So i have just came across these U5 cree 125w led projector lamps in my local bike store. and they are freakishly HUGE, i mean not like huge they are like BFG MASSIVE , how does one hang that sorta beast from a flimsy scooter fairing. now i like the idea of the aux lighting it would solve my ongoing BA20D candle problem i have and the 15mph poodling around the countrylanes so i do not end up in a ditch. BUT i am unable to fit large meaty lamps like those U5 125w monsters. I found some smaller ones D1 lamps then i saw the price tag at £199 , yep 30-40mm lamps @ 10w but a massive price tag, i also found the givi ones to again massive price tag. So guys have you fitted aux lamps to your scoots and have you found a mini/micro cree projectors that we could hide in fairing scoops / pods and would not look out of place or tear of our fairings at the chance of a single bump or road hump. just need something thats going to cast a fair bit of light about 30-60ft infront of me but not blind anyone else or gain the attention of mr Plod ( i always run across a police car along the country lanes )
They to big accyuklad. Most come with a glass lens unit so have a fair bit of weight , that one is 50mm across , my pear eye hole is only 25mm high x 45mm length. i also have the main headlight hanger that protrudes into this area to so depth of unit has to be around 45mm max. and the biggest problem 10yr old body plastics. having that weight on a couple of single points will not be to good on old plastics and it means backing plates of alloy needed and externaly the body work is going to look shoddy. i found some small lamps in halfords, i was thinking i could dremel the body work a little to get them housed, then i looked more closer and found they has 55w halogens inside , thats 110w draw thats needed from my little 7a battery and my stator charging side just will not cope with that kind of draw ( my stock lamps are 35/35w , and my stator struggles to run these, dim when ticking over, bright when rpm tops 3000+ )
these i got from ebay, not super bright, but better than none, cost £1, they are like 3w or something, but do the job for me, i can be sure that you live in a lighter area than me, its 3 hours of daylight here now! i ran the wires into the back of the highbeam connectors, works great, i have one on my bmw too i think...
thats cool scuba. do you know if there are any legalitys with fitting the lamps. i was going to bolt a single led lamp to the top side of my front mud fender making sure it would not bind or get snagged up, but the laws on lights and all that shizzle confuses me. lights can be used if they do not dazzle other road users, but nothing about mounting and placement. i was going to make up a wire loom , single pos - neg from battery and piggy tail it to a dual pos-neg , run this new wire loom along the floor side pannels with the throttle cable, and add dual 5a - 12a fuse onto both pig tails ( if one lmap blows out the other would not be affected by the fuse going. i seen a couple little 3w lamps bout the same size as yours to on amazon.
I always put mine on the forks and did so with the SYM jet i had. Two of them, one either side. On the legality side of stuff, obviously they cant be aimed so that they blind other road users, You can place them pretty much wherever you want legally aslong as they are the right colours - white front red rear and are aimed so that they dont blind other drivers. Come MOT time my MOT man just slaps some tape over the lights and switches that arent factory to pass them. obviously you need to tell your insurance you have auxilary lights fitted. I take mine from bike to bike and now have a home made loom but i run mine straight off the battery, with a fuse then a switch seperate to the switch you place on the bars if that makes sense, Mainly because im paranoid about draining batterys and it stops any little sods switching them on when its parked up (theyre sods for it round ere)
Aye i was going to go a stealth switch mod. horn button on left bar, a small circular hole drilled right under the horn switch area and a tactile clicky on / off seated. so your thumb and pop the horn or scoop under horn and enable aux lighting ( if it cannot bee seen it cannot be engaged, also hidden from view of examiner ) my first intention was seating them in those pod like sccops in the front panel just below headlamp and add a clear indicator lens like covering so it looked like lighters wee fitted from factory, the have them wired in on the switch as lowbeam side lights and angled at the road infront of bike. i asked mech about fork mounting and he said its gonna be a tough one as the syms have fairly meaty bottom ends to the fork legs. i dont think there is enough clearnce to get it perched ontop of the front mud fender either and i really dont want it shoved on the front of the mud fender its asking to be kicked of by some kiddy round here.
i would say its legal as long as you dont dazzle others with them, thats why i run them to the high beam, as you dont drive around with them on. if you set them up so they are the same distance/height as your standard dipped i cant see it being a problem to be fair.
Its a easy DIY job that takes a few hours if you have no experience, 30 minutes with experience and its a skill learnt, forget about a mechanic.. Most will say it'll be tough just to get more ££ out of you. I had no issues fitting to forks with my SYM though I can see what you mean about stealth in the vents, Problem there is, there's nothing behind that panel to secure them properly and in my experience the plastics on the SYM are too flimsy to hold much weight. Although if you have a few hours spare you could probably make up your own brackets to mount them with.
i was to fiberglass over some alloy mesh into a strip, then mount this to the underside of the sym jets plastic headlamp cage. use a couple small fiberglassed alloy mesh plates on the inner side to spread any force and stop it splitting , then mount the lamps to the end sections of the fiberglassed strip. i could fabric it to go the whole width of the front panel and have a few drilled holes for mounting points so can get them lined up perfect. i also thought about removing the front panel and headlamp holder cage and glassing the whole thing with an added layering of alloy mesh , then adding the alloy'd mesh strip to the bottom , double the strength of the current plastic holder and add meat to secure the strip and lamps on the ends. Image of the headlamp cage added
Going through manual to see where some suitable metal lugs are i could maybe run a couple of mounts from. if i take a tumble and they are fork mounted i can see them getting mashed up, plastics are 10yr old so not a supple as they used to be and prone to cracking easy ( some one tried to screwdriver my front indicator off, mashed up the lens unit and snapped my upper bar cover). not enough freespace ontop of mud fender i would hook up on the front fairing when forks compress. still looking for some mini lamps , but also saving pennys to try get new bike with better headlamps
