It didn’t take many rides to see that the stock 6v electrical system was just barely sufficient, but certainly not ample. I came into some extra freelance work Christmas week that accelerated my timeline for upgrading the stock incandescent lights to LEDs.
I bought the How To LED Your CT90 Kit from Pardue Brothers, the same guys I got the schematic from that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. The kit comes with LED replacements for all bulbs except for the headlight:
- 4 blinkers
- 1 tail/brake
- 4 little ones for the speedometer
(green for Neutral, white for speedo, blue for High Beams, yellow for Winkers).
Wahoo and I just followed the enclosed instructions and everything went together easily. The only thing that didn’t work when we got done was the yellow Winker light, but we did drop that LED on the concrete, so that could be it. After I get some other projects completed I’ll take it back apart and test the LED and see if that is it or if there is another issue.
On the website they said that the green neutral light was bright enough to see in daylight–I haven’t tested it yet, but it is darned bright.
We took measurements with the multimeter before and after the upgrade:
Before Upgrade
Neutral — .19A
Tail — .7A
Brake — 2A
Signals — 4.1A
After Upgrade
Neutral — .06A
Low Beam — .04A
High Beam — .04A
Tail — .2A
Brake — forgot to test (d’oh!)
Signals — .07A
Other Items Unaffected by Upgrade (just for info)
Low Beam — 3.35A
High Beam — 4.35A
Horn — .61A
Cost (including shipping): $107
Total Cost so far (including 1st year of insurance):
$1,705
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