Apothecary Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Having now obtained an LED light cluster (high power) from Maplins I am going to attach to the roll bar as a high level brake light. There have been threads on this before but I'm looking for an elegant way of attaching the light cluster to the diagonal on the FIA roll bar. Has anyone found a bracket or similar that might be suitable or am I going to have to fabricate my own If so, any ideas...... Paul SL No.174 Member No.109xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irrelevant Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Make sure you seal the unit with something like black silicon sealant - just a smear over the joins, it won't even show. FWIW, I JB-Welded my high level brake light on and as such have no brackets at all.....Araldite will do just as good a job. J351 TPE - In one piece Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony C Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 I fabricated a small aluminium bracket to fit mine. Dead easy, starting with a thin cardboard template. I fitted it to the diagonal so that it would shine through the rear window when the hood was up. Bit redundant now I don't use the hood any more. Glued the wire to the underside of the tube with black silicone. Remember to use a resistor in line otherwise the 14V from the alternator will shorten the life of the LED's. Chris W will tell you the value required. E-mail me if you'd like a pic 😬 BRG Brooklands SV 😬 It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apothecary Posted May 12, 2004 Author Share Posted May 12, 2004 Thanks for this... Tony, I have a resistor (as specified by ChrisW in previous threads) so I'm all ready to go but for the attachment to the bar. I have seen a photo of your bracket but it was difficult to tell how you had done it. Any further details would be most welcome Paul SL No.174 Member No.109xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony C Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 I measured the diameter of the bar and drew two semicircles on the strip of metal. I made the strip of metal just slightly wider than the light housing with the attachment points at approx the 10 o'clock and 4 o'clock positions. The strip of metal I made long enough to: give a gap of approx 5mm between the edge of each semicircle and the 90 degree bend and just enough clearance between the light attachment points and the bends. So from one end of the metal strip measure: Radius of the bar 5mm for gap 5mm bend allowance Diameter of light + 2mm 5mm bend allowance 5mm for gap Radius of bar I used a piece of aluminium alloy sheet of about 18 - 20 swg The angle of the light fitting/housing takes care of the angle of the bar diagonal, but only if you align one of the attachment points at 10 o'clock. If the angle of the light housing doesn't look right just rotate it 180 degrees so that the other attachment is at 10 o'clock. I drilled a couple of holes in the bracket face to allow two tie-wraps to be used to fasten it to the bar, plus a smear of black silicone on the edges of the cut-outs of the bracket. Yell if this doesn't help 😬 BRG Brooklands SV 😬 It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavinp Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Paul, I would be interested in the part number from Maplin? Superlight R #41 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apothecary Posted May 14, 2004 Author Share Posted May 14, 2004 Thanks Tony, I think I follow you and may well try going down this route. Gavin, The part number is PD01. Its made by Kingbright and is a 50 LED cluster and retails for £8.50 +VAT. The resistor I got was part no. W22R (£0.16 +VAT). Paul SL No.174 Member No.109xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavinp Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 Paul, I nearly bought this once but thought it was too bright for the road? Superlight R #41 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavinp Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 oohh and which rating of resistor did you buy? thanks Superlight R #41 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony C Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 It's certainly bright - but too bright? I wanted it to catch the eye of following dunces, so it could never be too bright 😬 BRG Brooklands SV 😬 It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavinp Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 Tony Do you what resistor? to step down to the 9 -11 volts it needs? Superlight R #41 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony C Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 As Apothecary pointed out it's a W22R Go here and type in: W22R and then click GO and Robert is your Mothers Brother 😬 BRG Brooklands SV 😬 It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Brother Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 22 Ohm 3 Watt Wirewound resistor Steve Se7en-Up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apothecary Posted May 15, 2004 Author Share Posted May 15, 2004 Thats the resistor...its the one Chris W recommended in threads from the old ages! Have not put it together yet and will report back when I have. I want it to be v.bright for the same reasons as Tony . You can always use a greater rated resistor to lower the brightness if felt necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavinp Posted May 15, 2004 Share Posted May 15, 2004 I was going to fit 2 of them, one in each upper corner of the roll bar/cage for maximum effect (they are only relatively little things - 60mm across). Tapping into nearside and offside rear brake light loom. Any chance of overloading the circuit with 2 of them do you think? I already have the wire in place for a central LED brake light I had in place before on one side, but doing 130mph down the back straight at Bedford took the light unit off! g Superlight R #41 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apothecary Posted May 16, 2004 Author Share Posted May 16, 2004 Well its fitted and I have to say I'm V. pleased with it. In the end I made up my own version of a U bolt using two strips of ali, one behind the light and rear of the fia bar and the other (curved) immediatly behind this and inforont of the bar. This is all attached with nut & bolts thru the fixing on the light itself. This is all covered in the adhesive black padding strip (as per nose cone lip) to protect the fia bar from scratching and its fairy neat. Might get around to Tony's bracket in the future.... Gavin, I wouldn't have thought two of the units would cause difficulty but then I'm not the right person to give you definative advice on this. Do you really need two though? A single seems plenty bright enough to me. Paul SL No.174 Member No.109xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavinp Posted May 16, 2004 Share Posted May 16, 2004 Paul The only reason I can think of for not owning a Seven is relative safety and having the cash. Why else wouldn't you! The more I can do to make it safer the better. So, I'll try one first and see how it goes. It's the Max power brigade hitting my fuel tank that worries me! Do you have any photos? cheers g Superlight R #41 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now