DIY Indicators

[brendonv]

Im in the process of making some indicators for my bike, ive made one so far and here's some pics. I made it from a schematic in a electronics book on a LED Ticker. I thought, add a few more LED's and i got myself an indicator so i got all the bits from jaycar for under 10 bucks and i was away. If you want to make one just search LED Ticker and get a schematic off the net. Im currently thinking of running them off an 4600mah 7.2v rc car battery, It should work well. Also included is a short clip of the indicator in action. NOTE: The battery was almost dead which is why it isnt very bright, i just hooked it up to test it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpyxCZ5pTx4





Thanks for reading, more to come!

From Brendon.v

 

[bluegoatwoods]

Congratulations, Brendon.

That's pretty ingenious; you decided what you wanted and built it.

Weather-proofing is my only concern. Do you have plans for that?

 

[brendonv]

Weather-proofing is my only concern. Do you have plans for that?

I do, im going to mount them in slimline wooden or plastic boxes, ill silicon on a sheet of plastic on the top so its sealed and where the wires come out the back ill silicon around the hole. Ill mount them on the seat post, how? Im not sure yet but ill make up a little bracket. Its a bit hard to picture but it should look nice, ill paint the boxes the same colour as my bike. Im going to make and hopefully finish the other indicator today, now ive built one the second should be better and faster progress. Should be all put together buy the end of the weekend.

 

[brendonv]

Well i finished the second one this morning, wow i flew through it. I did it in under 30 mins when the last one took over 3 hours and looks like ****. The second one is really nice and clean, i feel like dismantling the old one and making it again but it works so i cant be bothered. I found out an easier way to wire it this time as well so it went quicker. I made the led connections as neat as i could and lots of solder so they are all pretty bright. The LED in the video is not bright as the connection wasnt great and the battery was almost dead so im hoping there about double as bright when i charge the battery and solder on the connection.

Now all i gotta do is fit them in a box, mount them to the bike and wire up the switches and solder on the battery connection. Should be done by 2morrow, i thought making the second one would take me all day but it didnt so i can get it all finished earlier than expected. Heres some pics of the second one and them together. ( Look at the difference in neatness at the back! ).

Cheers, enjoy the pics.

From Brendon.v










UPDATE: I changed a resistor on the circuit which was resisting a lot of power to the LED's, it had a 4.7k resistor on it and now has a 100ohms resistor on it and is very bright now. Have a look at these two videos, first, i couldnt even see the LED when my light was on but now i can see them in bright light from 25m+ distance away. Im very happy with them now and cant wait to get them mounted, sadly i have to get a haircut so i cant go down to the hardware store for supplies today. Should have it up and running by tomorrow and will have a video of it running.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVyJfJCiwb0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsCsm7pHwwY

Thanks for reading,
From Brendon.v

 

[MotorMac]

Good for you Brendonv, wish I had your electronic skills!! I still have trouble with TVs and VCR hookups!

 

[brendonv]

Haha thanks, yeh my dads an electrician by trade so hes always taught me electronics from a very young age. Its only recently i got back into it and pulled out the old "Learning Electronics" kit by radio shack my dad bought me when i was about 10. The first circuit to build was a LED Ticker, i built that on the breadboard about 10 times, modified it and hooked up beepers and switches to it. I then bought all my own bits from jaycar and build the whole indicator on that before i started soldering on the circuit board. I started the project about 2-3 months ago when i first built my friction bike but i sort of lost the idea, then i just picked up on it when i built my motorized bike with a happytime kit on it. I had the first one half done, it needed about 3 solders on the ticker bit and all the LED's wired up, i did that then built the other one today. Just got to make the boxes for em and mount them and hook up the switches. I dont have a 3 point switch, instead having two on/off switches combined into the one switch. That way i can turn on both indicators like people do when stopped. So i will use both indicators on when stopping and then one when turning. Should work well. If anyone wants the schematic and instructions to built these indicators just tell me and ill scan it on, i did a quick google search and its a bit hard to find the schematic for them.

Thanks for reading.

From Brendon.v

 

[brendonv]

Well i mounted them to my bike today, hooked up all the wires, soldered and heat shrinked the connections, Its wired like so:
Positive: Indicator to switch from switch to positive wire on battery connection.
Negative: Indicator to negative wire on battery connection

I have the wires all in place, all i have to do it hook up the switch. The switch i was going to use isnt going to work so i have to get a switch with a flat bottom and the connections on the side to mount it. I then have to cut a bit of perspex and silicon that on the top of the indicator box. Then its just a matter of mounting the battery, neatening up the wires around the bike and im good to go. I used plastic boxes to mount the indicators in and riveted the boxes onto the frame. The lights are mounted on a slight up angle so drivers can see them. Ill also paint the boxed blue so they blend in with the bike.

I took pics but forgot to get the camera cable so ill upload pics of the final product tomorrow.

Cya guys.

From brendon.v

 

[brendonv]

I didnt have time to go and get a switch today so i might get one 2morrow or monday, heres the pics i took yesterday. It is in progress still, wires need to be neatened up and shortened a bit and indicator boxes need to be painted. Enjoy!

 

[brendonv]

Well its pretty much done now, i got everything mounted. I have to put on a bit of plastic on the indicator box but then thats it. I got a three way toggle switch and got a bit of metal, bend it around the handlebars and then screwed it together then drilled a hole and put the switch in. Ill put up pics tomorrow of it all done, the switch mount is bare metal atm so ill paint the mount black so it looks nice. Ill also paint the indicator boxes blue too.

 

[stude13]

or you can go to boreem and buy a system that has head, tail, turn and stop lights all made up for instalation inexpensively.