Electrical mods: Trying to avoid being rear-ended!
Being rear-ended on a bike really sucks!
Take my word for it…
So in an effort to avoid becoming someone's
hood ornament, I have performed some mods
to the bike to make it more visible to following
motorists. The center (stock) brake light
flashes a few times when I put on the brakes,
while the outer lights (stock turn signals)
burn as low-level running lights, flash as
brighter turn signals, and light up brightly
as solid, non-flashing brake lights when
I put on the brakes. Between the extra lights
and the flashing, I figure the bike is about
10X as visible from behind at night.
Kisan Tailblazer Deceleration Warning:
This is a great little gadget! It consists
of a halogen bulb (about four times brighter
than the stock #1157 bulb) and a microprocessor
base. You simply remove the two screws that
hold on the taillight lens, take out the
stock bulb, and slip in the trailblazer.
Re-install the taillight lens and you're
done. Just don't touch the bulb as you put
it in!! Touch only the base, or the bulb
will burn out after one day. Again, trust
me on this one…
The unit acts as a brake light modulator
with a brain. While a flashing brake light
certainly makes a motorcycle more visible
from behind, I HATE being behind a vehicle
with an incessantly flashing light at a stoplight.
The Trailblazer's microchip gives you the
best of both worlds: when you apply the brakes,
the light flashes with an exponential decay
pattern, which is a fancy way of saying that
it flashes rapidly at first, then the flashing
rapidly slows until after 4 seconds the light
stays solid. Perfect! The operation of the
taillight is not effected in any way.
The unit costs about $59, tough you can often
find them on sale a little cheaper. Intruders
use model number 10W-D (dual contact), while
bikes with a single contact take part number
10W-S. It comes with a spare bulb, and you
can even adjust the brightness of the taillight,
either for maximum brightness or maximum
contrast between taillight and brake light.
If I had my way, there would be a law that
all motorcycles have to come with one of
these from the factory.
Click Here for Photo
Kuryakyn Run-Turn-Brake Conversion Module:
The taillight/ brake light on a motorcycle
is rather small, so any additional lighting
would be nice. The front turn signals on
an Intruder are also running lights, but
the rear ones are only turn signals.
To rectify this, I bought a little module
from Kuryakyn. This gets wired into your
light system, and it turns the signals into
running lights, illuminated at a lower level
all the time. Secondly, they act as brake
lights, illuminating at full brightness when
the brakes are depressed. And lastly, they
still flash at the higher level when you
turn on the directionals. If you use LED
lights, you will need to use the little additional
module that comes with the controler module.
It just plugs into the white plug.
To Install: You need an 11mm socket, a Philips
head screwdriver, some cutting pliers, wire
strippers, razor knife, and a lighter to
heat the shrink tubing.
Remove the side covers, front and rear seats.
Locate the wiring bundles going to the brake/
taillight, the left directional, and the
right directional. Trace them back to where
they plug into the mess of wires under the
seat.
Start with the harness for the tail/ brake
light. Cut it, and strip back about ¼ inch
of wire from each of the three wires inside
the bundle: one brown, one while with a black
stripe, and one black with a white stripe.
Splice the black wire on the new module into
the wire that is black w/ white stripe. This
is the ground. Make sure you use the shrink
tubing that comes with the module, remembering
to slip a piece of shrink tubing over the
wire BEFORE you make the connection. Once
again, take my work for this…
Splice the blue wire on the module into the
brown wire. This provides power whenever
the key is turned on, just like the taillight.
Splice the red wire on the module into the
wire that is white w/black stripe. This is
the input for the brake light.
Once you have checked all the connections
and shrunk on the tubing to make them watertight
and insolated, turn your attention to the
turn signals.
Use the razor knife to cut away the outer
cover only of the wiring harness to the left
turn signal. Cut ONLY the solid black wire,
and splice in the violet wire from the module.
This will power the turn signal, and override
all other signals to the lamp so that the
signal will flash even when the brakes are
on. Again, make sure you make a good connection
and then shrink on some tubing.
Now do the same with the right turn signal
wiring harness, only cut and splice into
the light green wire. When you have all the
connections, fire up the bike. The rear lights
should glow along with the taillight, light
up bright with the brake light, and flash
brightly with the turn signals.
Make sure all the wires are where they should
be, and use one of the little cable ties
that comes with the module to secure it to
something in that mess of stuff under the
seat.
Put the seats and side covers back on, and
you're done.
The install on my bike took 45 minutes, and
that included at least 15 minutes looking
for a lighter that worked.
The cost is about $37, plus some paint.
Paint? What's with the paint?
Well, it is illegal to have brake lights,
or rear-facing running lights, with amber
lenses. Suzuki does not make red lenses for
the Intruder, so we have to paint the ones
we have. A couple light coats of Krylon Stained
Glass Red will do the trick, or if you live
near a craft store get some red stained glass
tinting solution. I bought some Gallery Glass
Window Color (Berry Red) at Hobby Lobby,
squeezed some into the lens, and spread it
around with a small paintbrush. It took three
coats. No matter if you use the stained glass
tint or the spray paint, paint only the INSIDE
of the lenses, so that they light up red
when the bulbs are on but retain the stock
appearance from the outside. Go lightly on
the paint, as the idea is to let the light
shine through them.
Alternately, you can buy red bulbs and clear
lenses, which are available from several
manufacturers now.
Click Here for Photo
