Had to work Saturday morning (took Weds. off to take my older son to the Chicago Auto Show)...but I made some progress in the afternoon.
A second look at the proposed law revealed the need for front turn signals in white or amber, so I got some 3157 replacement LED amber lights.
I will have some pics tomorrow, I hope, but here is what I did so far. A 3/4" copper pipe end cap is very, very close to fitting the LEDs. I wanted something as compact as I could because I thought that a compact tail light would look more in proportion and turn signals had to be smaller than the tail light for the right aesthetic. As RDKryton did, I removed the LED assembly from the bulb body. Even with the LEDs removed, they didn’t quite fit in the end cap (moving up to a 1 inch cap would have worked, but didn’t look right to me). I used my Dremel with a medium sanding drum to trim the edge of the circuit board around the LEDs down- that was what was too big. I also used the Dremel to grind out the inside of the end cap and got plenty of clearance- why this is important in a minute.
I found some copper coated pipe hangers that are used for copper pipe. It is a “U” shaped piece that has a 1/4” hole at the top of the “U” for hanging. I spilt the “U” at the bottom so that I am left with 2 “J” shaped pieces. This will provide a hanger for 2 lights. I then rounded of the corners of the “J”s and the “J” fits around the end cap and leaves a tab sticking out the top to bolt to the strut identified in a previous post. I attached the “J” tab to the cap by soldering...which is a nice advantage to using copper.
Back to the LEDs- I soldered a wire lead onto each lead. I then coated the back with silicone...because, after all, the case is copper. Now, back to the clearance issue around the edge of the circuit board. As you may know, there is a thin copper layer in there and if that touches the copper, the LEDs will not work due to a short. With some extra clearance, I can coat the edge of board with some non-conductive paint and put a skin of silicone inside the end cap and prevent the problem.
I really like the look- these things are very small and elegant...if I do say so myself....fit the look of the bike, and will get the job done.
