Cool Accent Lighting

[loudest143]

www.thatscoolwire.com/store/category.asp?CategoryID=168

This is what happens when state employees have a slow day... They find time to locate super cool products for adding that special lighting effect to the underside, or inside of your scooter.

I've got some ideas....

- Inside the engine compartment, where you need some extra light when adjusting your idle speed for the umpteenth time.

- under the seat on each side of your fenderwell for better side visibility, so the cagers will miss you when you blow the 4-way stop.

- inside your seat compartment so you can make that choirlike "ahhhh" singing noise as the white light of God shatters the night sky when you open up your seat to get out your spare spark plug.

- behind the "air vents" on the front of your Phantom based scooter to look extra EVIL at night.

- around your license plate frame, so you can look as sweet as the Honda CRX drivers.

- inside your headlight assembly for added street effect, with a chaser feature that simulates police ligthts for that super quick ride home just before it starts to rain.

Just some ideas from your friendly neighborhood clock watching slacker.

Loudest143
*still filling out my TPS reports.

[earlwb]

That is pretty neat stuff. lots of possibilities with it too.

[natefromogden]

First time I have seen that stuff. I may look at installing that on my home permanantly for my Christmas light replacement. I can think of some good uses on my Morphous too!

[scootdoggydog]

what do you think about cold cathodes

www.vibelights.com/moli.html

pretty cheap too

my biggest concerns are power consumption both while riding and when parked

can either be hooked up to the battery or run off of 8AA for about 8hrs is that how long it would take to drain the scoot battery if parked

and how hot theyll get even though theyre cold cathodes

one of my friends had some neons installed on the interior of his car forgot what kind they were but he would leave them on all night and they didnt kill the battery

i would like to get some that i could leave on at night when parked to make it more visible

so no one would back into it if i was parked behind them and they couldnt see it

plus if i got red or yellow i think i would be able to drive around with them on legally

[90GTVert]

I'm sure to some of you this is crappy, but after seeing this thread I was bored and realised I had an LED trailer light sitting around. It's about 2.5" x 0.75" with 2 or 3 LEDs in it and I had picked it up at Wally World quite some time ago to use as a marker light on a pocket bike. It think it cost about $3 at the time. I also had wire, a fuse holder, and a switch lying around.

30 mins later I have a basicly free red under-scoot light. It's not super bright, but it's easily visible when it's fairly dark out. I like the lights you posted, but considering I'd get a ticket for driving with them on and I never park and profile... there's just no reason to spend much (or any) money on it.

Anyway, the point is, look around. You may have something you can use that you've never even thought of. Another thing that may be interesting to anyone looking for cheap lights they can easily pick up local, try an LED tail/brake light. If you set it up properly you could have an average and a bright light all in one package. Might be cool for well lit vs dark areas if you don't want your whole scoot to glow all the time.

[90GTVert]

Here's a pic, had to wait till after dark. There's also a red 194 bulb as a running light. (no blue lights on the scoot, thats my NHRA wall clock)

[Aerostudent]

Sweet! I will be wiring up some LED/neons sometime soon, and was doing a little research and was quite suprised. I had always heard and assumed that in Cali that neons were illegal to drive with them on, but to my suprise, I can have them on as long as the light is diffused (source itself not visible), and I don't have red facing forward. I am so going rice with this scooter! Tiny engine, trying to hop it up to be faster, multiple decals/stickers on the bike, made in china, neons, yup, it's prime rice material to me! (note: I think that ricers are cool, and rice/tuner is very much my style, so this is in no way shape or form meant to be an insult to anyone based on their style, nationality, etc, etc.)

Aero

[memturbo]

If there are any chrismas stuff left at your local stores

look for led lights ,they come in many different colors.

I bought some a while back 100ct for like $5.00

these are 3 to 5 volt bright led bulbs

if you put them in a series circuit they will hold 12v

or with resistors you can add tons of them .

I used 60 of them to make a flashlight that runs off a 3.6v battery

This light is brighter than two halogen headlights

I use it at night to light up under my porch and its great .

[scootdoggydog]

heres a few places to see/look for some of the laws of different states

www.streetglow.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1655

www.streetglow.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1135

www.findlaw.com/casecode/index.html#statelaw

[90GTVert]

After putting my lights on, my friend with a Roketa decided to turn the lights into a competition. He put an Optix dual color stroble light under his scoot. It's kinda neat, havent seen one of them before. Here's a video of it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4QRrLRh95c

I get the feeling things are going to get silly with our little competition... dead batteries, temporary blindness, the usual. lol

[scootdoggydog]

these lights are awesome
www.svc.com/lighting.html

they are Cold Cathode (CCFL) 4" Dual Cold Cathode Kit - Red

[TeamTEOR]

scootdoggydog, how are those cold cathodes holding up? I think they might be a little fragile to work with in the long run.

EL-Wire is cool stuff, I have a radio controlled airplane that is using it to light the profile for night flying. I have not seen any that are capable of lighting up the bottom of a scooter though.

LEDs are the way to go, and I am finding that I like the 6 LED pods available on eBay and speed shops. The 4 & 5 LED pods are good too. I have noticed that the pods that are using LEDs with lenses that are flat are not as bright as the ones with normal dome style lens. I am working on lighting up my scooter right now. Pictures to follow when I am done in a couple of days.
Tom

[isawhim]

I like my cold cathodes, they are bright, use little power, and mine are protected in a clear tube. Pictures coming soon as I get them a permanent location. (Working on my radio now.)

The 4 inch tubes...

