Jump to content

Rear LED light cluster for 6th Gen


Marooncobra

Recommended Posts

  • Member Contributer

Happy New Year to you all and safe riding for the 2019 season.

 

I am trying to find an LED rear light cluster for my 2002 6th gen. I have been using LED bulbs up until now but after a few 1000 km I am finding that the  LED head breaks away from the body of the fitting.  I have searched the web and can only find 5th gen versions.  I did manage to locate a 6th gen version through a German company Thurn, but after contacting them they have confirmed that they have stopped supplying this rear light as the standard of workmanship was poor and failure rates were high.

 

I am considering purchasing a 5th gen LED rear cluster and gutting it and modifying my 6th gen rear light with the LED components. Has anyone tried this,and not having a 5th gen bike to see if it is possible, am I barking up the wrong tree?

 

Your assistance is appreciated.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

I have a LED light that fits the mounting holes for the licence plate that I bought from Aerostich.

https://www.aerostich.com/a-to-b-utilities/lights/tail-lights-and-turnsignals/stopper-led-brake-light-stopper.html

One obsever, watching me leave, later said it makes the tail light indicators more conspicuous.

 

I'm attachind a pic I have on file of the fifth gen rear combination light.

 

With my machine tucked away for the winter, a decent pic is not possible. Sorry.

 

Good Combo Light.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

MaxSwell

 

Many thanks for the info and the photo. It looks like the 5 th gen has two brake/tail lights in a row where as the 6th gen has two brake/tail lights above and below. I don’t think this would be a problem as I could rotate the circuit board during the modification.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

Just curious why you don't just replace the bulbs with LED's, the 5th generation uses the same bulbs. I've used LED's for many thousands

of miles with no issues. Or am I missing something here? Which is very possible, it has happened before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

I have had three LED bulbs break over the last 3000 km. The head of the bulb, that has all of the leds on, breaks away from the holder, and it always seems to be the stop/tail light. I therefore thought putting LED boards in would rectify this issue. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

I can see why you'd be unhappy with the bulbs, but I've had the Cree brand in mine since 2015 and they still work great. They

don't strobe though, just work like regular bulbs. I couldn't find the dealer that I bought mine from on Ebay, but there's a ton of

them out there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also have issues with the bulbs falling out. It’s a bulb base issue. If your bulb had a plastic base I would safety wire it to ensure it doesn’t work it’s way loose. 

 

LED boards are way to expensive for what you are trying to do. 5th gen =\= in size at all. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

Just thought I would post the modification I did with my 6th Gen Rear light cluster.  Managed to get hold of a second hand LED Light cluster from a 5th Gen and stripped out the guts. 

 

To fit the indicators I Dremeled a slot in the indicator housing so the board could fit in the housing at the correct angle and then made up a plastic spigot to hold the board securely.  I also used silicon sealant to fill any holes to stop moisture entering the unit. 

 

To fit the brake/light board I Dremeled a large area out of the top brake/tail light housing to allow the board to sit without fouling the lens.  I used two long M3 bolts to hold the board securely to the housing. I then had to make up fillet pieces from aluminium to fill the large box area I had Dremeled away and secured them with silicon sealant. 

 

Finally I spray painted the brake/Tail light area satin black and stuck foam ''draft sealer'' between the brake and indicator areas to ensure there was no light infiltration from the brake light into the indicator lens area as I had Dremeled the plastic barrier away to fit the board. 

20190111_100949.jpg

20190111_100938.jpg

20190111_101044.jpg

20190111_101034.jpg

20190111_101000.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

That is a very interesting modification. I would really be interested in seeing how it looks all lit up. 

Curious to see if you would need a new relay or special resistors to maintaining the signal flash rate.

 

Kudos on getting it all packaged in there nicely!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer
On 1/12/2019 at 9:53 AM, TriumphTraitor said:

That is a very interesting modification. I would really be interested in seeing how it looks all lit up. 

Curious to see if you would need a new relay or special resistors to maintaining the signal flash rate.

 

Kudos on getting it all packaged in there nicely!

 

TriumphTraitor

 

 I had already replaced the flasher unit for the LED bulbs fitted to the bike prior to this conversion but note that the 5th Gen Light had resistors soldered into the circuit boards for a correct flash rate. The boards came with prewired soldered cables which just plug into the OEM bulb holders to make the circuit. The pulsing brake light function is not part of the 5th Gen light as I already had a HealTech Brake Light Pro fitted.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member Contributer

Urbanengineer

 

You can either put the cluster in the oven or use a heat gun to heat up the butyl rubber strip to allow the two half’s to seperate, same as a headlight. I looked around at LED boards in electronic shops and LED suppliers but couldn’t find anything that would really work so I managed to get hold of a second hand 5th gen LED rear light off eBay.  I think if you buy a new one they are around $180.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy.