ADDING FRONT TURN SIGNAL LEDs and LOAD EQUALIZERS

Nozzledog Posted 2012-10-29 5:46 PM (#125878) Subject: ADDING FRONT TURN SIGNAL LEDs and LOAD EQUALIZERS Visionary Posts: 1229 Rancho Cucamonga, CA ADDING FRONT TURN SIGNAL LEDs and LOAD EQUALIZERS Replacing stock front 3157 bulbs with LEDs. Difficulty Level : 1 Cost : $100 - $160 Time : 30-45 min Items needed: 4 - LED bulbs; Amber if you have amber lenses. White, amber or switchbacks(white that blink amber) if you have clear lenses. Do not exceed 55mm tall unless you want to remove the speaker box in order to install the inner bulbs! 2 - Heat sinked 6 ohm resistors with a minimum of a 50 watt heat sink (aka load equalizers). These usually come with wire attached and connectors, otherwise you will need 4 wire taps as well. 1 - roll 3M doublestick insulated tape 1 pair pliers Procedure: Start with bike OFF and windshield UP. 1. Remove front fairing access panel. 2. Remove fuse box covers. 3. Remove four- 4mm hex bolt on dash panel below windshield (where fuse panel covers are). This is done to give your hands room to move around and get to the inner bulb. 4. Remove four 6mm hex bolt attaching turn signal lens to headlamp and to outer fairing (one on each side of each lens). This is done to allow you to move the lens a little and get the bigger LED bulbs into the inner hole. 5. Remove all four stock bulbs cradles by twisting them out of the lens housing. The left side will twist up and the right side will twist down (directions given from riders position, not from front of bike). 6. Remove bulbs from cradle. 7. With cradles exposed, attach load equalizer to the two outermost wires of the outer cradles using supplied wire taps (ground and turn circuit. Leave the pink wire alone). The direction of the load equalizer is not important. 8. Use doublestick tape to secure load equalizer to top of inner lens (as shown in above picture). 9. Insert new LEDs into cradle. They are directional, so you will have to test that they are in right-side-up by turning on the power and watching for them to light up. 10. Re-install cradle with lights into lenses by reversing above removal procedure. 11. Replace all bolts and panels removed. 12. Post pictures/video of a job well done on Vision-Riders.com Pictured with Inner Bulb Mod also If you have amber lenses, you will need to buy amber LEDs. A white LED will lose its brightness going thru the amber lens. If you have clear lenses, then you can get amber, white or switchbacks. The best bulbs I have found so far (for clear lenses) are the 3157 - 120LED (AO) Switchbacks from Autolumination.com . They are white when running and turn amber when turning. The AO means the white will turn off when turning, giving a great contrast to the blinkers. AW bulbs will alternate between amber and white when turning giving only a color change and not an intensity change. They also do not cause any radio interference. LED bulbs can be put in backwards and will not work. If they don't light up, turn them around. They also have good prices on the 6 ohm load equalizers (heat sinked resistors). The wattage rating tells how many watts the heat sink can dissipate. A 6 ohm resistor in a 12 volt system needs to be able dissipate at least 24 watts. I have tried the new 22 watt switchbacks and they do not diffuse the white beam enough for our lenses. You will get more of a spotlight effect that angles into oncoming traffic. Edited by Nozzledog 2015-12-30 2:47 PM