High/Low Beam LED indicator light help!

Hey guys,

I am looking to wire a LED to the switch on my motorcycle to indicate a high beam (Blue LED). Since this will be my first LED Mod I was hoping all you gurus out there might point me in the right direction. I need to know which type of LED to use and where to purchase them from as well as how to wire it to the light wiring harness. I built the wiring harness for the bike from scratch and just need to integrate the LED into it for roadworthy purposes.

Thanks guys,

Steve

i would want one of these for my bikes led, assuming you dont have a face plate
http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...kw=led+holder&kw=led+holder&parentPage=search

nice chrome holder, might need to silicon seal things, more than the little rubber thing at the bottom.


now for the led, did you want it hitting you in the face? a more 360* angle? its going to be ON at Night while your driving. mabey a 25* ?

The bike should have a 12 volt system, so a simple resistor is all that is needed to get the voltage in the ball park. You want to underdrive it, since a bright blue 5 mm led can be blinding. Frosting the LED lens might be a good idea too so you can see it. A clear lens will not be visible unless it's pointed at you.

You might want to do some filtering and voltage clamping, but it's probably not needed.

Daniel

Daniel

then put the resister itself comming off the high beam Positive wire, wherever you can get it.
use heat shrink tubing to cover it. then run the lead from that, up to the positive on the led, that way if the sucker shorts out, it will already be resistered, and of little consequence.
grab your negative off the ground of the bike somewhere , (assuming it has negative ground of course).

using a calculator like this, very simple one
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Bill_Bowden/led.htm

looks like you need a 1/2 watt resister max (1/4 will work, but dont cover with tubing) and about 560ohms, or more.

an led like this one
http://www.quickar.com/discrete.php?session=
the NSPB500s , should be a good "quality" one, able to handle 30ma max, and being a NICHIA type, run at 10-20ma (less than its max) , should last well

Thanks for all the help guys. I am formulating a plan and with your help should have a great setup.

Thanks,

Steve