For some time i have been thinking how to realize a blue glow in the cockpit of my scooter  together with the original white cockpit lighting. The combination of these colors give a nice look.Especially during the evening and night rides. after some time and of course the cost to achieve this have thought of the following, partly designed and assembled.

I used an RGB led strip. These are a 3 color led strip with Red, Green, and Blue primary colors. The led strip can be shortened at the desired length. Additionally, the led strip can be controlled via a remote contoller so that the entire color spectrum can be used. I dit not buy the controller because i will only use the blue color.

The RGB led strip:

It’s a 5 unit led strip. Each unit has 3 RGB led’s. So. . . . all together we will have 15 RGB led’s. By the way. . . . The led strip is led strip is waterproof since it is coated.The soldering of the cables are covered with shrink tubing to become waterproof. 


 


Since led light up quite a lot, i chosed for a transistor light dimmer controlled via a potentiometer. In this way i can can controle the amound of light togethor with the original cockpit lights. One can also take a fixed resistor, but then the light intensity is no longer adjustable.

The cirquit is, through (ignition), to the battery connected. I get the consumption measured with a multimeter. The minimum current was 3 mA and the maximum current was 14 mA at a battery voltage of 12, 55 volts. In "Watts", this corresponds to a minimum of 0, 04 watts and a maximum of 0, 18 Watts. It will not harm the battery  because the amount of led light is dimmed. However. . . . the more units are used. . . . the higher the current consumption.




The control range of the dimmer starts from zero to a maximum of one-line point of more than 75 percent. The potentiometer is linear and therefor the amound of light will be controlled in a staight rising line. The total cost of the parts is less than € 10, - euro's and easy to build. Some components are oversized because I do not like too small values.

The circuit and the components:

R1   10 Kohm / 1 Watt
R2    1 Kohm lineair (potentiometer)
R3  51 Ohm / 1 Watt
T1    BC 547 Transistor NPN type

Eplanation of the letters

c = the collector
e = the emitter
b = the basis

On the picture you can see the led strip mounted in the cockpit. The strip is not glued and fits perfect between the top of the cockpit. There is a floating preventive fuse built in. This is not necessary since the circuit is short circuit protected by R1 and R3. 

The result:

On the picture you can see the final project. The led light is scattered by the plastic glass of the cockpit and gives a nice even illumination. combined with the original lighting the blue led light gives a softer look of the cockpit. Especially in the evening hours is’t a pleasure for relaxed driving. It therefor has an added value.
since the additional cockpit lighting via the ignition key is connected, the LED lights light up when you turn the ignition. The advantage is that one can immediately see if there is sufficient battery voltage.

 

The appearance would be even nicer if we could use a flexible neon tube because it gives a more even glow. But unfortunately they are still not available. Perhaps in the near future.


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