Brake light - Word of Caution

[RykerUSA]

I was feeling pretty proud of myself the other day when I hooked up an auxiliary LED brake light strip to the max mount. Everything worked - The running tail light, the turn signals and the brake light. I was a happy camper.

Then I took it out for a ride. First thing I noticed was that my cruise control no longer worked. Then, 10 or 20 miles later, the dreaded VSS warning flashes across my screen and I popped about four different codes. Not very encouraging.

Came home and disconnected the brake light feature of my new LED strip and now everything is working as before. I’m once again a happy camper.

So the word of caution is - Think twice before you tap into that brake light circuit.

P.S. I upgraded to a 2022 Rally; so, my signature below is not up-to-date.

 

[Peter Aawen]

.......

P.S. I upgraded to a 2022 Rally; so, my signature below is not up-to-date.

Fixed that for you RykerUSA! It should now show 2022 Ryker Rally. :thumbup:

 

[DickB]

Which LED strip did you use, and how exactly did you wire it?

 

[RykerUSA]

Just picked up a LED strip off of eBay and I tapped into the wires at the back tail lights

 

[Flamewinger]

Kinda why you buy specially made lights with special components in the wiring that allow power one way (to the light) but not the other way. The Spyder’s electrical system senses extra power being used and things go wrong.

 

[DickB]

Try adding a 1N4004 or similar diode in the positive lead to the LED strip, banded end of the diode to the LED strip.

 

[RykerUSA]

Try adding a 1N4004 or similar diode in the positive lead to the LED strip, banded end of the diode to the LED strip.

Thanks! I will certainly give that a try.

 

[stevencovert]

Yes this fixes 99% of LED issues

 

[RykerUSA]

Try adding a 1N4004 or similar diode in the positive lead to the LED strip, banded end of the diode to the LED strip.

Dick

Am I correct that I simply wire the diode between the power wire to the LED and the ground wire? Also, do I have to be concerned with this diode getting very hot? Or can I simply wrap it in electrical tape and let it dangle with the rest of the wires?

 

[DickB]

Like this.

It should not get hot. How much current does your LED strip draw? Tape or shrink wrap is OK.

 

[remus]

Inspect the diode, it will have a dot or band on the negative end. Be sure to place it correctly in the circut or the lights will not work. The diode allows electricity to flow only one way.

 

[ImaCaMan]

I was feeling pretty proud of myself the other day when I hooked up an auxiliary LED brake light strip to the max mount. Everything worked - The running tail light, the turn signals and the brake light. I was a happy camper.

Then I took it out for a ride. First thing I noticed was that my cruise control no longer worked. Then, 10 or 20 miles later, the dreaded VSS warning flashes across my screen and I popped about four different codes. Not very encouraging.

Came home and disconnected the brake light feature of my new LED strip and now everything is working as before. I’m once again a happy camper.

So the word of caution is - Think twice before you tap into that brake light circuit.

P.S. I upgraded to a 2022 Rally; so, my signature below is not up-to-date.

The same thing just happened to me. I installed the Tricled American flag. I put one on my 2018 RTL several years ago with no problem. I went to put one on my new F3L Special Series and instructions and YouTube videos weren't up to date as to how to get down into where the electrical bundles were. The guy from Tricled said rather that tearing the bike apart, I could just tap into the tail lights. Orange for power and black for ground. I did that and it worked perfectly…..for several days, then before a ride today, I did a walk around check and saw that my tail lights and the LED American flag were not on. After reading these posts, I went looking for a diode, but with RadioShack defunct, none of the auto places had them so I had to order one from Amazon. I detached the LED flag wiring, but my tail lights still will not come on. The brake lights and turn signals work. Will it eventually reset, or do you think I blew a fuse? It's not even easy getting into the fuse boxes on these new F3L's.

 

[FrogmanDave]

Will it eventually reset, or do you think I blew a fuse?

Sounds like a fuse to me. It should work instantly or it won't. No resetting that I know of.

 

[ImaCaMan]

Sounds like a fuse to me. It should work instantly or it won't. No resetting that I know of.

And let there be light! A fuse it was. Whew!

 

[FrogmanDave]

And let there be light! A fuse it was. Whew!

View attachment 199583

Good to hear. Well not that you blew a fuse but that it was an easy fix. Now you just need to determine what is wrong with that flag. Even with that many led's it should not draw enough power to blow a fuse.

 

[ImaCaMan]

Good to hear. Well not that you blew a fuse but that it was an easy fix. Now you just need to determine what is wrong with that flag. Even with that many led's it should not draw enough power to blow a fuse.

That’s what I thought, but reading posts above, others have had the same problem. DickB in post above recommended adding a diode to the hot line so the current can only flow one way. I did that and time will tell if it works for me. I didn’t have the flag wired up yet in the above pic. Flag works now too.

 

[BajaRon]

You can put a ton of lights on the Spyder without any negative effects. But it has to be done correctly. The Spyder is very electrically sensitive. Do it wrong and you can set the CAN bus (Controller Area Network bus) on a rampage. It probably won't break it. But it will not be a happy camper until you get it sorted out.

There are also a lot of 'Plug & Play' light kits out there that are not at all P&P.

 

[ImaCaMan]

You can put a ton of lights on the Spyder without any negative effects. But it has to be done correctly. The Spyder is very electrically sensitive. Do it wrong and you can set the CAN bus (Controller Area Network bus) on a rampage. It probably won't break it. But it will not be a happy camper until you get it sorted out.

There are also a lot of 'Plug & Play' light kits out there that are not at all P&P.

Yes, the flag I was installing and a light strip I have, but not installed, are both plug and play. My problem was that I can’t figure out how to get down into the area where the wire clusters are that I need to plug into. The instructions that came with it are next to worthless, and all supporting videos are for older model F3’s p. Mine is a 2022, and is nothing like the ones they are working on in the videos. I didn’t want to start tearing into it then screw something up, and after speaking with a guy from Tricled where I purchased them from, he said the easiest thing to do is to tap into the tail light wires and told me which colors to use. I did that and it worked for a couple days, and then I lost my tail lights and the LED flag. I installed the flag and light strips on my 2018 RTL without any problem. This F3 has been a different animal. Anyway, everything’s working now, and I’m going to hold off with the LED light strip and leave things alone.