Daylight Running Lights

I'm going to fit a pair of small round DRL's to my GSX so that I do not have to have my headlights on all the time, they will be mounted just under my front indicators so, do I go for 3w LED (or similar) which I think will be ok or do I go for 10w LED (or similar) which will be very bright, I'm just wondering if the 10w ones will be to bright for people to see my indicators as they will be so close. I am going to wire them through a relay though so that they come on with the ignition but go off when I turn my lights on.

Why not just leave your headlights on and have the DRL's on as well?  be seen be safe an all that   I've got some LED Lights I was going to put on the bandit, Do I need a Relay or anything? or can I just tap into the headlight wires (the little bulb one above the headlight)

As the GSX has had a twin headlight conversion, on dip beam its drawing 2 x 55w instead of the normal 1 x 55w, I am a little concerned about cooking the regulator/alternator if I have them on all the time. As far as I am aware DRL's must not be used at night, most just fit a switch but I was going to use a relay so that when the side lights come on the DRL's go off. I did even consider wiring them so that the appropriate one turns off when you use the indicators.

In my limited knowledge sim, led's will draw hardly any power at all. That's why I rewired my little bike trailer with led's.... Just like the bikes rear light, the trailers lights are on the whole time. Manchester to Oxford and back in the summer, with no issues at all ( and no relay, the trailer socket is just tapped into the loom).

110w is probably ok, due to the way lots of us keep the standard headlight and run a light bar with two additional 55w lights.
LEDs use next to nothing to use as many as you like.
As for running DRLs at night, who the Fek will know? Simply because you will not be using them alone, they will be run alongside normal lights as well, not on their own.
One thing most people don't know is that the main beam only needs to be on when there are no street lights. if street lights are on then dipped lights are quite lgegal on their own.
Go for what you are planning, all will be good & you will cook nothing.

wise worlds Dave and Sim run with headlights and spots be safe be seen also study's indicate that when spots are positioned so that they make a triangle with headlight it naturally causes a warning signal in the brain of anyone who see's u meaning they take notice that you're on the road

I like the look of these.

10W CREE Spots

i can't same there the same as i have Andrew but one has lost about half it's power output

just keep it in mind the good one has good output like the bmw gs's you see about with them

I would not mind paying a bit more for a decent pair but they are either under £15 for a pair or over £100 which seems a bit mad.

Or for something in between are these any us using the member discount?
Bikevis

Well I finally got round to fitting these:



With a bit of head scratching I came up with a plan as to how I was going to fit them, another couple of ebay purchases (some S/Steel brackets which I drilled out, bent to shape and then sprayed black and some plastic spacers).




It ended up looking like this.




I did have the bracket the other way round for a start with so that the fairing fixing was hidden but on full lock the back of the DRL fouled on the oil coiler.

I then set about wiring them in, I bought a small black box that dims the DRL's when you turn the lights on but I also wanted the associated DRL to go off when you used the indicators. When the indicator flashes on it turns on Relay 1 and also charges the Capacitor, when the indicator goes off the Diode stops the backfeed and the capacitor discharges (takes about 3seconds) but the indicator flashes on again (before the capacitor discharges) re-charging the capacitor thus keeping the relay on until the indicators go off for good, then the capacitor discharges totally and the relay opens.
When Relay 1 closes it turns on Relay 2 which breaks the circuit to the DRL's. The reason I have done it this way is due to the impedance of Relay 2's coil, I would need a massive capacitor to keep it powered on for 3 seconds, whereas the small one on the PCB has a higher impedance so the capacitor can be smaller.





DRL's on by themselves:



DRL's dimmed when the main lights are on:



Left DRL goes off with the left Indicator:



Right DRL goes off with the right Indicator:

nice job Andrew!  do those indicators need extending out a little?

simbo wrote:

nice job Andrew!  do those indicators need extending out a little?

That's my next job. They work fine but the fairing covers them up a bit to much for my liking.

great job on the DLRs

love the close in indicators, looks so much smother, gives a better line 

That's brilliant Andrew