Brighter rear signal bulbs?

[macx]

Going to install a Signal Minder, upon doing a search for brighter bulbs discovered that it's illegal
to have amber rear lights on, so folks convert to red and either get clear lenses and red bulbs, or paint the rear lenses red.

I suppose clear rear lenses are high buck? Would appreciate some info.

Also, for the rear signal bulbs - would like brighter ones for starters, read something about
"focused LED" bulbs??

Didn't find anything to indicate if painting the rear yellow lenses red reduces the brightness noticeably or significantly?

Appreciate any leads on suppliers, part #'s, cost, etc, on clear lenses and LED bulbs!

[owldaddy]

I painted mine red, using stained glass paint on the inside of the lens, using two coats of paint, It doesn't seem to make the brightness of the bulb appear to be lessened to any noticeable degree. I haven't tried the led type bulb, I'm still using the stock bulbs.
Don

[Sunbeemer]

I read in this forum sometime last year that somebody had installed red bulbs they'd bought online and put them behind the yellow lenses and was pleased with the resulting red light. He mentioned the yellow lenses did nothing to obscure the light or the color. A search should turn up his post...sorry I don't remember more details (I've got that CRS syndrome )

I have the Signalminder set up for running lights at medium intensity, and while yes, technically the yellow stern lights aren't legal, nobody has bothered me about it in the 5 years I've had them on this bike, nor during the previous 8 years I had amber lights on the tail of my Nighthawk beforehand! I asked a Florida Highway Patrolman who was an instructor at an MSF course I took, and he didn't think they were illegal here (in Florida), but even if they are, nobody knows...or cares. YMMV...

[challey]

I have clear lenses and yellow bulbs. The lenses aren't that expensive, about $12 if memory serves and you can get yellow bulbs at almost any auto parts store for a couple of bucks

Yellow/amber running lights may or may not be legal for you - each state has their own motor vehicle code. They are definately not legal where I live (PA) and must be red. In the past, I would have said that it would be a rare LEO who'd bother to write a ticket for that kind of violation. In fact, I have a SM and used to engage the running lamp feature with my yellow bulbs. No longer though. States are looking for all the revenue they can, and this would be an easy ticket.

If you want red bulbs, you can find them here:
http://www.lightlens.com/coloredbulbs.htm I haven't ever ordered anything from these guys so I have no idea what's it's like doing business with them. I think the bulb you need is a LB1156RJ.

Charlie

[macx]

I see those guys also have red LED bulbs for $5 a pair.

Where did you get those $12 clear lenses?

Thanks much!!

[Trout]

I went through the same issue recently and decided to just replace the signals with different units. These red lenses cost $3 each and eliminated the need for red paint, red lamps, red shining through amber, or any of the other options with the stock BMW signal stems. I can't understand why someone doesn't make a red lens for the BMW's.

BTW - The signals override the running lights and brake lights and flash appropriately.

No Lights


Running Lights


Brake Lights


Side View

[Gordium7]

Be careful of using LED-based bulbs for replacements.

I tried using one as a replacement for the rear brake light. Our bikes are so smart, they check for the voltage drop across the various lighting circuits to detect burned out bulbs... the LED bulb I used did not pass this test so the motorcycle registered a problem and illuminated the fault light. I consider having the fault light on constantly a bad thing, as it would hide other potential nasty problems.

Just a FWIW thing. All LED bulbs may not be created equal.

[snowprick]

Trout,

Looks good. Any chance of sharing the bleeding obvious with the rest of us?

[Trout]

Any chance of sharing the bleeding obvious with the rest of us?

Please clarify. What is the "bleeding obvious?" I don't understand.

[Trout]

Snowprick - I'm just going to assume that "sharing the bleeding obvious" is a request for details. Yes?

First off, the bike in the pictures is not an R1150R. We'll just get that little detail right out of the way

Like macx, I was very intrigued with the Kisan Signalminder. It has a lot of useful features, but the feature I wanted most was the ability to have the rear signals function as brake lights. I had this feature on a previous bike and loved it. This little enhancement triples the number of brake lights and is a very effective lighting enhancement. Even though amber brake lights are legal in my state, I wanted red. I looked for red rear signal lenses and found nothing. There are plenty of red signal lenses available for older BMW bikes, but nothing for the current models. I don't understand this. I found clear lenses and considered painting the inside with translucent red paint, but the clear lenses are expensive and the paint solution is minor league.

