Y2K Rear strobe brake light

Let me begin this post with this disclaimer. Check the laws in your state before buying this product. That being said, my approach is that I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
After researching the subject of strobes to tie into my rear brake light system, I ordered a TIR3 Whelen strobe from Strobes-R-Us (STROBES-R-US Emergency Vehicle Supply) Amber in color. They are a little pricey ($55) but my bike and my butt are both worth it.
Anyway, I removed the reflector under my tail light (y2k), installed the strobe (perfect fit) and clipped it into my brake wire and negative ground of my battery.
Press the brake lever, and in addition to my Super Brite LED tail lights, now I get a four flash Hi-Intensity amber strobe. It is super eye catching and I fully believe it can save your life. With my yellow bike, yellow moto-lites facing forward, and this unit on the back, my safety obsession is sated. Now if only the freakin' cagers will keep their eyes open!

 

LED tail lights

Ok, is it better to get LED bulbs the color of the lense they will light up, (red for brake , yellow for turn) or get white and let the lense do its job?

Looked up your mini-strobe, very cool idea.

 

Any pictures or video's of your setup?

 

Hi Flynlo, I really like your idea, I looked at the Strobes Are Us website,will they sell their
products to the general public or just law officers? By your explaination,you have your strobe mounted outside and below the tailight. I was thinking if it would be possible to
cut a small section out of the back of the tailight and install the mini strobe inside the
lamp housing? If I am thinking correctly,that strobe would light up the tailight lens like a big ole pumpkin. Any thoughts?

 

mounting mini strobe

I'll post pictures of mini strobe in the next couple of days.
It mounts above the license plate in the little 4"x1" recessed reflector mount spot. I'm not mechanically inclined enough to say it would work inside the tail light lens, but I would think the red lens might filter the amber light. If you went with a white strobe it might just work, but I'd be nervous about cutting into the plastic. I like plug-n-play! Also, SRU will sell to all.

 

Rangemaster

It's best to get the led's the same color as the lens that they are going to shine through. A hyper-white led shining through a red lens isnt going to do too much. I've tried it. Especially during the day, VERY DANGEROUS! With the brake lights try to get led's that are radially fireing, not just foward fireing. You want to get as much light refraction as possible, not just lighting up through the lense. This would be the difference between just seeing two little red dots or seeing the entire brake light assembly lighting up.

 

Anybody try the LIN 3 by Whelen? It says a wider beam so I'm wondering why a TIR 3 ? I'm going to do one or the other-just want to make sure I understand the difference.

 

Rangemaster, if you type in Whelen LIN3 vs. TIR3, there are several good discussions (ST owners forum) and some videos. The overall comments agree that the LIN3 has better side dispersion, others feel the LIN3 is not as strong straight on. One guy on ST owners tied in the control wire with the power wire so his pattern actually changes EVERY time he uses his brakes. Genius! I just taped off my control wires, but may have to rethink that. Either way these are so much brighter than the Hyperlites it's ridiculous.

 

Pics as requested

Hootch, here are a couple of photos of the installed product. I'm no pro photog but it gives you an idea of where it's mounted and how it works.

 

That just looks so perfect. Saw your bike in the gallery, Very Nice 5G Yellow. :thumbsup:

 

very cool, really not that noticable. Until turned on obviously.

 

RM, thanks for the comments. I hope that you find this idea useful.

 

Additional photo's of installation

Views when not lit. Single post bolt fits in same hole as the reflector you remove.

 

Side View

Whelen TIR3 side view, looks OEM.