Modifying the tail light

It has begun. My original idea is thrown out the window. They are wired in a more complicated manner than I was anticipating. Each led is a 4 conductor led with power going to all LEDs when the key is on. They all recieve 1.5v with key on. The power is increased to 2.1v when the brake is activated. This complicates things. Not to mention, the primary board does all the thinking and then juts sends a negative and a positive to the other one. The positive signal from the primary board is also variable, 1.5v and 2.1v. So, new plan. I'm taking individual hyper bright LEDs (as powerful as I can find without attaching a heat sync) and epoxying then just in front of the OEM LEDs. This will allow the new LEDs to utilize the original reflective housing(which is amazingly efficient because the OEM LEDs are not as powerful as I was expecting given how bright they are. That reflective housing is doing a fantastic job of amplifying light). By doing this I will need to make the original LED cut out slightly larger to allow the new ones to utilize the reflector. It is crazy tight in there so I cant get a cutting tool in there so I intend on using a soldering iron or heat up a small flat screwdriver to glowing red and melting it(I have done this in the past and it works fantastically).

On the led forums and FB groups they recommended abandoning all the electrical components on the boards and wire up an aftermarket led controller. This would give all kinds of control to the lights and allow you to do a pattern if you wanted to. The down side is that they start at $100. For this application I dont think it would be good since we are dealing with so few lights. By adding the additional dedicated LEDs I wouldn't need to interrupt the normal brake light voltage going to each board. Instead, they would stay on and one side would get even brighter. I am undecided as to if I will be going with amber/orange or red. I was thinking that amber/orange will give a slight color contrast through the red lense.

If only a company would offer an integrated taillight that was visable in the day light. I have seen modified taillights in the titan FB pages but they dont go into how they are doing it

Good idea but I'm looking for something that is more clean. I have the fancy NRC signals and they are really bright but I'm looking for something even more clean. I want an integrated taillight but most people say you cant see thr hem in the daylight. After numerous emails back and forth with a couple dedicated LED suppliers I have purchased exactly what they recomend and they assure me that they will be incredibly bright. Another bonus, all the parts totalled $15 + $5 shipping. I will report back with the outcome, good or bad as well as the exact parts purchased.

kuksul08 said:

So if I understand this correctly, you're trying to just make the tail light brighter? So you're going to glue them to the board in front of the factory LEDs and then how will you power them?

Interesting project. I have a small amount of LED experience having made Hyper lights and associated circuitry. It appears that the stock light uses a very simple linear regulator with a pair of current sense resistors to set the current. Remember, LEDs are current-controlled devices. A small change in voltage correlates to a large change in current, so they are typically controlled by keeping a constant current to the LED.

Can you see what it says on the 3 prong black IC? LM317? LM338?

It's possible the LED is grounded through the heatsink directly beneath the die(s), but most I've used have an electrically isolated thermal pathway.

There are a number of ways to do it. You will need to ensure a good thermal pathway for the new LEDs. It looks like theyre using a copper-clad fiberglass perforated PCB? It doesn't have a metal core does it? This will really limit your options because more power = more heat. The best way to transfer the heat from the LED is with solder. An epoxy will not do as well. Make sure to keep the "running light" a similar brightness if you want to greatly increase the "brake light" brightness.

What kind of LED's did you go with?

Click to expand...

The original lighting will still be intact. The original LEDs arent very bright by them self, the reflective housing is doing a great job of amplification and spreading out the light. Through much conversation with a couple companies I ordered these.
https://lighthouseleds.com/plcc-6-5050-smd-led-orange-amber-ultra-bright-6.html
Along with these drivers.

https://lighthouseleds.com/20ma-led-current-limiter-driver.html
Each led has 3 diodes in them. I was instructed to wire the 3 diodes in series then to a driver to maximize the efficiency, output and stability. The 5050 LEDs do not need a heat sync (any larger and they would need one) so they are perfectly acceptable to epoxy them directly to the OEM board(insulating them from the item circuitry). Each driver will be wired in parallel in groups of 4(to make up 1 turnsignal). I will be placing them right on the OEM board just in front (closest to the red lense) and removing the small amount of reflective material on the reflector housing. This will also take advantage of the stellar amplification that Ducati designed. The output of the 5050 LEDs is far greater (according to the company) than the OEM pieces (that I am leaving in place) that the orange/amber color will overpower the red when its light up giving an alternating colo of running red, (switched) brake red and turn orange. This means that while the brake is pulled the red will always be light up but when the turn is also applied the orange will flash brighter over that red. The wiring for these qill be independent of the OEM board and simply wired through the factory turn wiring. I have my fingers crossed but I think it's going to work.

I have another company that gave a list of parts needed to make a whole new board without the need of reflectors while using SMD's but would need to incorporate the need for a $150 programmable driver(well, probably not "need" bit would be cooler to program)

This is the recommendation from the other company for starting from scratch. I was lookin for a "retro kit" option that others could do at home with just a list and simple instructions. I dont think this list would fit that

Thanks for your below inquiry and interest in SunLED!

For your application, we would recommend the below LEDs. I’ve also listed links to our distribution partner Digi-Key where parts are readily available for purchase.

Let us know if you have any questions, thanks.



Taillight (Red Emission)

1. SunLED PN: XZMOLA109FS à ½-Watt 3528 Package

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/sunled/XZMOLA109FS/1497-1343-1-ND/6615775



2. SunLED PN: XZMDH160S à 1-Watt 3535 Package

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/sunled/XZMDH160S/1497-1346-1-ND/6615778



Turn Signal (Amber Emission)

1. SunLED PN: XZMYLA109FS à ½-Watt 3528 Package

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/sunled/XZMYLA109FS/1497-1344-1-ND/6615776



2. SunLED PN: XZMYH160S à 1-Watt 3535 Package

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/sunled/XZMYH160S/1497-1347-1-ND/6615779