Sometimes at night in the woods or out in the boonies where it's very dark I have trouble knowing exactly where the dash switches are on my RS-faired bikes. My solution is to backlight the hazard and ABS switches - with LEDs of course. :yes
EDIT: Inserted link with updated information and missing pictures.http://classickbikes.com/ckb.tech/0.ckb.tech.files/led.switch/led.switch.htmThe picture's a little fuzzy due to the low lighting but you get the idea:
For a few years BMW made the hazard switch with a little bulb in it that would flash in unison with the hazard lights. As a legacy of this all BMW switches of this style have a little socket for that bulb in them:
The ABS and hazard switches both have translucent red graphic inserts in them so they make excellent candidates for backlighting with a red LED. Since I want the switches to just glow a little, not shine and be distracting, I chose to use 3mm diffused red 12V LEDs that can be purchased from websites like Mouser and Newark:
I drilled a small hole in each side of the little socket and inserted an LED:
Then I soldered wire to each terminal (the longer one is always positive on polarized LEDs), clipped off the excess LED terminal wires and took a blurry picture of it:
The LED's terminal wires are fairly brittle and break easily if subjected to repeated bending to I filled up the lower back half of the switch with epoxy to keep them from bending and breaking:
When I re-installed them on the bike I tapped into the parking light circuit to power them.
Project complete. :mbird
More information on dash switches can be found here:
Frankenduck's Switch Rehabilitation Clinic
