Driving lights for Niken

[maximNikenGT]

On 11/23/2020 at 12:27 PM, pilninggas said:

I also have a second high-mount tail brake light, as the first long day i did (a 500 miler), was with a mate on his Strom 1000 and he remarked that as we rode back to Wales that tail lights are quite small and quite hard to see in dusk/twilight.

 

 

Gorgeous color on the Niken. Welcome to the group. So by mounting the lights to the mirror posts, were you able to keep the original screws or did you have to use longer screws as a result of the bracket? Where did you get the brackets from, and also, do your lights vibrate mounted where they are? 

Here in North Carolina, USA, it's not legal to lane filter on motorcycles so I'm not as concerned with the risk of making my bike more difficult to lane filter. Incidentally, by mounting auxiliary lights to engine crash bars, this theoretically shouldn't make my bike wider than the width of my mirrors (which are currently the widest point on the Niken GT). Will be able to confirm this once I get all the parts in and installed. 

On a separate note I added a Givi V37 trunk with LED lighting because of similar rear brake light visibility concerns. The high up position of the lights on my trunk are now in direct line of sight of most SUVs and pickup trucks here in North Carolina, thereby increasing safety from a visibility perspective, and hopefully helping to reduce the likelihood of a car rear-ending me when I come to a stop. 

[pilninggas]

Yep, used the original screws - i just removed them and used that to find out how much thread there was to play with. The brackets are spaced off by 5mm so nothing rubs. The mirrors are unaffected and dont vibrate more.

I am not totally sold on the colour - but i bought it second hand and it was hobson's choice. This sort of flat primer grey (gray for you colonials) is one of those colours (colors!) that Volkswagen Audi seem to have pioneered and it's now very fashionable. 

I do filter on mine - every done it on the Motorway at speed - it's interesting...

[Switchglide12]

I attach driving lights just in-front of radiator. There is existing 10 mm hole where the radiator mounts to the frame. I use that 10mm hole and made L shape bracket to mount the LED lights. As far as wiring I tap into 12V outlet by the seat and change the fuse to 7.5 amp. Now my lights will be on every time turn the ignition. I do like the idea of mirror mount I have to look into it over the holidays.  

[Switchglide12]

16 hours ago, maximNikenGT said:

Gorgeous color on the Niken. Welcome to the group. So by mounting the lights to the mirror posts, were you able to keep the original screws or did you have to use longer screws as a result of the bracket? Where did you get the brackets from, and also, do your lights vibrate mounted where they are? 

Here in North Carolina, USA, it's not legal to lane filter on motorcycles so I'm not as concerned with the risk of making my bike more difficult to lane filter. Incidentally, by mounting auxiliary lights to engine crash bars, this theoretically shouldn't make my bike wider than the width of my mirrors (which are currently the widest point on the Niken GT). Will be able to confirm this once I get all the parts in and installed. 

On a separate note I added a Givi V37 trunk with LED lighting because of similar rear brake light visibility concerns. The high up position of the lights on my trunk are now in direct line of sight of most SUVs and pickup trucks here in North Carolina, thereby increasing safety from a visibility perspective, and hopefully helping to reduce the likelihood of a car rear-ending me when I come to a stop. 

Where did you get the lights for the Givi case. I have the 47L case would love to add that light kit. Also where did you tap in for the brake lights? Does it work as directional light as well?

 

[maximNikenGT]

41 minutes ago, Switchglide12 said:

Where did you get the lights for the Givi case. I have the 47L case would love to add that light kit. Also where did you tap in for the brake lights? Does it work as directional light as well?

 

Before you get the tail lights, check and see if your givi mounting plate for your trunk is metal or plastic. If you have the plastic M5 plate, then this is compatible with the Givi lights. If you have the metal version, it is NOT compatible with the Givi LEDs because of the holes you have to drill through for the wiring connectors. Got the tail lights from Revzilla. Link below to my wiring configuration to my Neutrino Aurora. 

Additional install notes on the lights at the following link. 

 

The lights are not directional.  Trunk lights can be tapped into a switched wire on the neutrino Aurora to activate under braking, but I've chosen to program the LEDs through the Aurora to come on an hour before dusk and turn off an hour after dawn. 

