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"Maximum wattage" when stringing LEDs ? ? ?


Mr.Puss

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  Let me start by stating that 12v electrical is not my forte'. I could not find a thread pertaining to this.
 
I am replacing my OEM relay for the one made by "Customled". I plan to install some Rizoma Avio21 led blinkers front and back, as well as throw some of that fancy prancy dancy flexible neon led strip inside my scoops. Perhaps adding some other led runners like some low wattage "bikevis led bullets" here and there down the road to help ensure I am conspicuous. I see a wide variation in watts on these led neon strips and other led lights.
 
My big question is.... How much can the harness or system handle; is there a maximum wattage(?) that I must stay under before I start blowing fuses or frying my electrical?
 
Can I safely run these (x2) neon strips @6w in addition to my (x4) Rizoma blinkers @ 13w, plus a few more @ 1w?
Is this noobish question of "maximum watts" even logical or make sense; am I looking at this all wrong?
I dont plan to light the thing up like a Xmas tree, but knowing the limit would definitely give me some piece of mind.
 
Any experienced information would be greatly greatly appreciated!
 
All the best
 

Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women.          Fuss Life.

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  Let me start by stating that 12v electrical is not my forte'. I could not find a thread pertaining to this. 
I am replacing my OEM relay for the one made by "Customled". I plan to install some Rizoma Avio21 led blinkers front and back, as well as throw some of that fancy prancy dancy flexible neon led strip inside my scoops. Perhaps adding some other led runners like some low wattage "bikevis led bullets" here and there down the road to help ensure I am conspicuous. I see a wide variation in watts on these led neon strips and other led lights.
 
My big question is.... How much can the harness or system handle; is there a maximum wattage(?) that I must stay under before I start blowing fuses or frying my electrical?
 
Can I safely run these (x2) neon strips @6w in addition to my (x4) Rizoma blinkers @ 13w, plus a few more @ 1w?
Is this noobish question of "maximum watts" even logical or make sense; am I looking at this all wrong?
I dont plan to light the thing up like a Xmas tree, but knowing the limit would definitely give me some piece of mind.
 
Any experienced information would be greatly greatly appreciated!
 
All the best

 
 
Wattage isnt really your enemy, it is used as a measure of work or energy used.
Its important to a degree but amperage and voltage should be your main foci
you want a system wired for 12v dc
Preferably in parallel. and the lower the amperage, the longer life you can expect out of your product.
When i made my rear turns signals, i had 24 LEDs wired in parallel, totalling 1.3 W but still giving me 11.8v drop before resistance and 450mA
I relied heavily on the internet and a few of the engineers on here as well(im only an engi in training) but first thing I did was read the basics on wiki https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_circuit
 
theres also an MIT article for beginner electrical engineers that i read... but for the life of me cant find it
 

ATGATT... ATTATT, two acronyms I live by.
 

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One way around this, is wire them directly to the battery with signal wire via a relay to the required switching source.
 
 
Eg. 
 
Wire all additional lights to battery via relay and switch them via headlight positive.
 
This will then turn them on when the bike is started, without adding any strain on the current wiring.
 
 
 

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Wattage ratings can be deceiving with LEDs, sometimes they compare the brightness of the LED to a comparable incandescent "wattage"- this is not the same as power rating of the led.
 
What you need to do is look at the fuse amp rating that you will be connecting too on the bikes electrical. This will let you know how much current the wiring is designed for. Honestly, you could probably cover your entire bike in LEDs before you exceed the electrical. Don't forget to get LEDs designed for 12v vehicle systems so you don't have to mess with resistors.
Calculating current= voltage/resistance
Calculating watts= current x voltage.
 
If you pull he fuse and plug in your multimeter (set for amps) in its place, you'll be able to measure the total current of your final setup.

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bmwpowere36m3

It depends on how you plan to wire the LEDs, or any electrical load for that matter.
 
The factory turn signals (US, at least) use 21/5W bulbs, meaning the DRLs/side markers draw 5W and the signal 21W. Assuming a voltage of 12 VDC that equates to ~0.42 A and 1.75 A respectively (W=V*A). You can assume the factory turn signals are capable of consuming 104 watts or 8.7 amps when the bike is running and the hazards are ON (worst case scenario).
 
