Resolved: Back EMF protection ?

[RCE]

Do these include any kind of back EMF protection. My 08 FZ6 doesn't seem to like any type of LED bulb that doesn't include this type of protection.

I can build some protection if needed but would prefer not to.

[Fluke]

Hi

Our Bullet pods don't have any specific back EMF protection.

Before we released them we went through at least a dozen different LED bulbs till we found one that appeared to be immune to high voltage transients. (my ZX10 was the same, blew LED bulbs all over the place and at one stage I almost gave up sourcing the right LED). Some LEDs seem to be incredibly sensitive to this.

The LEDs used in our pods use dual current limiting resistors, one on the anode and one on the cathode, I know this is not protection to speak of, but seems to give a good degree of isolation for the LED element to the rigors of being on a motorcycle, which generally on older machines have quite shocking electrical systems.

Next stage we got 10 'test' bikes from volunteers to run them, and not had a failiure yet and that includes a now large customer base.


In a ideal word we would put in some simple protection, and maybe in a future version will. For now we are going to keep things simple especially as most modern bikes are quite well supressed in this respect and this also keeps the cost as low as possible (many motorcycle lighting products sell for silly money)

As our products come with a 1 year no quibble warranty why not give them a shot without additional protection, I quite comfident you won't have any trouble. If you do and they need replacing I would be happy to build up a custom pair for you to remove the problem. (put the protection within the sealed pod)

Cheers

edit: just as an addition, from experience, another cause of failiure of traditional sidelight T10 LEDs seems to be the cheap connectors used to hold the bulb. If this connection is not good the LEDs seem to blow. One type of bulb I was using just kept blowing, tightening the spring connectors holding the bulb solved it. Seems unlikely but it worked :)

[RCE]

Thanks Dan, put my mind at ease  ;D

My main problems have been with the tail light bulbs, had one version that literally lasted one or two starts. Last version I tried lasted well electrically, but I noticed it getting dimmer. Found the design had the weight of four LEDs and cct board held by two solder points. Needless to say the solder joints had started to crack so I went back to a standard incandescent.

The last LEDs to fail was on the front, I had a system very much like yours but using two LED reg plate lights. These looked good and had a slight outward angle which I think made me more visible to drivers off to the side which was good. Here is some video of them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xudfmKrNygw

They both failed yesterday, noticed on my ride home so think they went when I started bike. They had been working fine for a few months. They are very simple inside, 4 LEDs, 2 in series, with another pair in parallel. Then a 100ohm resistor in series with the lot. On testing all but one LED are shot.

Was thinking of building my own internals for these, but hope your unit is better.

Alan

[Fluke]

Heya

Nice idea with the numberplate lights, and they look pretty smart mounted there.. shame they blew. I think I've been through 5-6 different sidelight replacement bulbs all with multi LED arangements, like you say, the way they are put together is shocking and they either fail mechanically or the individual LEDs just blow one at a time till it's a bin job.

If you go ahead with a set of our lights let me know how it goes, it will be good to try a set on a bike that is known for it's 'blowing skills' :), I'm confident all will be fine though.

[RCE]

Thanks Dan, wife ordered them last night, along with the LED side lamp bulbs.

Will keep you posted :)

[Fluke]

ahh thats great... yep they were despatched today :)

[RCE]

Sad to report that after three months and just completing a 1200mile round trip to Shetland one of the LED bullets has failed at some point in the last 50 or so miles.

Looks like I am back to the drawing board as to what to fit next.

[Fluke]

Hi

Sorry to hear you had a failiure, It's very rare.

So far it hasnt been a problem out of 1000s of units sold and I've only heard of two bikes that have spiked LEDs making them unusable.

I would be more than happy to send a new set... we have recently changed LED supplier so you may find them better for your bike

Let me know, and if you would like to try a new set just email over your full address

Thanks

[RCE]

Thanks Dan for the replacement sent very quickly.

For anyone that has to replace theirs, getting the old ones off was dead easy. Twist to break the seal between bullet and sticky pad. Remove bullet then using finger, sort of do a rubbing push and the pad will come up gradually, took me about a minute to get each pad off this way. Clean surface (I use optic wipes, good for cleaning visors too), and refix new ones.

I have added a 100ohm resistor in series with the LED, and a diode between + & - after resistor to protect against spikes from my electrical system (my bike doesn't get on very well with LEDs). This has reduced the light output a tiny amount but means my bullets should outlive the bike.

Video of new install http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZWKX3-q1Dw

[Fluke]

Thanks alot for the tips on EMF protection and pod removal.

Love the video, looks mean as you like....  the new LEDs we are using produce a little more light in the UV range due to differences in the reactive lens, but look the business.

Deffo handy for winter nights :)

Regards

[Fluke]

you have a pm btw :)