Snow Glow?

[RaWarrior]

I played with some LED lighting for my 05 Warrior last year, got one of those kits out of Dennis Kirk of the 8 "pods". I put them all next to the hood vents. It looks good, but you can only see it in pitch dark, and only if you're up close to the sled. The pods were too thick to put in the tunnel.

Came across snowglow.com. They sell kits of either LED or neon lights that install under the floorboards and illuminate the tunnel/track. I'd probably go with the LED kit (it's a bit cheaper at $170), though they claim their neon tubes are break-proof.

Anybody have any experience with these kits? I was a bit concerned that since on Yammy's the heat exchangers are on the floorboards there wouldn't be any place to mount the lights, but on one of the videos on their site it LED's on a new Phazer, and neon tubes on an Attack.

 

[Rockmeister]

Dude, for that kind of money you could buy enough LEDs on to burn out your alternator!

Search on Ebay, you can find 12 Volt neon and LEDs that are very cost effective.

Hope this helps!

 

[Cubby's RX-1]

Ummm I can get these for ya.....................Cubby

 

[RaWarrior]

I looked on ebay for a similar product, and while there's tons of neon/LED tubes and such, none are designed for I suppose "rough service". As in they're for car interior lights, and a bare neon tube would be busted in seconds the way I ride.

I have the Bluhm Enterprises LED accent kit, and it's not terribly bright. I have two 5 LED "pods" mounted pointing toward the vents under the headlights on my Warrior. I glued a piece of plastic cut to match the clear bottom part of the headlight, to reduce light from the headlights that drifted under the hood. You can still barley see them, though with the hood open at night the 8 pods total do provide nice red light.

I don't think power consumption is an issue, don't these sleds have wicked powerful mags? Something like 50 amps?

I sent an email to the company with a few Q's. To my surprise I got a response the next day, that was actually from the owner and not some generic "thank you for interest" letter, an actual response.

The complete kit includes two 24" neon tubes, a quick-connect harness system, waterproof switch, and a water/shock proof electrical transformer designed for snow use and varying voltages from the mag. The actual neon tube is suspended by rubber in a thick acrylic tube, is permanently sealed, and has suspension on the mounting brackets. He says he's never replaced a broken tube, and it's a no-questions-asked 1 year warranty on all parts.

Said it's no issue to mount the lights on a Yamaha with heat exchangers on the floorboard. There's plenty of space on either side.



Cubby, are those LED's somehow mounted toward or inside the headlight housing?

 

[Cubby's RX-1]

The bulb is pressed into a hole at the top of the headlight shining down.

These things are pretty bright called hyper LEDs................Cubby

 

[Rockmeister]

I don't think power consumption is an issue, don't these sleds have wicked powerful mags? Something like 50 amps?

Unfortunately no.

There have been a few fires on sleds due to the voltage being too low and the sled not quite burning the fuel causing a fire.
Someone on here ran into it.

Would suggest keeping the power consumption low as possible.
Thats why I was thinking more in the way of LEDs like Cubby has.

 

[Cubby's RX-1]

I don't think power consumption is an issue, don't these sleds have wicked powerful mags? Something like 50 amps?

Unfortunately no.

There have been a few fires on sleds due to the voltage being too low and the sled not quite burning the fuel causing a fire.
Someone on here ran into it.

Would suggest keeping the power consumption low as possible.
Thats why I was thinking more in the way of LEDs like Cubby has.

My LEDs draw like 1/4 mili amp. We left an Apex in a trailer with them on for 3 days and the thing still started on it's own. It was turning over a little slow but it started.
We park them outside the ummmm, local establishments an leave them on for hours. Never had a problem.................Cubby

 

[RaWarrior]

He said the neon kit draws 1.3 amps at 12v. So roughly 16 watts. The LED's draw about 5 watts.

Found the RX-1 engine has a 425 watt magneto. Assuming the sled/headlights eats up half of that,

Shouldn't be an issue, assuming I remember to turn it off.

 

[Rockmeister]

http://www.ty4stroke.com/viewtopic.php?t=62840

According to this, you have about 40 watts to run any accessories, like lights, electric shield etc.

Here is one of them that caught fire.
http://www.ty4stroke.com/viewtopic.php?t=9298

 

[03turbo]

http://www.streetfxseries.ca/atv/photos ... vey_01.htm

this is my sled check out the rest of the site too

you can get the same kit from motovan or gamma sales at your local dealer. they are in the atv or motorcycle sections

or of course royaldistributing.com has them

 

[RaWarrior]

40 watts? That's it? I ran like 60 watts off my old 380 and never had an issue for years.

What on the sled uses so much power? You'd think the headlights would be the biggest drain, but 60w/each on high is barely over 1/4 of the mag's output. Maybe the standard 23w for the brake light?, and a few watts for the ECU/gauges?

Or is Yamaha full of crap saying it puts out 425 watts?

Thinking I might just move some of my existing LED's into the shock towers for a little more visible light anyway, I'd rather buy new skis (Slydog Powder Hound?) than a neon kit.

 

[Rockmeister]

I don't know exactly, but do know there have been issues with it, best bet is not to overload it too much.
That's why I suggested LEDs over neon, much less power drain.
Know I had an issue with my electric shield and had to run it directly to the battery. Dealer had wired it at the bars.
The wires to the handlebars are too small for the current load.