So if you replace the turn signals with LED ones that only consume 52 watts (13W * 4 qty), then you can still easily power 52W worth of stuff. Honestly you could probably power much more. There is a dedicated aux fuse, DC connector/circuit on the bike that can handle I think 2A worth of stuff.  Be careful with the power ratings... better to look at current draw (amperage) of the lighting your interested in.
 
You have to do some research... if [strong]PROPERLY[/strong] wired, whether you reuse exsisting harnessing (insuring the wire gauge is sufficient for amperage draw) or run new circuits (correctly fused and wire gauge again) the worst that'll happen is the charging system won't be able to handle the load (battery will slowly lose charge). But you'd have to add a LOT of lightning.

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Oh man, I think my head is going to explode. Thanks for the invaluable info and leads you guys. Clearly I have a lot of research to do.
Very much appreciated!
 

Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women.          Fuss Life.

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  • 1 month later...

Per page 4-23 of the user's manual, the 12V DC 2 Amp "Auxiliary DC Connector" is located (looks like to me) under the left hand fake intake. I will do some digging around to verify here in a little bit if you are still looking for a good tie in for some 12V LEDs. Most LEDs pull miliamps...as in it would take hundreds to pull a full 2 Amps. I don't know if you have the LEDs already, or are able to get ahold of some documentation for the LEDs you plan on using, but if you can find the amperage you can go from there.
 
Looks like this Aux connection cuts off with the key as well, so would probably work decently for some Running lights or something other than turn signals.  It is also fused at 2 Amps, so if you did somehow overload everything, it would just blow the fuze and be a simple fix.

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Per page 4-23 of the user's manual, the 12V DC 2 Amp "Auxiliary DC Connector" is located (looks like to me) under the left hand fake intake. I will do some digging around to verify here in a little bit if you are still looking for a good tie in for some 12V LEDs. Most LEDs pull miliamps...as in it would take hundreds to pull a full 2 Amps. I don't know if you have the LEDs already, or are able to get ahold of some documentation for the LEDs you plan on using, but if you can find the amperage you can go from there. 
Looks like this Aux connection cuts off with the key as well, so would probably work decently for some Running lights or something other than turn signals.  It is also fused at 2 Amps, so if you did somehow overload everything, it would just blow the fuze and be a simple fix.
 Brilliant! Thanks for this info.  

Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women.          Fuss Life.

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Per page 4-23 of the user's manual, the 12V DC 2 Amp "Auxiliary DC Connector" is located (looks like to me) under the left hand fake intake. I will do some digging around to verify here in a little bit if you are still looking for a good tie in for some 12V LEDs. Most LEDs pull miliamps...as in it would take hundreds to pull a full 2 Amps. I don't know if you have the LEDs already, or are able to get ahold of some documentation for the LEDs you plan on using, but if you can find the amperage you can go from there. 
Looks like this Aux connection cuts off with the key as well, so would probably work decently for some Running lights or something other than turn signals.  It is also fused at 2 Amps, so if you did somehow overload everything, it would just blow the fuze and be a simple fix.
 Brilliant! Thanks for this info.
When I was looking to see how many extra watts the bike could handle the manual said 50 extra watts. I hope that helps you.

Beemer

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  Let me start by stating that 12v electrical is not my forte'. I could not find a thread pertaining to this. 
I am replacing my OEM relay for the one made by "Customled". I plan to install some Rizoma Avio21 led blinkers front and back, as well as throw some of that fancy prancy dancy flexible neon led strip inside my scoops. Perhaps adding some other led runners like some low wattage "bikevis led bullets" here and there down the road to help ensure I am conspicuous. I see a wide variation in watts on these led neon strips and other led lights.
 
My big question is.... How much can the harness or system handle; is there a maximum wattage(?) that I must stay under before I start blowing fuses or frying my electrical?
 
Can I safely run these (x2) neon strips @6w in addition to my (x4) Rizoma blinkers @ 13w, plus a few more @ 1w?
Is this noobish question of "maximum watts" even logical or make sense; am I looking at this all wrong?
I dont plan to light the thing up like a Xmas tree, but knowing the limit would definitely give me some piece of mind.
 
Any experienced information would be greatly greatly appreciated!
 
All the best

Im with you man. This is why when I installed my accent lights, I simply put a resister in line from the battery and a fuze on the line going back to the negative terminal....Im an idiot when it comes to the "electrical" stuff so I figured if I was going to do anything I would at least know I wasn't going to hurt the bike.  .... here is how I did it....  http://www.fz07.org/thread/3395/accent-lighting-installed 
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