lighted belts

[Goat_Herder]

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."
- Albert Einstein -

Never-been-done doesn't mean that it-can't-be-done.  Of all the collective knowlege on this board, nobody can say that they've seen LED lights under the cover.  I am curious to how it turns out.

[Buckethead]

www.customdynamics.com should have something that would fit. The biggest issue I see would just be clearance between the cover and the belt. If it was too tight, I suppose it might be possible to put some spacers between the engine case and the covers.

Once the LED's themselves were mounted (double-sided tape?), I'd consider RTVing the leads to the inside of the covers to keep them from getting eaten by the belts. Then it's just a matter of routing them out of the covers and hooking them up to a switched power source that turns on with the key. Relay tied into the headlight? I'd also probably use some sort of quick disconnect to make taking the covers back off later a little easier.

[xcaptainxbloodx]

looking at this picture;


it looks as though there are some big gaps that could fit 4 or 5  wide angle LEDs in an arc that would light up the middle area of the belts and depending on how close the belts get to the covers I think it might be able to light up the whole thing. one of my bigger challenges is the math involved in wiring together LEDs to work off the battery.

Once the LED's themselves were mounted (double-sided tape?), I'd consider RTVing the leads to the inside of the covers to keep them from getting eaten by the belts. Then it's just a matter of routing them out of the covers and hooking them up to a switched power source that turns on with the key. Relay tied into the headlight? I'd also probably use some sort of quick disconnect to make taking the covers back off later a little easier.

what is "RTVing"? double stick tape in there scares the be-jesus out of me. with the holes in the covers its going to be really exposed to the rain and mess portland gets in the winter.

I think I would want the lights hooked up on a separate circuit to the battery with an inline switch so I can turn it on and off whenever I want, id like to put the key inline there too so I dont have strangers coming by and playing with the lights but that might not be so easy. I had not thought of the quick disconnect though, definitely necessary.

[Buckethead]

one of my bigger challenges is the math involved in wiring together LEDs to work off the battery.

Dude. You're nuking this, making it way harder than it has to be.

what is "RTVing"?

RTVing = applying silicone RTV.

double stick tape in there scares the be-jesus out of me. with the holes in the covers its going to be really exposed to the rain and mess portland gets in the winter.

What about super glue or some sort of epoxy to mount the LED board/strip? To keep out water, again, I'd consider some sort of clear silicone. You could completely encase the LEDs and the leads from the mounting point all the way to the exit notch, sealing out the rain and mess and keeping your wires from getting eaten.

I think I would want the lights hooked up on a separate circuit to the battery with an inline switch so I can turn it on and off whenever I want, id like to put the key inline there too so I dont have strangers coming by and playing with the lights but that might not be so easy. I had not thought of the quick disconnect though, definitely necessary.

Again, if you run a relay off of something connected to the ignition switch, like the headlight, it'll only have power when the ignition is on. You could put a simple switch in-line after the relay allowing you to turn them on and off, but they would shut off when you turn off the key.

[suzyj]

Here ya go.  Sticky tape these on.



The solar panel means you won't even need to start a "my bike won't start" thread.   

[pennyrobber]

However you decide to mount them, just make sure there isn't a chance they could get scooped up into the belts should they fall off. There was a guy with a Sportclassic with open belts that was wiping his engine off while warming it up for a ride. A bit of the towel he was holding was caught by one of the belts and he ended up bending a valve.