De link third brake light from pedal

[Willsmotorcycle]

You guys did the hard part, I just had to cut the wire, you know, actually cut the wire. Thanks again to all who where in this, awesome mod in my opinion.

 

[Larry Fine]

You're welcome.

Again, the case of that diode is hot whenever the brake light is on (regardless of which brake is used), so please insulate it.

Heat-shrink tubing might be a good choice.

 

[Willsmotorcycle]

Well, that didn't take you very long. Glad it works.


What's important is understanding the logic of the modification; why it works.

That's a hefty diode you bought, by the way. It shouldn't need a heat sink.

Remember to insulate the body well, though.

Tanks for the walk through. The logic was the hardest part, took me a bit to understand. The diode was repurposed, and will certainly be insulated .

I love this place!

 

[spiderman302]

I was thinking that this is a great idea. Except I would do it the other way around. De-link from the hand brake by putting the diode on the pedal side of the switch. When I am stopped on a hill, I put both feet on the ground and hold the bike from rolling with the hand brake. I guess that some can not get both feet down, so your way would better suit them.
Good on you for considering the guy behind you. I use a LIN6 because it is bigger and it has a low brightness mode.

 

[Obo]

I put a flasher module in, connected only to my 2 added-on brake lights, that flashes a few times (faster then slower) to get attention before going solid. Works with both levers so regardless of which I use the extra brake lights flash before going solid on. The flash pattern is preset and not adjustable on this model. It's wired into the brake light circuit at the rear bulb assembly.

The module (Google GS-100A) was under $10 and was easy to wire in like this:

brake only setup:


brake & tail lights setup:


Here it is in action. (brake only setup)

 

[Willsmotorcycle]

Here's where it starts getting weird. Put her back together this morning, tested every time I made a move, pulled outside, all is working. Rode 20 minutes or so, no problems. After the first stop I noticed, or rather didn't notice, brake lights in the grill of car behind me. Thought maybe the wrong angle, about 40 minutes later in suburban traffic I conclude I have no brake lights. Made the rest of my stops (unlighted of course) and came home, ate, ETC. She sat for about 3 hours, turned off the lights and turned on the key. Brakes as modified at lever, pedal nothing. Try again, no brake lights anywhere.

DIode, grounds, bad idea, where would one start? We know the fuse is good. It is a 12A 200v diode that bench test correctly.

 

[Willsmotorcycle]

I was thinking that this is a great idea. Except I would do it the other way around. De-link from the hand brake by putting the diode on the pedal side of the switch. When I am stopped on a hill, I put both feet on the ground and hold the bike from rolling with the hand brake. I guess that some can not get both feet down, so your way would better suit them.
Good on you for considering the guy behind you. I use a LIN6 because it is bigger and it has a low brightness mode.

Use a physically smaller diode, this one was a pain to keep install clean. Most times it is flat ground, I can reach either way. I tend to hold with the pedal and trail brake with it also. @Obo has the right idea with a second set.

 

[Larry Fine]

Weird. You interrupted nothing between the rear brake switch and the brake lights, so the problem must be ahead of that point.

It still sounds like the fuse, despite your statement that it's good.

Use a tester to make sure you have power at the hot side of either brake switch, and leaving each one when that brake is applied.

 

[ST Gui]

The diode was repurposed

I was wondering about where you got it as it's a whole lotta diode for the purpose. I'd remove it and use a smaller one for the ease of installation and insulation.

I had the same thought as spiderman about wiring the strobe and diode to the rear brake switch/feed. There are far more times I'm holding the bike with the front brake (lever) and not the rear (pedal). But it's easier/quicker to brake check someone while stopped with the lever rather than the pedal.

 

[Willsmotorcycle]

Weird. You interrupted nothing between the rear brake switch and the brake lights, so the problem must be ahead of that point.

It still sounds like the fuse, despite your statement that it's good.

Use a tester to make sure you have power at the hot side of either brake switch, and leaving each one when that brake is applied.

I only assumed it was good because they came back on. I read your post and was thinking about the mess that is the brake light access hole. There are 4 wires from the LIN, 4 wires from the bolt lights on license plate, and our new single from the diode. It is cramped so I pulled it out and made sure all the connections are good, trimmed and taped to a more professional level (barely) and fired it up. It is all working like it should.

I will take it out and run it tomorrow see if heat is a factor. I forgot to take a picture of the final positions. The diode is outside of the rubber boot, above it, wired tied just barely touching the frame at gas tank, heat shrinked (shrunk?) and electrical taped. Can heat be a cause of intermittent failure on a diode?

 

[Willsmotorcycle]

Assembled but not tided up.

 

[ST Gui]

The GS-100A is oft mentioned here and is about $5 at superbrightleds. It's a great choice for dedicated brake lights. I was going to add one to the ST but got an EMS strobe instead. So I have to get 'round to adding it to my car's CHMSL.

Obo's vid clearly shows the value of dedicated brake lights and I really like that particular flash pattern.

 

[Willsmotorcycle]

I was wondering about where you got it as it's a whole lotta diode for the purpose.

My Father, not sure where it's from but there were 4 on a big heat sink. He looked up the number and gave me the values and tested it to make sure it was good. The good news, it was free. I was hoping for something a bit smaller myself. I will be putting an LED on the dash (2 actually) to tell me when the brake lights are on, so as to know about this problem from the front. I have a trailer isolation relay(?) to install and I guess i'll just do it all at the same time when we get snow storm including the smaller diode. With a group like we have here, I know the knowledge and experience will make it possible, and of course other mod ideas

 

[ST Gui]

Free is good!

 

[Willsmotorcycle]

The GS-100a is oft mentioned here and is about $5 at superbrightleds. It's a great choice for dedicated brake lights. I was going to add one to the ST but got an EMS strobe instead. So I have to get 'round to adding it to my car's CHMSL.

Obo's vid clearly shows the value of dedicated brake lights and that I really like that particular flash pattern.

Yes! I have the flashing to solid strobes in the OEM sockets. They are just ok, not bad as tail lights but not bright enough for brake lights IMHO. I also have a couple of those flashers around for something I never did. Will find a use I'm sure

 

[spiderman302]

tape up the threaded end of the diode. make sure that none of the metal part touches the frame of the bike since it is on the + side of the power.

 

[OkieRider]

I was really excited about the first two syllables of the post subject. Then I found out it was about electronics instead of hydraulics.

 

[Willsmotorcycle]

Weird. You interrupted nothing between the rear brake switch and the brake lights, so the problem must be ahead of that point.

It still sounds like the fuse, despite your statement that it's good.

Use a tester to make sure you have power at the hot side of either brake switch, and leaving each one when that brake is applied.

Works perfect Sir, thank you again.