LED's, 6v considerations, Daytime riding light..

I'm studying 6v LED's so I can run the bike with some sort of lighting during the day and increase the distance I can travel at night without draining the battery. Currently the generator charge rate is set to trickle charge the battery.

These are what I fitted to the speedo... 6v BA9S, very cheap from Aliexpress.

1Dec2018
The tail light, stoplight and blackout lights take BA15S bulbs. I have 2 lots coming from Aliexpress to test.

Ideally I want the little front blackout to light full time when ignition is on. I want it bright, much like the brightness of some of the cyclist lights but not blinding for oncoming traffic.I'm considering this a safety issue. Hoping to achieve this with generator on trickle charge as it is now.

Tail light, I want more light for less amps. Pondering over whether I go red or white LED's.

Stop light, I think at least 50% brighter than the tail bulb.

That's my wish list so we'll see what's achievable in coming days when bulbs arrive.

4Dec2018 update: My "warm white" 6v LEDs turned up from China this morning. Took 13 days from time of order. Well packed...

I spray painted the inside of the stop/tail lamp and the little front backout light with bright silver-chrome paint. Pic is after masking/prepping ready for spray painting. The object is to make the inside more reflective and generate more light.

+

With several thin coats of chrome paint.

 I fitted the new LED bulbs and tested in total darkness. Seems OK but I should have taken a photo beforehand to compare. I was aiming to get slightly more light than before with significantly less tax on the electrics. Will ask a fellow motorcyclist to follow and observe before making final conclusion.

I believe it will be brighter than pic shows with the motor running..

Front little blackout light.. am hoping this proves bright enough to be seen. I've connected it so it's always on when ignition is on. These LED's are 1.5w therefore draw 0.25A at 6v. Pic taken with the inside painted with bright chrome.

8Dec update: This LED burnt out within an hour of use. Studying the issue closely, am wondering if the standard unregulated generator increases the voltage to limits above that at which the LED can handle? The generator current is set to just a couple of amps when running but volts could easily be a different story. Plan is to put a simple LCD voltmeter on the bike so I can monitor what the realtime voltage upper limit is.

 9Dec2108 In testing using a simple LCD voltmeter monitoring system running voltage I found readings as follows:

6.0 ~ 9.4v

I contacted the seller who confirmed my upper peak voltage was above what the LED was happy with. Perhaps I should have realized considering 741's have no voltage regulator. So, anyway I learnt something. Ideal would seem to be something that works between 6v and 12v

Stay tuned...

The 6v BA15s LED bulbs arrived for the stoplight....and yes they're nice and bright. These are a red light not white. Early indications are good

17Jan2019
I bought 2 x 5v -24v Ba15S LED bulbs. One is now fitted to the front blackout light. It was tight fit and I had to manipulate the bulb holder orientation slightly to get clearance. It's bright, now for some testing on road.