Automatic trunk lite

[Fatcycledaddy]

I have seen a few rear trunk lite farkels on here and I thought I would post a little different idea.

I removed the trunk outer skin by removing the 6 screws holding it on. The first pic has a $5 mercury switch installed with two sided tape, the second pic shows the routing of the wires. The third pic shows the LED strip mounted just below the velcro strip.Because of a three pic limit the next post will have the rest.

 

[Fatcycledaddy]

First pic, I added a second velcro strip to the underside of the lip where the latch of the trunk is.
I routed the wires from under the trunk lid with the wires from the third brake light. I connected it to the main power line that I ran from the battery to the trailer hitch with a inline fuse.
The second pic shows the top lights on.
The third pic shows the lights under the lip on.
Now whenever I open the truck I have lights without a switch to flip and a switch to ever go out of adjustment.

 

[PW2013STL]

Great idea!

Looks good and I like the auto feature :2thumbs:

 

[Bob Denman]

:clap: Great thinking and execution! :firstplace:
:shocked: But I'm just not getting my head wrapped around your power source... :shocked:
If I read this correctly; you used a brakelight harness for power?
Did you go "upstream" from the switch? :dontknow:

 

[Fatcycledaddy]

Ooops, I didn't clarify, sorry. My trailer hitch is wired with a fused main power and ground line running from the battery to the back of the bike, then a set of relays operate the lights on the trailer. This way the there is no additional load on the bikes blinker system from the trailer lights. I also have this main power line charging the battery in my trailer as we ride, which powers the LED strip in the trailer for lights when we camp.

I tapped into this main power line from the battery with a fused link to power the trunk light.

 

[Bob Denman]

:clap: That even made sense to me: Thanks! :thumbup:

 

[OverHillAndDale]

That looks great and it's very original. I used a mercury switch on my '68 Barracuda to make a trunk light.

Question - are there not solid state position sensors available now? I know that sort of technology is used in my garage door so I can tell their position remotely. If those aren't easily available where did you locate your mercury switch?

 

[Fatcycledaddy]

I couldn't find a solid state switch. I did find a rolling steel ball switch, but I chose the old standby because of reliability.
Here is a link
http://www.ebay.com/itm/N-O-MERCURY...368776?hash=item235f28dc88:g:AdsAAOSwLnlWn5-9

 

[OverHillAndDale]

Perfect - I thought I'd finished farkling but you've inspired me.

I like the looks of that switch - the one I installed on my Cuda was glass where you could see the mercury bubble and the 2 contacts. This one looks sealed which is great since we're dealing with mercury.

 

[Fatcycledaddy]

Yes it is totally sealed or encapsulated in plastic.
The other part of this is the mounting location. Because it is between the inside and outside shell of the trunk, it can't be hit with with anything, or the trunk closed on anything, so breakage is an extremely low, or non existent probability.

 

[OverHillAndDale]

Waaay cool, I'm in.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ARtraveler]

Great idea. I like all of the lights. Now, if I only lived where I can ride in the dark. :roflblack::roflblack: