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LED Rear Light Project

Started by martin999, December 28, 2009, 12:21:56 AM

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Fluke

Cant get video to work at the moment, will try later, think photobucket having a funny 5 mins :(

Fluke

Looks pretty mean... I think the modulation does weird things with camera though, I had that trouble trying to film them, guess a high frame rate is needed.

Versysrider

That is really neat, looks spot on and the Modulation gives a superb effect. I already have rear LED lights on my Versys, but might see if a modulator will work on them. What I really want is a pair of Red Bullets to face backwards on my skidlid, to compliment my white ones. That will stop the tail enders hopefully!


Fluke

Quote from: Versysrider on January 28, 2010, 01:04:05 PM
That is really neat, looks spot on and the Modulation gives a superb effect. I already have rear LED lights on my Versys, but might see if a modulator will work on them. What I really want is a pair of Red Bullets to face backwards on my skidlid, to compliment my white ones. That will stop the tail enders hopefully!

Love your lid :)

We do a LED Brake modulator that gives a super fast modulation...  I have one fitted on the ZX10 and as far as I know Kawasaki use a 3 wire system so it will work perfect

martin999

The regulator is finished and I ran it with all LEDs on for about 8 hours fitted in the light housing and all was OK.


I have now coated it in a silicone conformal coating that will protect it from the atmosphere and give it a little extra mechanical strength.  I will let that cure over the weekend and hopefully have it ready to go back on the bike early next week!

martin999

Latest update.... Here it is, now coated in silicone conformal coating





Here is the finished regulator



Now to get it all back together and on the bike!! 8)

zeuter

Looking good Martin!  What exactly is that gunk you've coated it in?

Fluke

Quote from: zeuter on February 01, 2010, 10:42:12 PM
Looking good Martin!  What exactly is that gunk you've coated it in?

Looks like chocolate  ;D ;)

martin999

Quote from: Fluke on February 01, 2010, 11:08:13 PM
Looks like chocolate  ;D ;)

Nah, wouldn't have made it past my mouth!!

Quote from: zeuter on February 01, 2010, 10:42:12 PM
Looking good Martin!  What exactly is that gunk you've coated it in?

It is....

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Red modified silicone conformal coating specially formulated for the protection of electronic circuitry
to meet defence and aerospace industry requirements

Once cured, it is resistant to a wide range of solvents, lubricants and cooling fluids
Excellent resistance to mould growth UV light and to prolonged tropical exposure/salt spray
Low oxygen permeability
Tropicalised
Provides excellent in-service protection for circuitry and PCB's at a typical coating thickness of 0·025-0·05mm
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It comes in an aerosol, but I didn't want to spend ages masking up all the LEDs so I decanted it into a pot and brushed it on.  It means the coating is a 'bit' thicker  :) but as it is behind the red lens it doesn't really matter.

It will give the same protection as potting compound but is not as robust and is easier to apply.

zeuter

Err, sometimes don't you just wish you didn't ask! ???   I think I'll just call it chocolate as well!

martin999

Quote from: zeuter on February 01, 2010, 10:42:12 PMLooking good Martin!  What exactly is that gunk you've coated it in?[/font]
::) ................ ;D

Fluke


zeuter


martin999

OK time for another update!

Spent this evening putting it all back on the bike.  All is working as it should apart from one minor glitch.  Had the battery out for a charge, so when I tested it I had a fully charged battery.  At this point everything was good, even with the hazard lights on.

Now the poor thing hasn't been started for a couple or three weeks, so full choke and pushed the button.  As it was turning over the brake light was modulating away merrily.  OK so this is a little annoying, but not a problem as long as it settled down when the bike was running, which it did... or so I thought!

I shut the choke within a few seconds so it was idling, but quite lumpy.  Standing back admiring my work I realised that the brake light was coming on for a split second at anywhere between 2 and 10 second intervals.  The tail light remained on and constant throughout.

Checked for loose / poor connections and couldn't find anything.  I opened the choke back up and had it idling at around 2k and the problem went away.  Shut the choke again and everything seemed fine!

Didn't have time to do any more testing, so just turned it off and walked away.

Now I'm not going to jump to conclusions and I need to do a bit more testing to see if I can identify what is going on, but I thought I would see if anyone (John in particular!!) had any ideas.

From what I can see, it only happens when turning over or cold idling without choke.  This would point me towards the supply voltage.  At the moment the tail light and modulator are being fed from a 10V regulator which should be good down to 10.5V.  I also have the correct capacitors fitted to stop any oscillation on the output.

So I guess the first question is: If the supply voltage momentarily dropped causing the modulator to reset, would this result is a quick single flash on the output? If so, what would the supply need to drop down to in order to rest the modulator?

zeuter

Hi Martin, 



Sounds like the regulator is dropping out with low voltage.  If it is a linear regulator (not a switching type) it will probably need a minimum of 12v on the input to do its job properly, but if the tail light is working ok and fed from the same regulator then I'm a bit baffled with the intermittent flashing and the modulation on start up, but I need to have a look at the firmware as your unit is a special one off.


More info would help when you have the chance to play with it again.


Regards, John


PS, Have you got the 30% output enabled or disabled?