led driving (riding?) lights

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led driving (riding?) lights

Postby <5394.html?mode=viewprofile&u=606">matt lund » Wed Sep 29, 2010 8:09 pm

with winter on it's way the Maggot has been WD40'd and snuggled up under a duvet, will be doing some work on her like heat wrapping the manky downpipes and i want to fit LED driving lights onto the crash bars, can make clamp brackets easily but the thing bothering me is the wiring, heard many scare stories about CX alternators and i wonder if i could tap into the sidelight wiring on a paralell circuit to run the LED lights. has anyone done this? i really need to swot up on the CX electrical system's ratings more but it looks like on my manual wiring diagram (82 CX500B) there is an auxilary connector to power additional devices. i could juice off that with a correctly rated fuse to a small switch mounted like the choke knob is but i would like them to come on with the sidelight. LEDs run on low wattage but i don't want to risk overloading a 28 year old alternator!
PS- get this month's Classic Motorcycle Mechanics magazine!!!!!
Matt
if it ain't broke, fix it til it is!
<5394.html?mode=viewprofile&u=606">matt lund
 
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Re: led driving (riding?) lights

Postby Gman » Wed Sep 29, 2010 8:21 pm

I bought a pair of Blue LED fog lamps and have one each on my CXs,

Image

Can't say they are,"Spot" lights but I have noticed that drivers notice me more as I'm sure psychologically they get their attention thinking I'm a Copper/Police<grin>.Mine were only 12 LED and if I had wanted to wait and get them from China I could have got some 24 LED ones and there may be even more powerful ones now.
Being LEDs they don't use much current.I just wired them into my parking light wire in my Headlight.Remember also I run an electric Fan and heated inner Gloves and still don't worry about the charging systems.I do take my battery off from time to time to in-bike hook it up to my Bike Maintenance charger

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OXFORD-OXIMISER-6 ... 2c578d69c9

and keep a check on the fluid levels,something everyone should do but often gets overlooked.
I also use 1157 LED Stop/Tail lamps which gets me a bit of current back.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2x-36-LED-1157-P2 ... 3a5e6b670d
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Location: Hull.Yorkshire.UK.2x1980 CX500ZABs:Citroen ZX TD(250,000 miles)


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