LEDS thru scoops

[mavgrab302]

I made two small circuits today each having 3 leds on them, white 3.5 volt, 5mm , with two 150 ohm 1/2 watt resistors. anyways made them but don't like what the look like through the scoops, it looks like bulbs behind the wire mesh, I'm shooting for glow.
so my question is what will let LED light travel through better to glow thru scoops, plexiglass or stained glass? I want the color coming through the scoops to be consistant and even.

 

[06VMAXIMUS]

I have been through this, and its a PITA to get the exact right amount of LED's to emit enough light to cast an even glow out the scoops. Placement of the lights is equally important as well. I think I took my scoops off at least 50 times trying to get the best effect. I ended up using a sealed LED unit from NAPA, as all of the strip assemblies either didn't give off enough light to be seen or didn't look right. As far as a diffuser goes, its probably going to be trial and error to find what gives the desired effect.

 

[mavgrab302]

Yeah, I made my own circuit of leds, the strips were too expensive and too large that I found. instead of over loading the scoops with a ton of leds I figure you can get the same effect putting either stained glass or colored plexiglass behind the scoop covers.

 

[Rollie]

I made two small circuits today each having 3 leds on them, white 3.5 volt, 5mm , with two 150 ohm 1/2 watt resistors. anyways made them but don't like what the look like through the scoops, it looks like bulbs behind the wire mesh, I'm shooting for glow.
so my question is what will let LED light travel through better to glow thru scoops, plexiglass or stained glass? I want the color coming through the scoops to be consistant and even.

This was done prevously through the " Yamaha " cut out lettering on the scoops and side covers . I beleive there was a write up on the Yahoo group tech site. Can't remember if he used leds or old style bulbs.

 

[Rollie]

I made two small circuits today each having 3 leds on them, white 3.5 volt, 5mm , with two 150 ohm 1/2 watt resistors. anyways made them but don't like what the look like through the scoops, it looks like bulbs behind the wire mesh, I'm shooting for glow.
so my question is what will let LED light travel through better to glow thru scoops, plexiglass or stained glass? I want the color coming through the scoops to be consistant and even.

I beleive he used plexiglas .

 

[95spfldmax]

This was done prevously through the " Yamaha " cut out lettering on the scoops and side covers . I beleive there was a write up on the Yahoo group tech site. Can't remember if he used leds or old style bulbs.

I like that......Was that done from someone on this forum?? Any chance of finding the write-up??

 

[06VMAXIMUS]

I like that......Was that done from someone on this forum?? Any chance of finding the write-up??

+1, those scoops and side covers look great when lit up. Someone did a nice job on them, I would be interested in reading about the process involved!

 

[dtoebaert-5311]

+1, those scoops and side covers look great when lit up. Someone did a nice job on them, I would be interested in reading about the process involved!

...And an extra circuit reading the rpm (e.g. from the connector to the VBoost electronics) so that the scoops 'pulse' proportional to rpm?? Slowly, 'heartbeat' like when idling up till continuous when the boost kicks in?

 

[mavgrab302]

Well yesturday I decided to scrap the 1st two circuits I made and started over, I can probably use them somewhere else on the bike later on. They just weren't bright enough. So I made two more with 9 white leds on each, really blinding now, I took a few pictures and will discribe tonight in another post if anyone wanted to copy cat the circuits. Also went with red reflectors in the scoops, time consuming cutting each one length wise but worth it, looks awesome.

 

[95spfldmax]

well yesturday i decided to scrap the 1st two circuits i made and started over, i can probably use them somewhere else on the bike later on. They just weren't bright enough. So i made two more with 9 white leds on each, really blinding now, i took a few pictures and will discribe tonight in another post if anyone wanted to copy cat the circuits. Also went with red reflectors in the scoops, time consuming cutting each one length wise but worth it, looks awesome.

let's see!!!....let's see!!!.......

 

[06VMAXIMUS]

Well yesturday I decided to scrap the 1st two circuits I made and started over, I can probably use them somewhere else on the bike later on. They just weren't bright enough. So I made two more with 9 white leds on each, really blinding now, I took a few pictures and will discribe tonight in another post if anyone wanted to copy cat the circuits. Also went with red reflectors in the scoops, time consuming cutting each one length wise but worth it, looks awesome.

Not sure where you live, or what your States laws are , but just be careful with your color choice...most States' laws forbid forward facing lights to be colored red. Its in Ohio's laws, and I have red on mine, and have never been hassled (yet). Just a heads up!

 

[mavgrab302]

I posted the parts and pics in "USER MODS" section. Yeah not sure about texas law on red facing forward, when on they actually glow a dark orange color, the white LEDS kinda over power the reflectors from showing red....lol

 

[docalyn]

This is the side view of my scoops. Need a new picture of the front which also is a window and lit.

 

[95spfldmax]

This is the side view of my scoops. Need a new picture of the front which also is a window and lit.

Very Nice!!!....and a pic of the important side, please......the inside view. Nicely done.

 

[06VMAXIMUS]

This is the side view of my scoops. Need a new picture of the front which also is a window and lit.

Looks good! How did you cut out the "Yamaha" letters??

 

[one2dmax]

Looks similar to what we did. The easiest way is to sand the raised casting on the back side. You'll get it all ate away and leave the base metal there exposing the letters.

Sean

 

[docalyn]

Sean has it right. I had a machinest grind down the backside flat and then he cut the letters out. With the backside ground flat I epoxied glass windows over the back side of the letters. I had a glass shop measure and cut precise windows but there is a slight curve so a totally flat fit is not possible which is why I covered the edges with expoxy as well to seal it. On the front of the scoop I used plexiglass cut and shaped to fit a stainless steel cover with logo and "V-Max " on it. the plexi window is behind the metal cover and allows light from the LED's to go thru the cutouts. I also covered the insides of the scoops with aluminum duct tape, real shiny mind you to relect light forward although I may add additional led's up front. The Led's are a multi-color set of six tubes I bought with a controller and remote. One tube each behind the scoops, one tube each behind the knee guards and the last two on the frame tube next to the side covers. Works pretty good and at night puts on a pretty good show cycling thru six colors in a mixed pattern.

 

[Vmaxflame]

try a fresnel lens. you can cut them to a specific shape and you can get them pretty cheap on ebay. However, there are expensive fresnel lenses, but you don't need those

 

[ninjaneer]

This was done prevously through the " Yamaha " cut out lettering on the scoops and side covers . I beleive there was a write up on the Yahoo group tech site. Can't remember if he used leds or old style bulbs.

crazy! this is exactly what i want to do, but not the YAMAHA cut outs. i wanted to ditch the front lollipops and use the scoops as turn indicators. can you provide a link to the yahoo article?

 

[88vmx12]

one thing that works good to dispurse light is that prism plexi they use in your norm office flourecent light fixtures it comes in 2'X4' pcs. It is a super PITA to cut though. It just wants to crack!

Gannon