License Plate - To Illuminate or Not To Illuminate

[Evil_Ductator]

I have a Clear Alternatives LED taillight, and am debating if I should try to mount and wire the license plate light or not when I do my tail chop.  Anyone know if enough light comes off the bottom of the Clear Alternatives LED to illuminate the plate to the point where I won't get pulled over??  Or does it not really matter?

[TJR178]

You shouldn't have to worry.  My license plate light socket is under my seat since I have the tail chopped.  The ambient light from the tail light lights my plate quite nicely.

[c_rex]

stick one of these to your plate.  can wire it in within 5 minutes.  use just a simple line tap crimp connector.  if you want to be able to remove it frequently put it on with a small patch of velcro.

http://cool-cases-usa.com/Zen-Cart-v1.2.4/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=212

[Evil_Ductator]

excellent, thanks!  i guess i'll see if it gets enough light with my setup, and just throw on one of those LED bars with a quick disconnect crimp connector and a velcro strip if it doesn.t

[He Man]

In some states its illegal to not have a license plate light. I have the LED pod shown, i purchased mine on ebay from a guy called Joe-Florida, (great guy, got a free beer condom that i chopped up and turned into a toe shifter condom so my shoes dont get scratched anymore! =D, he sent the wrong color and ended up giving it to me for free)

[junior varsity]

The Buell taillight is the exact same as the Ducati plate, but with a clear window in the bottom. My LED board (MotoLED) has bottom white LEDs to illuminate. Its like they (both pieces) were meant to be on the bike from the factory.

[Evil_Ductator]

The Buell taillight is the exact same as the Ducati plate, but with a clear window in the bottom. My LED board (MotoLED) has bottom white LEDs to illuminate. Its like they (both pieces) were meant to be on the bike from the factory.

i have a clear alternatives LED rear light, so i dont want to go to the red Buell one.  hopefully my light will be bright enough on the plate i wont need anything else!

[junior varsity]

I'm describing the LED lightboard, which resides in a stock-looking red tail lens. If you have a clear tail lens, you should be as good as you are going to get regarding this for your LED plate.

[tangueroHondo]

Got stopped and the WA State patrol specifically checked my rear lights set-up and asked me to decrease my license plate angle (post tail-chop), brining it closer to vertical.  I was surprised he was so particular.  Dunno if it's just our State Patrol, that guy or what.  I put a lot of time and effort into dremelling the light hole and screw holes for that thing.  I think I'll swap it out for the led unit with velcro.  I need to make a new aluminum lic plate holder anyway.  Stell one is rusting bad.  i know, I know....

[somegirl]

A number of MOB locals (SF Bay Area) have been getting fix-it tickets lately for license plate visibility issues with tailchops.

[bullet boy]

I used these when I had my Clear Alternative tail light, no problems:

http://performanceparts.com/part.php?partID=179573

[c_rex]

Got stopped and the WA State patrol specifically checked my rear lights set-up and asked me to decrease my license plate angle (post tail-chop), brining it closer to vertical.  I was surprised he was so particular.  Dunno if it's just our State Patrol, that guy or what.  I put a lot of time and effort into dremelling the light hole and screw holes for that thing.  I think I'll swap it out for the led unit with velcro.  I need to make a new aluminum lic plate holder anyway.  Stell one is rusting bad.  i know, I know....

Dang- WASP has never given me grief about that on the rare occassions they've had to pull me over.  My plate isn't all that horizontal and I've still got it perched out back of a typical tail chop.  Maybe you just got a guy on a bad day or something.  Hopefully he didn't give you a ticket and just let you bend it.

[Wonked]

My vote is for the light. What reason is there to NOT have a light? Even if it is only 10% more likely to get you pulled over, is the aesthetic value of not having a light worth it?

I have debaffled termi's and that gives me more than enough pause about  already. But then, I know that pretty much every Harley is louder than I am anyway.

[Ohmic]

When i was designing the SupaNova i didn't know how much license plate illumination to build into the system. So i asked a couple of  friends of mine. They said that they didn't care about the amount of white light illumination. All they cared about was that it had something.

I've seen riders without it get tix from  . But i've never seen any rider get tix with it installed.

So... best to just have the light.

[tangueroHondo]

Dang- WASP has never given me grief about that on the rare occassions they've had to pull me over.  My plate isn't all that horizontal and I've still got it perched out back of a typical tail chop.  Maybe you just got a guy on a bad day or something.  Hopefully he didn't give you a ticket and just let you bend it.

The stop was last fall.  I bent it a bit there and then to just get the roadside thing done.  It was cold out.  He checked my lic. endorsement and that was it - no ticket.  Only going 50 in a 35.  I had it bent out about 45 deg.  it already got sucked into the rear tire once and I wanted to be sure it had clearance.  I've since jacked up the ride height on the dog bone, so it can pretty well hang near vertical and not take out the tire.