| Author | Message | ||
     Blakeaspencer |
My uly's headlights aren't the brightest things ever. I'm wondering what kind of fork mounted lights would work. What's good? Also I'm kind of on a budget. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I mounted some cheapo halogen driving lights on an aluminum bar from lowes. Electrically, I have them turned on via relay that's spliced into the high beam. Having three 50W halogens on at the same time is no big deal so long as you're driving. At idle, the kuryakin drops to one green LED. I also set up a little switch in series with the relay's coil so that I can use normal high beams if I wanted to. Like if I need my heated gear at night. My setup cost less than $50 and only look ghetto a little  | ||
| Blakeaspencer |
Do you mind posting a picture? That sounds like my style. I think I could find or make some clamps to squeeze onto the forks. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
No need. Two bolt holes already exist to hold the beak. You just have to remember to readjust the headlights if you do that as they will be shifted up by the addition of the bar. I'll try to get you some pics tonight. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I wired mine just like Nate did, but I made up brackets out of two short sections of angle iron (1/8" x 2" steel angle, 1-1/8" long) that mount behind the stock turn signal stalks. I got the idea from Weebe who did something similar on his Uly. Closeup of brackets and lights:  Complete thread: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/404153.html?1225694986 | ||
| Djohnk |
I bought my auxilary LED spotlights from here, they have lasted pretty well, but the wiring harness and mounting brackets are not very good. I had the mounting brackets beefed up at a welding shop because they vibrated and cracked after about 6 months. No problems at all with the lights themselves, probably could drive a truck over them. Also very bright, even the 12 Watts are probably pretty good. http://www.plashlights.com/20W-Cube-Driving-Lights -detail.htm?productId=-110661&browse=-18118&shopBy =-10398&catalogId=-1774 I looked at the picture closer, it looks like they upgraded the mounting brackets, or at least changed the design. (Message edited by djohnk on November 11, 2015) | ||
| Arcticktm |
I can vouch for LED's that use the 5w each LED's liek above. My KTM has them from Baja Designs. Definitely not budget friendly, but maybe someone has lower cost LED's now? Mine use 4 x 5w for each light, as Djonhk, and they are absolutely like staring at the sun. I'm sure you coudl get away with much less and still massively improve on stock. I don't have any extra lights on my Uly. | ||
| 7873jake |
There's an ancient thread here: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/142 838/605639.html I think the Gamdh lights in the thread are the $$$ Clearwaters with a fancy bracket. Since that thread, LEDs have dropped waaaaaay down. I went with some KC HiLites brackets on the fork legs and PIAA lights before LEDs were affordable. One caveat: whatever light system you go with, if it uses a relay, keep a spare of the relay on hand, **especially** if you buy the PIAAs, as they do fail. The PIAAs use a smaller relay than the standard (Bosch?) type common to many kits and mine died one trip, leaving me with no PIAA lights. Had to order one. Post your pics when done --Jake | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Dammit! I promised pictures and failed. I even went out and took them. This is why we can't have nice things  I'll put them up tonight. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
OK Here it is in all of its glory:  Close up of zipties and some Lowe's Aluminum bar stock.  I lucked out on these lights. They shoot a great tight beam and cost $20. Here is my rat's nest:  Note the fat red wire on the left as a ground that goes to the frame. Here is a better shot of the small relay I got from eastern beaver:  It is the 20A relay with tab. http://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Elec__Products/Relays/relays.html I didn't bother to get a socket. I just soldered the wires directly to the tabs. The lights came with compatible plugs that could connect to the relay. I feed the relay directly from the battery with an inline fuse. Initially, I used one of those fancy resettable circuit breakers but it didn't work out under the seat due to the heat. Just use a plain old boring fuse. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Things I would do differently next time: 1) The bar is too long. They resonate at 75 miles per hour. 2) I used a hand drill and a tape measure so it's not straight. You can't really see it but I KNOW it's not straight 3) I should have just used the bar as a ground instead of running separate wires. |
