Time to serious up my light system

[Midwest Rider]

Hey All

First. I want to thank the electrical gurus and the many projects posted by members that helped me with this project.

Tiring of the dink ass cree bullet lights I've had for a number of years, and worked well. It is time for an upgrade.

So far

2 7ah sla batteries ( China ) from sleazebay. 26 bucks

2 27 watt driving lights. LED. Using just one it is bright enough during the day.

6 lead fuse block. Amazon.

14 gauge wire, lighted toggle switches, blade connectors. Autozone

4 X 4 and 8 X 8 outdoor electrical boxes, stainless steel hardware, and stock 1/8 X 1 flat and angle aluminium. Menards

I have the battery box mounted on the right support for the friction drive and the control box mounted on the main tube.

Also a left hand all in one switched with lead wire brake lever from ElectricScooterParts.com

Assorted other bits and pieces from the junk drawer and bottom shelf.

Trailer marker lights, LED. Autozone. Probably got the wrong ones as this is an isolated system and need 2 wires. Pulled one apart and saw that it had male blade connectors bent at 90 degrees. Small screw driver fixed that.

Pictures tomorrow. Eh?

 

[Midwest Rider]

Hey All

First. I want to thank the electrical gurus and the many projects posted by members that helped me with this project.

Tiring of the dink ass cree bullet lights I've had for a number of years, and worked well. It is time for an upgrade.

So far

2 7ah sla batteries ( China ) from sleazebay. 26 bucks

2 27 watt driving lights. LED. Using just one it is bright enough during the day.

6 lead fuse block. Amazon.

14 gauge wire, lighted toggle switches, blade connectors. Autozone

4 X 4 and 8 X 8 outdoor electrical boxes, stainless steel hardware, and stock 1/8 X 1 flat and angle aluminium. Menards

I have the battery box mounted on the right support for the friction drive and the control box mounted on the main tube.

Also a left hand all in one switched with lead wire brake lever from ElectricScooterParts.com

Assorted other bits and pieces from the junk drawer and bottom shelf.

Trailer marker lights, LED. Autozone. Probably got the wrong ones as this is an isolated system and need 2 wires. Pulled one apart and saw that it had male blade connectors bent at 90 degrees. Small screw driver fixed that.

Pictures tomorrow. Eh?

Oh yeah. Got a hammer with holster zip tied on in case of fire. I can knock the friggin thing off before I burn up anything else.

 

[Old Busted Hotness]

As long as you're upgrading, think about adding a brake light. Use an ATV brake-light switch on the cable of your primary brake. It may not be 100% required, but it's a nice confidence booster.

 

[Midwest Rider]

Thanks OBH. I should have gone into better detail on the marker lights as that is what they are for. 4 Amber 2 red.

 

[Midwest Rider]

Couple of pictures. Damn it's getting tight inside this box. And I had to make my own negative terminal block. Short chunk of aluminum angle.

Thoughts ? Suggestions ?

 

[crassius]

for my custom wiring, I buy a bakelite terminal strip, saw off as many connections as I need, then hook up with telephone type spade connectors

 

[Old Busted Hotness]

I assume you're going to tie down the battery somehow. One thing I'd recommend is hitting the terminal block with a smear of grease to prevent corrosion.

I get real anal when it comes to electrical stuff. Everything's soldered and heat-shrinked, cables tied down, etc etc. The more care you put into building it, the better it will work.

I still haven't made the switch to LEDs. Tried an LED tail light and it was hot garbage. 10 dim LEDs for running lights and 10 more dim LEDs for brakes. Couldn't see it in sunlight. My tail/brake light uses an old-school 1157 bulb, takes more juice to run but it's highly visible. My headlight is an ebay chopper headlight with a halogen main beam and wee little side-marker type running light. With a 3AH battery I can run for about 45 minutes on main beam, or all day on the running light. Might upgrade the running light to an LED during the winter overhaul.

 

[Frankenstein]

I assume you're going to tie down the battery somehow. One thing I'd recommend is hitting the terminal block with a smear of grease to prevent corrosion.

I get real anal when it comes to electrical stuff. Everything's soldered and heat-shrinked, cables tied down, etc etc. The more care you put into building it, the better it will work.

I still haven't made the switch to LEDs. Tried an LED tail light and it was hot garbage. 10 dim LEDs for running lights and 10 more dim LEDs for brakes. Couldn't see it in sunlight. My tail/brake light uses an old-school 1157 bulb, takes more juice to run but it's highly visible. My headlight is an ebay chopper headlight with a halogen main beam and wee little side-marker type running light. With a 3AH battery I can run for about 45 minutes on main beam, or all day on the running light. Might upgrade the running light to an LED during the winter overhaul.

Dialetric grease, buy it by the tub and add it to any and virtually every electrical connection on anything that may have contact with moisture. It's so worth it, especially in cars, swear half the fight taking apart connections is just the terminals fusing together from corrosion.

A side note those 1157 come in led too, and brighter. We had to get some because our skidoo trailer didn't have watertight bulb houses, whenever you launched it and forgot to pull the line when you got into the marina the bulb was hot enough to shatter once in contact with cold water seeping into the unit. Led bulbs don't get that hot and can be gotten with a glass bulb over it so now when water gets in the case they don't burst or short, no more bulb changing woes, they should outlast the rest of the trailer too.

 

[Midwest Rider]

Thank you Frankenstein I will do that definitely. 4 days off and time to finish up. Credit card is all warmed up

 

[Frankenstein]

Thank you Frankenstein I will do that definitely. 4 days off and time to finish up. Credit card is all warmed up

Since you are somewhat happy to make investments, advance auto (though probably cheaper elsewhere online) sells a li-ion motorcycle starter battery. I didn't want to drop $150 being I have the knowhow to get a protection board and li-ion cells and make basically the same thing for a third of the price, but if I was feeling generous towards myself or just lazy I would have went with it. Apparently no complaints from Harley owners the guy had sold some to. Extremely light, talking half the weight of a sla that's half the size of the li-ion, basically 25% the weight of an equivalent sla.

It even has a power meter on the top. https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/autocraft-lithium-power-sport-battery-lfp-4/10570098-P

For me using a metal box bolted to metal angle with metal bolts the weight issue is not a major concern, when I had a plastic box near its end-of-life the fatigue was beginning to show and even ruin part of the box's integrity, you are using plastic too so it might be worth thinking about depending on how you mount it (in a cradle or, like me, bolting the side to a mount) since the weight reduction can really save you some issues. Originally I also was mounting the box rack with rivets, they held up fine however the aluminum they were fastened to started stretching and letting the rivets pull out or behave loose where a washer was used. So don't use 1/8th" rivets if you are inclined to use them, or do but use like 4 times what you think you need.

I do dig that plastic electrical box stuff, cheap and easy to find, and reminds me how cool that flex conduit is, the grey stuff can be plugged at one end and you can easily drill holes in the side and fish wires through without major risking cutting the shielding, a bit of hot glue can seal the opening letting you bring wires to exactly the right place but still protect the majority of it en route to the electrical supply.

Oh and it doesn't short out connections by accident!!