LED lights

[houndguy]

I used to ride a 07 Burgman 400 before switching over to a 08 Xciting 500. 

One thing I considered doing was adding LED lights to the Burgman, sadly due to a car cutting in front of me and causing me to total the Burgman, that project never got started.

Crying over a spilt bike however is just stupid.  So far I'm happy with my choice but want to make some improvements.  Has anyone ever added LED sidelights to their bike?  I do a lot of commuting in the dark (I work till 12:30 - 1 AM) and want to see and be seen.  I'm not talking replacing the bulb here but adding additional lights to the bike itself.

I have a few ideas in mind but want to talk to you first about it to see if I'm on the right path.   

[Urbestfriend]

You can find numerous posts regarding this subject.  AV Guy, Myself and a few others are big supporters of this LED Venue.
Superbrightleds and Superlumination are 2 Vendors offering reasonably priced products.   While doing this,  consider a Nautilus or WOLO air horn,  some auxiliary switches and a 12VDC (cigarette) power outlet for your dash.   You can run an additional heavier wire to the front from your battery.  At any rate,  entertain your options,  because you'll likely have to remove the front cowl for access.  Not that it's hard,  but repeated removal and installing of the 6 or 8 screws tends to wear out the plastic holes in the cowling.

[houndguy]

I was thinking more along these lines.  Assuming I can find something more reasonalble:  http://www.twistedthrottle.com/shop-by-product/lighting-visibility

[MotoRandy123]

These are $40 on Ebay. You can search around I used "cree LED driving lights" to find these;
These are 10W 800 lumens

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2X-12V-24V-Black-Cree-LED-10W-800LM-Work-Light-Offroad-Vehicle-Driving-UTE-Boat-/380570562885?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item589bc5f145&vxp=mtr

Here's a 30W  3000 lumen single for $85, the more light output the more they cost;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/30W-12V-3000LM-CREE-T6-LED-Driving-Fog-Light-Lamp-Rally-Ranger-4x4-Dirt-ATV-/251083550207?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a75beedff&vxp=mtr

A standard H4 puts out 1100-1500 lumens and draws 55-60 watts to do so. So these should be bright!

[sissy mary]

Do u think our bikes charging system could handle 2 30w lights with enough juice left to keep the battery up?

[MotoRandy123]

I'd guess the 500 would be able to do 60 extra watts. It's strange but no one ever tells you
how much extra juice you have... The brake light uses 20 watts and the fan uses 50 while
those aren't in use you can run a light...

[sissy mary]

It sounds like it would not be a bad idea to change all bulbs except the head light to LED to save on juice for something like the running lights ad on?

[MotoRandy123]

Well that could be a double edged sword. The charging system on a bike (or scooter) generally
runs at full power all the time. The regulator dumps extra current to ground to keep from
overcharging the battery. With less draw more has power to be dumped. My old bike was a
BMW and the heat caused the regulator to stop regulating and the over voltage boiled the
water out of the battery! There has to be excess power built in for loads that are only on
temporarily but not too much that the regulator over heats. It's a fine balance and a problem
on different bikes...

 I just bought a 1969 CT90, that bike is 6V's and the battery is the regulator. So if the battery dies
all your bulbs pop! Fun times!

[JustWantToRide]

You've got about 30w to play with on the X500, the X500i and X500Ri only have about 10w left - depending on your riding habits.  The alternator maxes out at 240w at 5,000 rpm - but your alternator may no longer be putting out the max, and you probably don't always ride at 5,000 rpm. 

I turned my signal lights into running lights using magicblinkers and led bulbs.  They are brighter than the standard bulbs, blink off to signal, and only added 10w.  Your bike would be fine also running the Denali's - but I'd suggest adding a battery charge indicator onto your dash so that when it inevitably is low - you can switch the Denali's off.

http://www.kymcoforum.com/index.php?topic=5723.msg57326#msg57326

[sissy mary]

Do you think my carbed 2007 X500 could handle an electric vest switched on all day long? I don't know how much juice they take?

[MotoRandy123]

I believe those vests are 45 - 65 watts so you should be OK with that and no other
extra current draws...

[Urbestfriend]

I think MotoRandy thinks powering the vest is OK.  However...It probably is not recommended to add
any LED's in addition to the vest.

[MotoRandy123]

Oops maybe poor wording, no extra current draws means driving lights, heated grips, LED's or
anything that uses electricity. The battery will give some extra juice if your over the max but
will get depleted eventually. If you only ride for short times and use a trickle charger it will
recover. As I said you have probably 60 watts to 100 watts depending. On a cold rainy night
the fan probably won't come on but you might be using high beam, if you don't use the brakes
you get another 20 watts to play with etc....

[sissy mary]

The fan does not concern me as it only comes on in stop and go traffic during hot weather. I only tour and I am almost never in traffic for a very long period.

[JustWantToRide]

My Venture vest will use 85w on high.  I used it on my VStrom which had a 400w alternator - but haven't used it on my X500Ri.  I added the MagicBlinkers before I had my LED bulbs in hand - and the 40w additional use was draining my battery.  With the LED's only pulling 10w it's fine.  The EFI system and it's associated sensors on my bike use an additional 20 to 30w over your X500 - so my best estimate would be that you have between 30 and 70w.  I would think that an average vest run on low would be fine on your bike - but if you spend an additional $40 to add a battery charge indicator - then you'll know if you ever need to turn it down (or off) to let your battery catch up.

FWIW:  Heated clothing normally is fused for twice what it will use.  My 85w vest has a 15a fuse (12v * 15a = 180w).  If it has a 10a fuse and doesn't list wattage - then it is probably a 60w or less vest.