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Re: Electric stuff is challenging for me.

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 2:23 am
by ME 109
Major Softie wrote:You looked inside them?!!!

I feel a need to come to Charlies aid here as he never said he looked inside, technically speaking.

'

Re: Electric stuff is challenging for me.

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 2:53 am
by Airbear
ME 109 wrote:
Major Softie wrote:You looked inside them?!!!

I feel a need to come to Charlies aid here as he never said he looked inside, technically speaking.

'
Phew, thanks for the support, Jeff. This sure is a tricky place when it comes to technical matters like this. It is so easy to be misconstrued, misquoted and generally misunderstood.

Re: Electric stuff is challenging for me.

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 3:45 am
by Rob Frankham
Chuey wrote: The light fixture I chose for the tail light may not be a good long term set up. It comes from a Moto Cross oriented company called Acerbis. The plastic housing is so close to the bulb that it is melting the housing.
Chuey
Chuey,

You might want to see if you can source a LED tail lamp 'bulb'. They run cold... Don't know where you'd get them in your neck of the woods but they're readily available over here...

Rob

Re: Electric stuff is challenging for me.

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 7:03 pm
by Major Softie
Airbear wrote:
ME 109 wrote:
Major Softie wrote:You looked inside them?!!!

I feel a need to come to Charlies aid here as he never said he looked inside, technically speaking.

'
Phew, thanks for the support, Jeff. This sure is a tricky place when it comes to technical matters like this. It is so easy to be misconstrued, misquoted and generally misunderstood.
I am SO relieved!

Re: Electric stuff is challenging for me.

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 9:54 pm
by gspd
ME 109 wrote:One look in the headlight bucket was enough for me. That's some scary sh!t in there.
Look under the dash of any modern car for just a few minutes; your bike's headlight guts will no longer look scary.

Re: Electric stuff is challenging for me.

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 2:40 am
by ME 109
gspd wrote:Look under the dash of any modern car for just a few minutes; your bike's headlight guts will no longer look scary.

Aint dat da troot!

Few weeks back I bought an 06 mazda luvury sport. 58,000 k's for my wife.
Flew 500 k to pick it up.
The dude picked me up at the airport in the mazda and he/I drove back to his house, 20 minutes away.
Back at the dudes house, I didn't even lift the hood, what the hell was I going to find! I knew there was a motor in there.
I won't go looking under the dash.

Re: Electric stuff is challenging for me.

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 3:18 am
by gspd
ME 109 wrote: I didn't even lift the hood, what the hell was I going to find! I knew there was a motor in there.
I won't go looking under the dash.
A car salesman's dream customer!

You can tell a lot from looking under the hood;
Especially if there was a previous front end collision.

Re: Electric stuff is challenging for me.

Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 3:34 am
by ME 109
gspd wrote:A car salesman's dream customer!

You can tell a lot from looking under the hood;
Especially if there was a previous front end collision.

That's why I didn't buy from a car salesman.
I did a check to see whether the car was a repaired write off.
Full mazda service history, spotless interior.

I did look under the hood after I got home. The engine was still there.
And I trusted the dude.

Haven't seen any signs of repair work.

Re: Electric stuff is challenging for me.

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 11:34 am
by Chuey
Thanks to Rob Frankham for the great tip. I think I'll do just that. It seems obvious but it wasn't coming to me. The other thing I think I'll do is to line the (black) housing with aluminum foil so it reflects a little of the light back to where it is supposed to be.

Chuey

Re: Electric stuff is challenging for me.

Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 2:31 pm
by Major Softie
Chuey wrote:Thanks to Rob Frankham for the great tip. I think I'll do just that. It seems obvious but it wasn't coming to me. The other thing I think I'll do is to line the (black) housing with aluminum foil so it reflects a little of the light back to where it is supposed to be.

Chuey
What are you lining, the brake light? Keep in mind that this will act as heat insulation, and will thus make any overheating of the base worse. Of course, an LED taillight bulb will help to alleviate that; they do not run truly "cold," as Rob put it, but they do not create anywhere near as much heat as incandescents.

Also, lining the housing with foil will make it conductive. Keep that in mind too, as, if it is a plastic housing, it may have been designed to take advantage of the non-conductive properties of the housing.