Parking Lights

[nherbst454]

This may be a little "Kid Racer" for some of you but since the group I generally ride with ends up doing a lot of night riding I decided to outfit my sled with some LED's so we can see and be seen while parked at a trail crossing for a break or to check out a map. All in all the cost was only around 25.00 and an afternoon so not too bad...it's pretty dark in the National Forests of the U.P.around midnight!

Initially remove the windshield and cover panel that has the gauge/ignition switch/12 adapter

Locate the harness that went to the ignition switch...

Locate the constant hot lead, Red/White wire

I spliced in a connector so I can remove the gauge panel in the future, this will be the switched hot lead for the lights...

The ground lead came from the 12V adapter, black wire. Another connector for removal of the gauge panel in the future...

I went with alternating Blue/White LED's and hot glued them to the bottom of the gauge panel. A switch with waterproof cover was installed.

Here's the switch mounted in front of the instrument cluster...

Lights on, the picture really doesn't due it justice, it does cast a good amount of light when it's dark. Before any comments, the skis are now white C&A XTX's!

 

[cannondale27]

That's awesome! Great idea and thanks for nice how to!

 

[12pointer]

Nice thanks for the pics of the install!

 

[NOS-PRO]

My son has the CSS safety light and I can see those LEDs all the time, can pick him out in a group anywhere.

This is a great idea for those of you who travel in large packs. Make your sled stand out somehow so you don't lose anyone.

I can't tell you how many times our group stops when someone is stranded on the side of the trail from a larger group that was ahead of us/me. When we catch up to them at a stop sign, we would try to get the last guys attention....but for some reason they never look back....they just keep going. They think that it's their own guy trying to get ahead? I don't believe it.. but maybe they don't see me/us? Either way, they never looked back. Next thing is they turn off at the intersection, see that it isn't their own and then put their arms up like "WTF?" That's when we tell them they need to be more aware of who is all riding in their group and always use the buddy system.

This is a great post and when you change something on your sled....it stands out more for your group to notice.