Tube diameter: 3.0mm
Tube length: 300mm/100mm
Input voltage of inverter: 12v
Output voltage of inverter: 680v
Current draw: 5.0mAv
Brightness: 28,000~30,000 cd/m²
Lifetime: 30,000 hours

Real low power... Rule of thumb, 1mAv + 0.5mAv per inch @ 3mm.

(The first 1mAv is the transformer draw for two lights. The other draw is the lights. 2x 4" = 0.5 X 8" = 4mAv + 1mAv = 5mAv)

I use a 4 set of 3mm @ 10" = (2mAv + 20mAv = 22mAv)

My other light is a double-size 6mm @ 10" = (1mAv + 10mAv = 11mAv)

Leds draw less, but they produce less. (Would take over 100 leds to equal the light in a 4" CC tube. That would draw 4x the power. Well, in that ball-park. Not talking about the super-bright leds, those draw as much power as a light-bulb.)

Weight-wise, LED's are still lighter per volume, even at 100 LED's.

Best part about LED's, is that you can create more dramatic lighting effects, and point-lighting. Though, it is limited in range, it is insignificant at a distance. You are trying to impress people close to the bike.

I would not go above 8 lights at 10 inches each, or 6 lights at 12 inches, or 4 lights at 20 inches. That can put a little stress on the bike, when all lights are on. (For a little safe feature, use a two-way switch. Driving-Lights, or Show-Lights... This way, both can not be on at once, and you will hopefully have them off while driving.)

[earlwb]

I got some of the flexible cathode style light ropes and they draw about 100ma at 12v DC on my at home power supply.

[magnaman]

Feb 9, 2008 18:44:20 GMT -5 90GTVert said:

After putting my lights on, my friend with a Roketa decided to turn the lights into a competition. He put an Optix dual color stroble light under his scoot. It's kinda neat, havent seen one of them before. Here's a video of it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4QRrLRh95c

I get the feeling things are going to get silly with our little competition... dead batteries, temporary blindness, the usual. lol

I have a friend who puts lights and strobes onto sport bikes. They use regular strobes designed for emergency vehicles. They are bright! It is a very cool effect. I have a few LED light pods & tubes on the Magna and it looks cool. The scoot is next!

[TeamTEOR]

Wow, I thought those cathode tube would be fragile, glad to hear they are holding up.

I am still working on things as of today. I don't get much time out in the garage to work it out, but I need to finish up asap.

I swapped out all of my turning signal bulbs to LEDs, the rear sockets accepted 1156 bulbs, but I had to do some work to the front ones. It required retrofitting the bulb holders for an 1157 socket (I looked for 1156 ones, but everyone was out of stock locally). Also I needed to swap out my stock Kymco turn signal relay for one compatible with LEDs. They all work well, and it was worth the work to get back a bit of power.

Tomorrow I am going to try to finish up the addition of the pods so I can take pictures. Then after looking it over I can decide if I want to swap out any of the LEDs to point them better.
Tom

[scootdoggydog]

my ccfl's are holding up great i wish they were a little brighter but they were worth the money

i ruined an inverter by hooking it up backwards and turning it on so be careful there

i installed 2 4'' in front and when all the lights are off and its dark out the headlights light up red and it shines down on the front fender and is also visible through the vents on the side it looks pretty cool

and i got 2 12'' in the rear that light up the rear shock pretty good and another 2 4'' on the other side with all the switches in the glove compartment

as far as battery drain i dont know how long i can keep them on for but one night i tried with the alarm armed and the next morning i couldnt start my scoot

i would post pictures but my cheapo cam doesnt take good pictures at night maybe ill get around to making a short video sometime ive been thinking about it for a while now

["Big Guy"]

LEDs are the way to go. I can leave these on all night at bike night (5-6 hours) with very little battery drain:









They are very impressive at night and light up the entire lane when driving.


-Rich

[surfrusty]

Big Guy,

I love the look of your LEDs. Any chance you could give us the low down on how you installed them?

[TeamTEOR]

Here are a couple of mine. There is still a little more work to be done though, and some better pics to take.

[johnboy]

could someone give a tutorial on how to install and wire the LED's?I'd love to put some on my scoot and I KNOW My wife wants them on hers. plus i'd like my dash lights a little brighter . thanks

[TeamTEOR]

Johnboy. LED lighting is pretty simple if you are using components that are sold as drop in units. Any of those Pods, or LED bricks that you see on eBay or at motorcycle stores just need to be connected to your battery with a switch in line.

Some companies even sell power distribution blocks to make that connection easier.
(A quick note, I did not like the LED strips from this company, they might work on a dash though)
preview.tinyurl.com/456vjn

Here are some good bricks on eBay:
preview.tinyurl.com/4e84xq

And some good pods on eBay:
preview.tinyurl.com/4d96ss

Sidewinder LED strips from here are awesome too.
preview.tinyurl.com/2lcvol

The thing that makes LED lighting become tricky is when you start making up your own parts. Then you need to know certain figures on about the LED and run it through an equation so that you power the light correctly with a resistor in line which will also limit the current draw of the LED. If you want a full write up on how to work with standard LEDs (like those you can buy at Radio Shack or Fry's Electronics) then check out my buddy's site. You will walk away knowing how to work with them for sure. www.rc-cam.com/led_info.htm

Hope that helps,
Tom

[johnboy]

thanks Tom,
i did watch an install video on www.boogeylights.com. seems pretty straight forward.

[madwolf]

I just Installed some black light LED's and they look wicked. Sadly though when i try and take a pic nothing really shows up! I got mine from OZNIUM.com Very happy with em!

Now i need black light reactant paint!!