[maximNikenGT]

58 minutes ago, Switchglide12 said:

I attach driving lights just in-front of radiator. There is existing 10 mm hole where the radiator mounts to the frame. I use that 10mm hole and made L shape bracket to mount the LED lights. As far as wiring I tap into 12V outlet by the seat and change the fuse to 7.5 amp. Now my lights will be on every time turn the ignition. I do like the idea of mirror mount I have to look into it over the holidays.  

Do you have pictures of your setup that you can share please? I need to see how you did it such that the lights don't bump into the wheels or suspension. 

[maximNikenGT]

4 hours ago, pilninggas said:

Yep, used the original screws - i just removed them and used that to find out how much thread there was to play with. The brackets are spaced off by 5mm so nothing rubs. The mirrors are unaffected and dont vibrate more.

I am not totally sold on the colour - but i bought it second hand and it was hobson's choice. This sort of flat primer grey (gray for you colonials) is one of those colours (colors!) that Volkswagen Audi seem to have pioneered and it's now very fashionable. 

I do filter on mine - every done it on the Motorway at speed - it's interesting...

Do you have a picture of the night time beam pattern using this auxiliary light mounting location?

[Switchglide12]

52 minutes ago, maximNikenGT said:

Do you have pictures of your setup that you can share please? I need to see how you did it such that the lights don't bump into the wheels or suspension. 

I will take some pictures tomorrow and post it here. Way it is mounted it doesn't bump into anything at all. 

[pilninggas]

19 hours ago, maximNikenGT said:

Do you have a picture of the night time beam pattern using this auxiliary light mounting location?

ill be totally upfront about this - my lights are to make me more visible to the SMIDSY brigade, they arent for better lighting of the road - i quite like the beam pattern from the headlights. If i wanted better road lighting, id mount in the same way, but use a recognised brand with a known beam profile.

[maximNikenGT]

Totally cool with that. Just trying to see what kind of effects the auxiliary lighting will actually do under real world conditions given the unusual bike's profile geometry. If it helps save me the hassle of moving my auxiliary light mounting from crash guards vs radiator vs mirror mounts it'll be totally worth it. Plus it'll give me an idea of maximum size lights that can fit comfortably under there. 

Am curious if the location causes any whistling from the wind?

[pilninggas]

13 minutes ago, maximNikenGT said:

Totally cool with that. Just trying to see what kind of effects the auxiliary lighting will actually do under real world conditions given the unusual bike's profile geometry. If it helps save me the hassle of moving my auxiliary light mounting from crash guards vs radiator vs mirror mounts it'll be totally worth it. Plus it'll give me an idea of maximum size lights that can fit comfortably under there. 

Am curious if the location causes any whistling from the wind?

i have them pointing just down from vertical - so as not to blind drivers in front via their rear view mirrors. They are cheap LED ebay specials, so the beam pattern is broad with no defined cut off or bias. A premium brand could be mounted in the same place and directed downwards relatively easily.

[Switchglide12]

Here are some pictures of cheppo lights I mounted on my Niken GT. Opps can't attach photos keep say files to big. 

 

[maximNikenGT]

Just got my Baja Designs Squadron sports with a combination driving and fog light white lens. Now just need my crash bars to arrive to determine mounting location if I cannot mount these at my mirror bolts. 

Very beefy units with large and solid heat dissipation fins on the backside (those Baja drivers really punish their equipment). IPX rated and replacement lens are $20USD. Plan on ordering some yellow lens too. 

 

[maximNikenGT]

So it's the attention to the little things that make the difference in these lights. A reinforced spine is introduced into the cooling fins presumably to strengthen and increase survivability against breakage (as evidenced by the round circle on the fins when viewed from behind).  

Connectors are heavy gauge cables (slightly thicker than RCA stereo cables). Connectors appear solid.

Although light units are bigger than what I thought, they're very light. 

[maximNikenGT]

Ok a downside to getting auxiliary lights designed for offroad trucks - you get a massive amount of cable. Connectors that go from the battery to the wiring harness for the lights is 8 feet long from battery connectors to their endpoints as shown in the top part of the photo. When stretched out. This top cable above the tape measure additionally splits into a secondary 8 foot cable  that ends in a mechanical switch to turn on and off the lights when connected to your battery. 

Additionally you have an additional 5 1/2 feet of cable (cable  beneath the tape measure) to connect the two lights to the top cable that runs to your battery. So you've got about 14 feet of cable run to run under your bodywork on the bike. I'm going to call Baja Designs and see if I can exchange for a smaller cable run specifically designed for motorcycles.