InsolentMinx Posted 6 January 2011 Report Posted 6 January 2011 had chats with bike cops about this when i put LEDs on my motorbike. as long as the coloured lights don't point forward or backward, and as long as the bulbs aren't visible, then it's fine. the reflected glow is perfectly legal as long as it doesn't flash or strobe, or attempt to imitate an emergency services vehicle. footwell lights are fine. I'm pretty sure mine aren't even visible for other road users unless it's a tall vehicle right beside me looking down into my car. I've got mine wired to the headlights, with an additional switch so i can turn them off completely if need be
Blaine Posted 6 January 2011 Author Report Posted 6 January 2011 had chats with bike cops about this when i put LEDs on my motorbike.as long as the coloured lights don't point forward or backward, and as long as the bulbs aren't visible, then it's fine. the reflected glow is perfectly legal as long as it doesn't flash or strobe, or attempt to imitate an emergency services vehicle. footwell lights are fine. I'm pretty sure mine aren't even visible for other road users unless it's a tall vehicle right beside me looking down into my car. I've got mine wired to the headlights, with an additional switch so i can turn them off completely if need be thats good news how'd you wire them up like that? yes, i am shit with modding lol
InsolentMinx Posted 6 January 2011 Report Posted 6 January 2011 (edited) thats good newshow'd you wire them up like that? yes, i am shit with modding lol Errr, basically: where the cigarette lighter connects to the wiring under the centre console, there's a green wire. This is the 'headlight' wire. Tap the red wires from your footwell lights into the green wire, and then the black wires into the black/white striped wire. This will enable the lights to come on when you turn the lights on. I then just put a switch on the red wires of the lights, so that i can turn the power on/off. more in depth: Unless the LED strips have red and black wires, you'll need to find out which is positive and which is negative. Use a 9v battery to find out which of the wires comming out of your LED strips is the +'ve, and which is the -'ve wire. Touch one to the +'ve terminal and one to the -'ve terminal of the battery. Do the lights come on? Yes, then you've found the right wires. No? Then the one touched to the +'ve terminal is the -'ve wire, and vice versa. You can then mark which is which with a black pen on the -'ve wire You'll probably need to attach some extra wire too as the ones provided are never long enough. I like to solder and heatshrink the connections as it's more sturdy than twisting wires together and using electrical tape you basically connect the 2 red wires from the driver and passenger footwell and connect them to 1 red wire.... then do the same with the black wires from each side to 1 black wire. Then put a switch on the red wire so that you can turn the power on and off.... then just attach the red wire to the green wire out the back of the cigarette lighter, and the black wire to the black/white one out the back of the cigarette lighter. the gearknob just unscrews, then the gaitor comes off by just pulling the plastic surround up off the console... diagrams and text to help from my mod thread: I pulled the carpet down around the centre console so i could feed the wires through the back, and removed the gear surround to install the wiring and the rocker switch. One strip of LEDs tucked under the back of the glovebox, and the other sat under the steering wheel, both cable tied in place. For the passenger side, cable ties fit neatly beside the hinges of the glovebox, but for the driver's side i had to drill 2 small holes to feed the cable tie through. under the glovebox under the steering wheel (please excuse the gormless facial expression) I bought an illuminating red rocker switch which i have wired up so that the switch lights up when the footwell LED's are lit... just for a bit of fun really and to test my wiring skills, but this way i know if i've got the footwell lights on or off if driving around with the sidelights on during daylight hours. This switch needed a 20mm hole drilling, and i decided to stick it discreetly by my knee so it didn't look 'aftermarket' on the centre cosole. I only had an 8mm bit though, so it meant gradually 'eating' away at the plastic until i had the right size hole. Then cutting a little notch with a stanley blade so the switch won't rotate. I recently bought some heat shrink too for another project, so decided to put this to full use to insulate all my soldering, as it's much tidier than using electrical tape to wrap all the connections. Here's the switch wired up: a final check that everything works before i commence operation "wire management" feeding everything through the hole switch in place, and footwell lights off switch lit and footwell lights on Edited 6 January 2011 by InsolentMinx
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