LED signal conversion

Blind_Io

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Kiki's Monster 696 got some new luggage last year, but that means that the combination of the luggage, the fender eliminator, and the exhaust doesn't allow for the OEM rear signals to be fitted.

I plan to build a bracket for the rear plate (that is currently on a pretty severe angle due to the luggage) that will have a vertical lip at the bottom so a couple of LED strips can be fitted to replace the stock signals. This will be better than the OEM ones anyway, because you can't see them behind the pipes. I wanted something very low profile to keep the clean look of the bike, but also not one of these nutty $150/signal setups.

I have ordered a set of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015H90NBO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 but the OEM signals are incandescent lights, so I have to include some resistors, but I can't find anything definitive for the ohm rating I need to shoot for. I know these get hot, I plan to mount them to the bracket I will build to go behind the license plate - this would aid in cooling the resistors with air flow and the bracket itself would act as a heat sink.

(Also, I know that these are 50/50 white and amber, I'm just going to wire up the amber portion - if she doesn't like them or we swap them out down the road, I can use them on the X for rock lights or interior lights.)
 
Are you sure you need resistors? Seeing that they advertise fitment to 12V system i'm almost certain they have everything needed built in, like almost all aftermarket parts.

And being low power, intermittent load, extra heat is not an issue.
 
The light itself will work just fine, as DaBoom said it's advertised to work with raw 12V, so it has current limiting built in.

What could be a problem is indicators flashing too fast, depending on how the circuit is done on your bike. If it's a problem, the equivalent resistance to a 10W indicator bulb would be in the ballpark of 16ohm. Put it in parallel with the light if you have any issues. Get a big fat one, because it's gonna be drawing 10W and getting HOT ?

The value of the resistor is not super-important, it's just gonna affect the speed of the flashing. I'm guessing anything 10-20 ohm is gonna be ok.
 
Resistors are only needed to avoid the ‘hyper-flash’ phenomenon. The downside is that said resistors can generate a lot of heat and sometimes even melt plastics.

An easier and cheaper solution would be to swap out the flasher relay for one that is LED compatible. However, I did a quick search and apparently Ducati were idiots and integrated the relay into the instrument panel. Discussion here: http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=54711.15

There are some other solutions out there. It seems even Ducati has a solution for it, some really expensive resistor assemblies: https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Ducati...914328&hash=item2f22da134e:g:GsUAAOSwnHZYTV~A

If you go the resistor path, make sure they’re mounted to metal and in an area where a lot of heat generated by the resistor won’t be a problem.
 
Yep, I was going to put them on the back side of the license plate, so the bracket would act as a heat sink and it would get excellent air flow
 
Why not just use a solid state electronic flasher?
 
Why not just use a solid state electronic flasher?

Because Ducati decided to make the flasher a fully integrated component soldered to the main circuit board of the instrument pod on that Monster. Not a user or even separately replaceable unit, unlike most bikes from manufacturers that aren't idiots.

Yep, I was going to put them on the back side of the license plate, so the bracket would act as a heat sink and it would get excellent air flow

Have you considered going with an integrated taillight?
 
That would mean a whole new tail kit, which is not what we want to do, especially since we would be back to making bags fit with a kit that was never intended to have bags.
 
That would mean a whole new tail kit, which is not what we want to do, especially since we would be back to making bags fit with a kit that was never intended to have bags.

Um, do you have a non-standard tail light kit on the thing? Because the integrated tail lights on the market swap one for one for the stock tail light itself, not the entire kit.
 
That would be a possibility. It has a fender eliminator kit currently, the only tail light swaps I've seen replace the entire fender eliminator with a different one that incorporates an LED strip.

Edit: Found one that replaces the stock light, that's a possibility. I might just get it for her and call it good.
 
That would be a possibility. It has a fender eliminator kit currently, the only tail light swaps I've seen replace the entire fender eliminator with a different one that incorporates an LED strip.

Edit: Found one that replaces the stock light, that's a possibility. I might just get it for her and call it good.

Most integrated taillights just replace the stocker that I've seen, and it didn't seem any different in a quick Google search for Monster 696 applications.

The best on the market are the CustomLED units but they have somewhat limited application. I have an integrated tail on my 919 and I think Der Stig actually has integrated tails on a couple of his. They're great and make the bikes look sleeker.
 
I had to check my state codes, some states ban turn signals in the same housing or specify signals need to be X inches apart.
 
Thanks all for the help! We ordered an integrated tail light system for Marco (and a few other bits for his upcoming younger brother).
 
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