For Ducati Monster Tail Lights

As many of you have probably noticed by driving around, many tractor trailors, mass transit vehicles, and luxury cars are now using LED's for turn signals, brake lights, and tail lights. I've been intrigued by the way the light from these lights seems clear and focused and is visible from a longer distance. Looking further into the topic, there are even more advantages to LED's. If they are not overdriven (supplied with too much current for a gain in brightness) they can last thousands and thousands of hours of operation. LED's are solid state devices that convert electrical energy to light typically at 90% efficiency or better, compared to a light bulb that is typically 40-60% efficient. They give off very little heat, and the LED package is not nearly as sensative to vibration as a light bulb is. The goal here is to make the tail light more reliable, visible, and hopefully safer...

I made a basic prototype of the array with 24 LED's. At full brightness, the brake light was very visible, but the running light needed a little help. This version uses 45 5mm LED's. Step 1 was to measure the inside of the lense and develop an attractive placement pattern for the LED's. I decided to follow the contours of the tail lense, because the prototype was a rectangular pattern, which I didnt like the look of.

Here is my drill pattern in both AutoCAD and Adobe PDF:

LED's were glued to the Lexan holder and soldered up into a series-parallel combination.

Resistor values of 150ohms and 16ohms were selected for the running and brake inputs.

Looks interesting behind the stock lense. Originally I was considering a clear tail lense, but I like the stock look.

I sacraficed the stock bulb to create a harness that wouldn't require modifying any of the stock wiring.

Ready for the lense cover....

Questions? Comments?

Please send email to feuss2@sca40.com

Kohls Coupon

Update 27-DEC-04

Once in a while, you just have to take it that one step further. While 45LED's was nice, 90 is even better. This was a mid-contruction photo of the array currently in my bike:

It's known to those who ride behind me at night as "the red laser" as it is tempting, but rather unpleasant to stare straight into...