Circuit Design Help

[jammin0]

So I'm making an LED tail light for my friends motorcycle.  He wants some kind of integrated blinkers but the lens on the tail light is red.  It is already running 2 separate bulbs in the tail light so I was thinking of splitting it in half and when the turn signals are on, half of the tail/break light will flash.  Anyway, I have the lights all wired and ready to go and now I'm trying to make a power board to run the whole thing.  I built one 5 years back or so based on the same principle minus the blinking function.  I'm an electronics newb so I wanted to run this by the experts so they can tell me what I'm missing.  I should probably have some diodes or something in there.  Here's a link to a video testing out the lights too, will probably tone it down a bit since I only populated the board with 6 LEDs and finished it will have 66.

Any critiques or help would be greatly appreciated.

[Nephasth]

Man, the battery symbol used for bulb symbols is tripping me out when I read your schematic...

[jammin0]

That's the start of the circuit, no bulbs there, just using the +12V from the wiring.  Admittedly though, I don't know what I'm doing most of the time.  That's why I came here to ask for help.

[DaOld Man]

Why do you need the relay? Doesn't the brake light flash with the turn signal?

[PL1]

It sounds like you're following a design like this:
  (O=on, B=blink, X=off)
Brakes only           - (OO)
Left turn, brake      - (BO)
Left turn, no brake - (BX)

In low light conditions, it seems like drivers behind the bike might have a hard time determining which turn signal is activated unless the brake light is on at the same time.   

Can you post a sketch of the brake and turn light locations on the back of the bike?


Scott

[jammin0]

Why do you need the relay? Doesn't the brake light flash with the turn signal?

Yeah, it's going to flash but it is split in half so there will always be 1/2 that is functioning as normal.

In low light conditions, it seems like drivers behind the bike might have a hard time determining which turn signal is activated unless the brake light is on at the same time.   

Can you post a sketch of the brake and turn light locations on the back of the bike?

Scott

So there will actually be 2 of the circuit that I drew up.  1 for each side of the tail light.  Since I had the board with the LEDs already made up I thought I would do a little bit of mechanical switching (touching wires to the 9volt battery  )  Here's a video outlining what it will look like.  Of course if you were to brake whilst signalling it will look slightly different because it will go from running light to brake light.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_oUU7Y9-x0&feature=youtu.be

[jammin0]

Anyone else want to weigh in?  I'm not going to melt anything am I?

[BadMouth]

I have the badlands run/turn/brake controller on mine and it works the same as what you show in the video.
Was going to link to it, but didn't realize how friggin' expensive they are ($100+).  Could have sworn that I only paid $30 for mine.

I'm no electrical engineer, but I'll study your schematic and share my thoughts when I get time.

[jammin0]

  sweet, thanks.  I'll probably bread board it up and run it off of my gokart battery just to test it out first and make sure there are no weird things that will fry my LEDs and call it good unless someone sees some grave error in my design.  I really wish I could go back to the highschool/college days and take a class or two in electronics 101 but then again, I have a few engineer buddies who can't even change a lightbulb so I guess there is more than just book smart.

[BadMouth]

If I'm reading it right..... (understood it more upside down  )

This is only for one side?
Inputs from the switches aren't shown?
The current wiring on the motorcycle has separate outputs for tail light and brake? (i.e. standard 1157 car bulb)

Assuming those are true, I don't see why it wouldn't work.
Like stated earlier though, I am just a fellow tinkerer.

Here's an idea to take it up a notch:
Have the entire panel light up for brake/tail, but an arrow pattern for turn. <<< >>>

[lilshawn]

this is fine and dandy and all, but you all might want to check to make sure such a modification fall within the DOT regulations.

for instance 'round here, a turn signal MUST be amber in color and separate from the brake light OR if integrated into a stoplight, The direction must be indicated by flashing the indicated directions brake light off/on or dim/bright.

In the case of a single brake light, i would assume it must have a separate circuit for the turn indicator portion of the circuit because no direction is easily discernible in a single light.

quick google yeilds : http://www.ehow.com/list_7356561_federal-regulations-motorcycle-turn-signals.html

[BadMouth]

I couldn't remember if mine went all the way dark when flashing or alternated between low and high intensity.
Just tested it and it goes all the way dark, same as your video above.

There is a difference though.  The blinking light is always at full brightness regardless of whether the brake is pressed or not.

Nobody here has hassled me other than the Triumph dealership.  Even though it technically complies with all laws, they refused to inspect it on the grounds that the bike's original dedicated brake light is missing.

Some Harley Davidson motorcycles come from the factory with the same run/turn/brake setup.
I took it to an independent custom bike shop and they didn't bat an eye.

[jammin0]

I couldn't remember if mine went all the way dark when flashing or alternated between low and high intensity.
Just tested it and it goes all the way dark, same as your video above.

There is a difference though.  The blinking light is always at full brightness regardless of whether the brake is pressed or not.

Nobody here has hassled me other than the Triumph dealership.  Even though it technically complies with all laws, they refused to inspect it on the grounds that the bike's original dedicated brake light is missing.

Some Harley Davidson motorcycles come from the factory with the same run/turn/brake setup.
I took it to an independent custom bike shop and they didn't bat an eye.

Awesome, thanks for all the help.  And thanks Lilshawn for pointing out DOT regulations.  My buddy rides around all day long and he doesn't even have rear blinkers, he just uses hand signals so I figured whatever I could get going for him would be better than what he's doing.  After checking the Oregon DMV website it doesn't specify on color and just states that you have to have a tail light and you have to have a blinking turn signal and that's about it.  I really wanted to do an amber arrow but my buddy's bike is a '98 Honda Shadow 1100 with a fairly small tail light.  The lens is red so I figured it would be pretty hard to have it show up decently.  I'm happy with how it's working out so far and in the end it will only cost me about $20 in material.  Should make a nice bday gift.  Here's a picture of the progress on the circuit board drawn up for the power.  I'll post a video of the final thing in action assuming everything works.

Oh yeah, the coolest part about all of it is that it will just pop in and out.  If he needs to go back to stock for whatever reason he can just unplug the thing.  I found these on amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Adapters-Sockets-Covert-Wiring-Socket/dp/B007FUF32S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398276751&sr=8-1&keywords=1157+adapter

[jammin0]

I think it's all going to work.  I am going to test fit it in my friends bike in the next few days.  Here's the finished power board.

[jammin0]

Well, it was a super tight fit but I got it all in and it seems to work.  I had to add some high wattage resistors to avoid the hyperflash created by no load on the blinkers.  Here it is on the bike.

[lilshawn]

nice job. looks good. it should be good enough to keep the highway patrol off your ass.

you can eliminate the need for the high wattage resistors and the "hyperspeed flash" by switching to an "electronic flasher". they are commonly used in towing applications where extra load presented with a trailer lights causes the flasher system to stop working all together. it's basically a relay and timing circuit instead of a bi-metal contact. it keeps a constant flash rate regardless of the lighting load.

[ark_ader]

It would be nice to have a character matrix included so you can display messages like "Stop Tailgating Me".

[lilshawn]

betabrite for the win!

includes such messages such as:

"hey baby want to score?"
"your tire is low"
"get off the road jackass"

and

"pull over i'm going to shoot you in your mother !@#$ing face"

[BadMouth]

betabrite for the win!

I'm hoping to buy a touring bike in the next year.
Just might have to do this on the top box/tourpack.

[Howard_Casto]

"pull over i'm going to shoot you in your mother !@#$ing face"

The official city slogan of Detroit!