I know that there are many options to enhance the brakes and signals and running lights with LED's, and extra light sockets, and stick-ons, and license plate light bars, and heaven knows what else. My experience is that most LED solutions for motorcycles are inadequate. Most are barely visible in direct sunlight. Really good bright LED arrays are very expensive. The rest are gimmicks. It's very hard to beat the value and effectiveness of a good old 1156 or 1157 automotive lamp.

The Signalminder for my bike was $109. This is a lot of cash. I started looking for alternatives to accomplish the same thing for less money. One of the local Harley indy's had a Kuryakyn universal run/turn/brake controller on the clearance table for $34. Perfect. The controller has 5 wires... and so does the harness running to the back end of my bike. Tail, Brake, Left, Right, Common. It was just that easy to solder it in. I only had to remove my seat to install it and it works perfect. It was designed for a 1156 (single element) lamp and sends a reduced voltage to the lamp to act as a running light. When the brakes are applied, the lamp gets full power, and if a signal is on, the signal overrides the other 2 functions and flashes brightly.

I gave up on the red BMW lenses and looked elsewhere for a red rear solution. A quick look through the local craigslist scored me a pair of signals off a farm implement. These came off a 2008 Fat Boy and I paid $35 for the set. I've paid as little as $5 for a pair of these at a swap meet. I pulled out the reflector, the wiring, etc. and went over the finely chromed metal housing with 400 grit wet/dry and put on a few coats of flat black. I put them back together and installed them on my BMW tail with a pair of .75" spacers. Another local Harley indy had new red lenses for $3 each.

You can say what you want about using HD lights, but the facts remain: they are plentiful and cheap, the styling is classic and understated, they are heavy duty metal, and best of all you have a choice of red, amber, clear, or smoke lenses... for $3 each.

[Beemeridian]

11

[Trout]

I could be wrong but I thought I read somewhere way back that rear turn signal bulb color was a federal thing, not state...not sure.

Rear turn signal bulb color is not the question... the question is the color of the stop light and the running light. Take a survey of cars on the road... about half use a red rear signal and the other half use amber.

Even though the vehicle code in my state says a brake light can be red, amber, or yellow, you never see cars with non-red brake lights.

I doubt that it's legal in any state to use an amber rear-facing running light or tail light.

The spirit of what we are trying to accomplish here is to be more conspicuous. You really can't go wrong with an all-red rear end

[snowprick]

Trout,

Wow, thanks for that. And you are right about being conspicuous. Too many MC are rear ended, I think I will follow your lead, as soon as I have finished repairing the headstock wiring

[Beemeridian]

11

[Trout]

I doubt that it's legal in any state to use an amber rear-facing running light or tail light.

That's all I was saying.

Rear turn signal bulb color is not the question

yes it is

Boy, that was a contradictory and confusing post!

You stated that you thought the color of rear signal lenses was a "federal thing." It is not. Rear turn signal lenses can be red or amber. It doesn't matter if the rear signal lenses are red or amber. That's why I stated that rear signal color is not the question. They can be either color... in every state. We're just talking red and amber here. I won't argue that there's not a law at some level prohibiting green signal lights or brown signal lights.

The point I was trying to make is that once a signal is made to double as a running light or brake light, then the amber lens on the signal becomes an issue.

Maybe that's what you were also saying. It just sounded confusing. Sorry if I misunderstood.

[Beemeridian]

11

[macx]

I haven't looked a whole lot but the cheapest I found clear lenses was something around $35.

[Buckster]

That price is about right. I think that's what I paid at the dealer. I also found these.
http://www.ascycles.com/detail.aspx?ID=43702
I happened to keep the ambers in the back....and have the signal minder and have never had a problem. If I get pulled for it, I'll plead ignorance!

[Trout]

I happened to keep the ambers in the back....and have the signal minder and have never had a problem. If I get pulled for it, I'll plead ignorance!

That's really a pretty good strategy. I thought about doing that myself... pleading ignorance

My friend rode around for a year on his R1150RT like that... ambers burning front and rear. I was always amazed how much more visible he was, both from the rear and from my rear view mirror. It really makes a difference.