i'm thinking of attempting some custom lighting on my bike, not real sure that i'll follow through with it you know one of those touch and go projects, but if i were to commit to it does anyone have a good idea as to where i could tap into for a good power source without screwing up any other wiring, i am not good with wiring so i'm hoping for a simple tap in and posibly something i could remove and not have long term issues with glitches...thanks

 

Where are you thinking of putting lights at. If you can... stick with LED add ons. Bikes don't come with a lot of extra amperage to share.

You can do one of two things and not have to modify the factory wiring. You can add a fuse panel and run a power lead straight from the battery to power it. You can buy them at a lot of places that have CB radios. Those freaks are always modding their radios.

And the second one... you can use a fuse tap if you're only doing a few add ons. The fuse tap works by pulling an existing fuse out, slipping a brass/copper metal sleeve around the tab on the fuse and putting the fuse back in. Make sure you use a test light to see which side is the live side on the fuse that way the power still has a fuse. If you use the fuse tap on the power side... and the fuse blows... the add ons will still have power.

Again, stay with LEDs because they do not heat up and use next to nothing when it comes to power/amperage.

Here's are pics of what I'm talking about... you can guess which is which.



[IMG]local://upfiles/1936/43BF0831B61B470BABBBCEC7C3167CF8.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/1936/B72ABC1BE83C422CA9566E7D04B6B41D.jpg[/IMG]

 

thanks for the input, yes if i do it i'll be going the led route just adding a few lights in some remote locations just something to set it apart that much more, i don't do a lot of night riding but...guess i'm one of those guys whos never happy with the status quo

 

I've got a couple red leds hooked up to a switch right on my fuse block cover. Ther look bad *** at night and actually serve a purpose. I used to be into neons and all that crap, but I look at it as an added safety feature. People can actually see you better at night. I only have 3-4 leds, but they still make a difference. I placed them all over the engine. I might replace those with some brighter ones later on. I havent had to mod my fuses or anything.

 

Very good point. If you're doing light for show... make sure you have an off/on switch. Cops don't like to see lights added on.

If you can add light for safety... that's great. I'm considering adding red leds to my passenger pegs for the rear red reflector. I took off the ugly looking plastic reflectors and I'm either going with red (rear) and yellow (front) reflective decals or... leds in the rear pegs. The front... I can get away with the flush mount LED signals. You can see them from the front and side so they should be good. My only question is... if you start drilling holes on the mounts, how weak are they?