Custom LED aux lights installed

Thought you guys would enjoy this. I made this LED aux light setup for our bikes.

Input welcome.

I custom made the lights, and the brackets, specifically for our bike. Together they are 5000 lumens at 5.2 amps on high. With the low beam, they are on more dimly so it's not blinding or illegal - more like running lights. I tapped into the headlight signals so I can use the stock switch on the bar.

I'm really stoked with how they turned out! They're plenty bright for me.

Feel free to ask more questions, or give input. I'm always looking for ways to improve future designs.

It's all aluminum, 1/8" thick. The only steel is the screws, so it's pretty light. It's all painted with epoxy paint.

I have enough for 2 more sets. But I haven't built them yet cause im waiting to see if people are interested. I'd also like a few more days of testing.

Momfer said:

Like the looks of the setup. Any idea if and/or when they go "in production"?

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If someone wants a set it would be a few weeks. Keep in mind they're not *perfect* since I made just a few in my garage. The circuits are all hand soldered. Takes a very long time

I will get some better pics tomorrow

Thanks for the positive feedback. Yeah, I have a small mill in my garage. What I meant was, since it's not mass production they aren't all exactly the same and have that hand made aspect to it Here are a couple more pics closer up.

Here are some of the parts that go into making the light - the housing, the junction box, and the mounting bracket.


Close-up of the housing. I use a polycarb cover to seal it from water and damage to the lenses.


The junction box mounted. This takes power from the battery, signal from your headlight, and distributes a regulated output to each light. It bolts right on where the fender mount is.


In the tail end, you can see where I tied into the battery. I tried to keep it OE as possible - see the black cable looping around from the top, and the fuse holder in the middle of the pic.

gatdammit said:

Really nice work all around- fab, finish and capturing the style of the bike. I wired mine into the headlights but, I don't get low/driving option. Just on with the brights. I'd really like to have non-offensive driving lamps instead of doing an LED headlight swap.

So, million dollar question: ballpark cost? If you're serious about a production run and settle on a price, you should start a separate group buy/reserve list.

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Thank you. How did you wire yours into the headlights? I had a hard time figuring out how to do that in a nice way. I didn't want to mess with the stock wiring harness and risk breaking something there. So, I used a water tight fitting and went in through the bottom of the headlight housing and soldered directly to the headlight connector. This was the most involved part of the install, but looks totally legit now.

I'm still thinking about the cost. The clearwater krista is most like mine, with 4800 lumens. Their generic kit is $650, and bike-specific kits are upwards of $1000. I personally think that's kind of expensive. I'm sure they are nice, but yikes. The other popular brand is the twisted throttle Denali D2, but those are only 830 lumens, not really in the same category, yet they're still $360 for a generic kit.

I won't say a number yet but probably something similar to the generic clearwater krista kit. Any thoughts?

Oh interesting! I just did a search, and found a few threads on HID and LED retrofit bulbs. People have done quite a bit of work in this area already, mine is just another take on it

I agree, you can fit something for cheap. Any pics of your setup specifically? I've seen some pretty creative installs, like the ones underneath the handguards. I was going for the OEM look, like it's really made for this bike. That is worth a lot to me.

The only thing I can say is, with the cheap kits, be wary of false claims. There are a lot out there that use bluish tinted LEDs and unrealistic numbers. I've used those before and they just don't compare.

Anyway, I'm glad you guys like it

Monstard said:

would love to order a set if it goes into production. is it plug and play?

btw, have you tested it for an extended period? i was concerned about heat dissipation, or the lack of it... other designs (such as denali) incorporate heat sinks or cooling fins to the housing

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Well, I only have 1 day on this set so far, but I have built other very similar lights and used them over the course of 2 years, through rain and shine, with no issues. My friend has a similar set that he uses primarily off road and in the snow, and there have been no issues. I definitely had some issues to work out with the first versions, but these are getting pretty dialed.

As for the heat, on low mode they generate almost no heat. On high, they are intended to be used while moving, and the airflow keeps them cool. They can become warm, which is normal. If you have no airflow, on a warm day, with the lights on high, they will get hot. Not hot enough to break anything or burn you, but it will decrease the lifespan of the LED.

LEDs don't usually just die (unless you have no heat sink at all) - they decrease brightness over time and their color changes. While maintaining a cool temperature is important for ultimate performance, the modern LEDs are actually quite robust. The LEDs I am using maintain 98.5% of their rated brightness when operated at 85 degrees C for 3,000 hours. That's almost the boiling point of water, and that's a LOT of night riding.

As for plug-and-play, they require tapping into your headlight signal. The lights can be mounted, and power routed in less than 10 minutes with no modification. The headlight signal requires either splice connectors, or soldering inside the headlight housing, which is what I did. I'll show some pics of how I did this.