Search

Search all blog posts here.

Search This Blog

Sunday, April 5, 2015

SparkBright Eclipse Battery Voltage LED

The time one alternator crapped out and I almost didn't make it home on my 1500 Vulcan, got me thinking about a voltmeter. I have been running a Kuryakyn voltmeter on my shovelhead for quite a while and it's a good unit, but I've always want something smaller and cleaner. ChengDave turned me on to the Sparkbright units from England. I've heard a ton of great things about them and wanted to see if I liked them.

So I ordered one and got to thinking about how to mount it. Does anyone remember this mostly worthless bit of chrome dress up from the Fire and Steel catalog?


Well I found a plain one, NOS, on Ebay for like $25 delivered not $76.95. I figured I would be at least $25 or so into a set of HD risers if I want to find something with a nice "bridge" base to mount stuff to.


I taped and marked my top clamp. One side gets the Sparkbright and one side gets the spot clock.


Pre-drill the start hole.


Make the big hole.


Mount it up on the bars. I bought the big LED so I knew I would need some clearance behind it, too.


Transfer punch to start the hole.


Punch mark.


Center drill. At this point, I should have used a small bit to go all the way through the bar, but I didn't.


Cut the big hole in the bar.


Transfer the hole to the other. I only need a small hole for the tiny wires to pass through.


Wire hole drilled.


I can't deburr the hole with the handlebars installed.


Clean off the sharp edges.


Feed the wire and mock-up the LED.


Looking good.


Add some black shrink tube to cover the wires.


I was thinking I wanted to splice into the marker lights so that it would be key on only. I thought I would just solder the connection and cut it if I need to take it apart. But way better, I just unplugged the marker light connection and shoved it all back together.


Green when running is good. The green is a bit hard to see in bright sunlight, but amber and red are easy to spot so that's what's important to notice going down the road. I really dig it.


I ziptied the wires together for extra support, too.


Good to go.



2 comments:

  1. You can now order the voltage monitor from the same source that will brighten or dim depending on the ambient light.....

    ReplyDelete
  2. You can now order the voltage monitor from the same source that will brighten or dim depending on the ambient light.....

    ReplyDelete