to arrive from overseas!   

I could afford a ready-made kit, say the P3 kit from Skene Lighting (excellent stuff that I have used before) at AUD$214, but I choose not to afford it: my set-up cost about AUD$40 and works just as well.   The ‘job well-done’ is a bonus!

All the components and wiring are neatly tucked-away under the rear seat, while the LED strips are fastened to a short length of aluminium angle under the rearmost part of the luggage rack, for maximum visibility.   When either brake is engaged, the LEDs pulse five or six times in rapid succession, alerting following vehicles that I’m braking, then remain ‘on’ in steady state until the brake is released. 

If anyone here is interested in doing something similar I can post the wiring diagram.   It’s pretty easy stuff – if I can, you can!  

The last pic here shows the LEDs illuminated, but in real life believe me that they glow blindingly red!

 

 

Thanks Wordy for posting all these details. This looks like a very good idea as I spend quite a bit of time in traffic. Would love to see the wiring diagram also. I am comfortable with a soldering iron and some heat shrink so this would seem to be within my capabilities.

On another note  -Whats the thinking behind the day time running lights? Is it better than just driving on full beam in the day?

 

[wordsmith]

9 hours ago, AtoB said:

Thanks Wordy for posting all these details. This looks like a very good idea as I spend quite a bit of time in traffic. Would love to see the wiring diagram also. I am comfortable with a soldering iron and some heat shrink so this would seem to be within my capabilities.

On another note  -Whats the thinking behind the day time running lights? Is it better than just driving on full beam in the day?

 

Thanks, AtoB.   I'm pretty tired just now after a long-ish 420km outing today, first time out in quite a while.   Will post the diagram and some other hopefully useful bits 'n' pieces tomorrow, Sunday July 28th.

I guess that the idea behind adding DRLs is simply to enhance the bike's visibility on the road.   A lot of bikes, especially those more modern ones such as Tracers with their horizontal 'slits' for headlights put out as much illumination as a very weary glow-worm.   If less is more then more is better (?). 

[wordsmith]

Here is the wiring diagram, AtoB, which I hope helps.   I didn’t draw this one but it’s what I have used more than once, but if you’d like it redrawn to clarify it just PM me and I can do.

Points of interest are that I used two rear-facing LED strips, and the red and the black wires from these were joined (soldered) before connecting to the red and black Modulator leads.

The brake-light wire in the tail of the Tracer/ GT is yellow.   I used a small Posi-Tap to lead into this from relay terminal 86.

On this and a number of other installations I found it helpful to pre-fab the wiring, starting at the individual relay terminals using small spade connectors (see bottom rhs of the photo).   As I don't have a heat-gun - and the wife's hairdryer won't do it! - I used one of those small disposable butane ciggie-lighters to shrink the heat-shrink tube - works a treat, but ideally not near an open fuel-tank!

I have also found that sometimes the smaller Posi-Taps don’t quite connect with the wire being tapped into, so I adopted the habit of paring a thin sliver of the plastic coating to expose a tiny length of the wires, which helped (again, bottom rhs of photo).  

I secured all the wiring with zip-ties – be careful not to have any wires running along the top of the two side-frames inside the under-seat cavity, as the rubber bumpers of the pillion seat sits on these structural members. 

PM me if in doubt.   If the diagram is too small/ unclear PM me an e-mail address and I'll use that.   Guaranteed no spam!

Edited July 28, 2019 by wordsmith

[wordsmith]

Another mini-farkle.   The GT's cruise-control is a dream to use, but the buttons are quite small and very close together, so I used an earlier idea from a mini-farkle to the indicator button (bottom left in this pic).   Here, I super-glued a tiny silicone furniture-protector 'dot' to the central on/ off control button, now making it quicker and easier to locate. 

Edited July 28, 2019 by wordsmith

[flyfifer]

Wordy, if I read the drawing correctly,  the yellow wire to the brake light is the  switched 12v. Correct ?

Could you post a link to the red led strip you used --presumably a waterproof item.

[wordsmith]

The yellow wire is indeed switched on when brake - either - is applied.

Unfortunately I haven't kept the specific link to my LED strips (yes, w/proof, flexible, self-adhesive, 4.75" or 12cm length x 2), but never fear, there are hundreds if not more of choices.   Go to E Bay Motorcycle Parts and Accessories , Motorcycle Lighting & Indicators or Rear Brake Lights.   You can search 'Red LED Strips' or similar wording.   If it helps, the vendor was <motors2015>.   $24 the pair.

Edited July 29, 2019 by wordsmith

[flyfifer]

I simply wondered if you had used a waterproof strip or it was in a little waterproof "box".

Waterproofing is a bit more of an issue in my part of the planet !

[wordsmith]

13 hours ago, flyfifer said:

I simply wondered if you had used a waterproof strip or it was in a little waterproof "box".

Waterproofing is a bit more of an issue in my part of the planet !

The strips are said to be waterproof, although they are only wet here when I wash the bike!   But no reason why you could not buy a sealed lamp unit - plenty of those too on E Bay, and possibly better-looking too.   The <motors2015) site noted above has zillions of alternatives, look 'em up via Google!   Second pic below is just one drown-proof option that may suit you.  

First pic below is my 'kit' - just need to add some wire and the 5A in-line fuse.

LATER EDIT: just looking at the <motors2015> site on E Bay I noticed an all-red LED rear brake-light strip, with more LEDs and at 25cm wide about twice the width of my existing set-up, giving I guess even greater visibility to following vehicles.   I have ordered one of these to replace the existing strip.    Bottom pic shows the just-ordered item.

Edited July 29, 2019 by wordsmith

[wordsmith]

I invented two new words today – ‘defarkle’ and ‘refarkle’.   The defarkle came into play when I removed the recently-installed rear-mounted brake-operated flashing/ pulsing LED strips.   Nothing was wrong with them except that they incorporated amber as well as red beads, to allow for turn signals to be activated.     My fault for not reading the product description carefully enough when ordering!   I didn’t want that extra complication, so only the red ones were connected – quite bright and effective enough, but not good enough for a fussy Old Bloke like me!

So refarkle came into play.   For a ridiculously cheap AUD$13.79 I bought a 25cm/ 10” fully-enclosed unit with 25 all-red beads, and replaced the original two smaller LED strips with the new unit.   It entailed making up a new bracket to fit underneath and at the very rear of the luggage rack, for optimum visibility from behind.

It was one of those jobs that should have taken half-an-hour, but took half a day, as I had to make up a new and rather complex bracket, which was fiddly but not hard.   The new LED wires were soldered-in to the existing under-seat leads, so no more work was needed there.

This is much better in many respects.   It is much wider, looks neater, is fully-enclosed and therefore weather-proof, the red beads are larger and brighter, the unit strobes rapidly when either brake is used, then pulses on and off quite rapidly for six pulses, then stays on in a steady state.   In the first two pix below the LEDs are NOT on.   The third pic has the LEDs ON (strobing and pulsing finished) - top-box fitted too.  

There's a good deal more about this earlier installation in preceding posts in this Thread of mine...

The bike will have its first 1000k service tomorrow, at about 970km from new, five weeks ago.

Edited August 8, 2019 by wordsmith