TBBT
Expert Class
Posts: 114
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posted May 10, 2004 07:12 PM
Libertek tail lamps installed with Custom TL Integrator
I decided to go with black. After getting them I'm glad it did.
I've always liked the idea of integrating the turn signals/tail lamps. But, there has always been a couple of things that bothered me about the integrators you can buy off the self. One is that the tail lamp is always on. That means that when the turn signals are on the cycle goes Blink/Tail Lamp/Blink/Tail Lamp... I would rather have it so the tail lamp filament is off while the turn signals are cycling ie. Blink/off/Blink/off... I think that the turn signals stand out more this way. Another bitch that I've had with my store bought integrator is that the hazard lights on Kawasaki bikes don't work with it unless you got the break lever/handle in.
So I went ahead and made my own integrator to address these two issues.
Here are a few videos to show the results. The quality is crappy but you can still get a feel for the effect.
Setup_1 is with the store bought integrator and incandescent tail lamps that come with the Eurobikes GP undertail.
Setup_2 is with my integrator and the incandescent tail lamps that come with the Eurobikes GP undertail.
Setup_3 is with my integrator and the Libertek LED tail lamps.
setup_1
setup_2
setup_3
One thing you may notice with my integrator is that when you turn off the turn signals is that the lamp goes completely out then back to tail lamp on. The circuit basically samples the turn signal while its on and turns off the tail lamp filament until you turn the turn signals off. A sample and hold circuit keeps the tail lamp off during the off state of the turn signal cycle. When you turn off the turn signals the sample and hold circuit has to discharge. When discharged enough the tail lamp is allowed to come back on.
This discharge time is adjustable with two potentiometers (one for each side). However, it must be, at a minimum, as long as the off period of the turn signal cycle to keep the tail lamp filament from coming back on when the turn signals are on.
In setup_2 I didn't have the pots adjusted so discharge periods didn't match. I made the adjustments in setup_3 and the effect made things look more natural.
Here are some pictures of the Libertek lamps installed.
If you look real close in the next one you can see the little white led that is for license plate illumination. It's mounted to a black aluminum cover that covers to license plate illumination hole.
The rest of the shots are comparisons of tail lamp vs. break light.
My photography sucked here so the picture quality is not so great. These pictures don't the Liberteks any justice. They are amazingly bright and effective. Way more so than the incandescent tail lamps.
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AKA: T^2
  
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ZXLNT
Needs a job
Kawpuke Extraordinare
Posts: 2853
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posted May 10, 2004 08:27 PM
Nice that is exactly the set up I want to do on my bike. What did you do for the homemade integrator. I used relays on mine so I can turn off both the tailight and brakelight filaments at the same time. I just have 1157 style leds in my stock tailight for now. I did do a friends Gix1K up exactly like yours. And yes those damn things are bright. Do u load the flasher back down with power resistors or what??/
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zxfingyz
Expert Class
Posts: 424
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posted May 11, 2004 10:53 AM
Where at in Indiana?
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frEEk
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted May 11, 2004 10:58 AM
looks very nice IMO! and yes, the black looks surprisingly sweet. goes with all the other black bits on the bike.
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TBBT
Expert Class
Posts: 114
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posted May 11, 2004 02:38 PM
quote:
Nice that is exactly the set up I want to do on my bike. What did you do for the homemade integrator. I used relays on mine so I can turn off both the tailight and brakelight filaments at the same time. I just have 1157 style leds in my stock tailight for now. I did do a friends Gix1K up exactly like yours. And yes those damn things are bright. Do u load the flasher back down with power resistors or what??/
No relays here. I wanted it to be all solid state for reliability reasons. I used MOSFETs. Relays are mechanical and fail. Besides, the MOSFETS are genereally cheaper and smaller and they don't make noise when activated.
quote:
I used relays on mine so I can turn off both the tailight and brakelight filaments at the same time.
Yup you wold need to do this. Otherwise activating the brakes would overide the turn signal input to the turn signal/brake light filament.
quote:
Do u load the flasher back down with power resistors or what??
Nah...
Actually, I don't know whats going on in an off the shelf integrator. I never had enough intrest in cracking one open to check it out. So, I don't know for sure what the root cause of the Hazard problems are. Loading issues are just one possibility.
When the Hazards are on (or the turn signals for that matter) my circuit connects the turn signal/brake light filaments directly to the flashing circuit just like they are in the stock wiring setup. So as far as the Hazard flasher (or turn signal flasher) is concerned, it sees the same thing with my circuit as it would see with the stock blinkers.
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AKA: T^2
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ZXLNT
Needs a job
Kawpuke Extraordinare
Posts: 2853
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posted May 11, 2004 10:21 PM
Kewl deal. I am not quite the electronics whiz you are so I stuck with the relays. No problems so far with the 3 1/2 years I have had the integrator on there. Mind sharing your design?
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