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I did it....got one of the light kits off Ebay. This is my out-of-the-box review for a 15-color Leximoto 6 strip (6RGB LED/strip) motorcycle light kit with remote;
First of all, it's from China...so I wasn't holding my breath on quality or shipping, but I had some hope of a usable product. At $39, 36 RGB LED's are not a bad deal, but even better with a controller and remote!
The box looked good...showing lots of bikes and a full color all around, one picture was of a 750 Kat.
. Glad it was shipped in a box, actually.
The first impression was that these were not bad looking. Each strip is potted, the wiring is not bad, and the whole thing does not look cheap. I didn't take any close up shots of the LED strips. I don't have anything to compare them too (other than the things at the bike shop and auto stores I've seen). The remote seems to work ok, and wire lengths should be good to route to different locations. The potting on the strips is thicker at the end, so if tied down (which I plan on doing) in addition to the 3M tape on the back, should hold them in nicely. The wiring has heat shrink, with potting going around the wires about 1cm or so...looks good.
The box came with some extra velcro strips for the controller, leads for the + and - hook ups and a long heat shrink tube. Not sure what the heat shrink is for...maybe to seal all the connectors??
Pretty straight forward hook up. The controller has 3 wires (+, - and antenna) and the 6 LED strip lines.
The 1 page instructions have a few lines on how to install them, some instructions on the button use, and some warranty/troubleshooting statements. One thing missing in the box are zip ties. The instructions state to use the ties supplied, but other than than the ones on the wires already (which wouldn't be good to use, or enough of them) there were none in the box. As far as warranty...I'm not really expecting any warranty on this, for what I paid and getting it through Ebay. There WAS a Leximoto sticker on the shipping package, so perhaps this actually came from the China manufacturing center there, but who knows.
POWER ON!
Hooking this up to my PS set to 11.8V, the controller was reading about 9mA with unit OFF. This shouldn't depleate a battery even over 2 weeks without use, but it is worth noting there is a small current draw. It wouldn't take much to add a switch as additional protection, but I probably won't do that.
The first thing I noticed it the remote took a little getting used to. The instructions stated 3 buttons (A,B,C) have a 5 second hold for alternate settings, but I really found it is more like 2 or 3 second hold. The remote seems to work fine, just the actual button use versus description is off. Also, I could not seem to get the intensity to change (button A). But I've only played with it for about 10 minutes. On/Off (button D) works fine. There are ample options for color, pulsing and fading. All the buttons seem to work with lots of options.
One thing I noticed right away...one of the ground pins was loose on one of the strips causing the strip to not turn on. I quickly noticed this (strip was off!) and pushed the pin back in. The connectors are OK, just this one pin is loose. This could be an issue "down the road" but could easily be repair/fixed if needed. I will look at the connectors more closely, but I think they are OK. Each strip has it's own connector to attach/detach it from the controller, which I like very much.
And finally, a power check to see what this thing draws when on;
Each color combination draws a different amount of juice. This makes sense as the pure colors (Red Green and Blue) draw the least, as only one element in the LED is ON. Those colors draw about 150-200mA for the whole kit. The most I found this thing drawing is 490mA (I think white), and the average is around 330mA. So, you don't want this thing running for hours without your engine on, and the RGB colors will be the least demanding on your electrical system. Red Green and Blue all look really good, with some very nice combinations for 12 other colors. I played with this with my room light on and the LEDs were still very bright; http://youtu.be/qq7DENRhtns
And, it's worth noting, while power is connected it retains the setting. So, when you find the color and setting you want next time you turn it on, it's set.
I have NOT hooked this up to my bike yet, so that's still pending.
Per previous discussions here, local TX PD and DPS did not suggest I would get pulled over for this, so as long as I keep the colors away from emergency vehicle colors, indirect lighting, and not flashing on the road....should be good to go for some extra safety/visibility.
EDIT:
Ok, took about 2 hrs, taking my time. About 30 mins of that was fairings removal and install.
Came out nice, if I do say so mayself. Here is a "how to" video I put together;
http://youtu.be/MMmkMGOMkjE
First of all, it's from China...so I wasn't holding my breath on quality or shipping, but I had some hope of a usable product. At $39, 36 RGB LED's are not a bad deal, but even better with a controller and remote!
The box looked good...showing lots of bikes and a full color all around, one picture was of a 750 Kat.
. Glad it was shipped in a box, actually.The first impression was that these were not bad looking. Each strip is potted, the wiring is not bad, and the whole thing does not look cheap. I didn't take any close up shots of the LED strips. I don't have anything to compare them too (other than the things at the bike shop and auto stores I've seen). The remote seems to work ok, and wire lengths should be good to route to different locations. The potting on the strips is thicker at the end, so if tied down (which I plan on doing) in addition to the 3M tape on the back, should hold them in nicely. The wiring has heat shrink, with potting going around the wires about 1cm or so...looks good.
The box came with some extra velcro strips for the controller, leads for the + and - hook ups and a long heat shrink tube. Not sure what the heat shrink is for...maybe to seal all the connectors??
Pretty straight forward hook up. The controller has 3 wires (+, - and antenna) and the 6 LED strip lines.
The 1 page instructions have a few lines on how to install them, some instructions on the button use, and some warranty/troubleshooting statements. One thing missing in the box are zip ties. The instructions state to use the ties supplied, but other than than the ones on the wires already (which wouldn't be good to use, or enough of them) there were none in the box. As far as warranty...I'm not really expecting any warranty on this, for what I paid and getting it through Ebay. There WAS a Leximoto sticker on the shipping package, so perhaps this actually came from the China manufacturing center there, but who knows.
POWER ON!
Hooking this up to my PS set to 11.8V, the controller was reading about 9mA with unit OFF. This shouldn't depleate a battery even over 2 weeks without use, but it is worth noting there is a small current draw. It wouldn't take much to add a switch as additional protection, but I probably won't do that.
The first thing I noticed it the remote took a little getting used to. The instructions stated 3 buttons (A,B,C) have a 5 second hold for alternate settings, but I really found it is more like 2 or 3 second hold. The remote seems to work fine, just the actual button use versus description is off. Also, I could not seem to get the intensity to change (button A). But I've only played with it for about 10 minutes. On/Off (button D) works fine. There are ample options for color, pulsing and fading. All the buttons seem to work with lots of options.
One thing I noticed right away...one of the ground pins was loose on one of the strips causing the strip to not turn on. I quickly noticed this (strip was off!) and pushed the pin back in. The connectors are OK, just this one pin is loose. This could be an issue "down the road" but could easily be repair/fixed if needed. I will look at the connectors more closely, but I think they are OK. Each strip has it's own connector to attach/detach it from the controller, which I like very much.
And finally, a power check to see what this thing draws when on;
Each color combination draws a different amount of juice. This makes sense as the pure colors (Red Green and Blue) draw the least, as only one element in the LED is ON. Those colors draw about 150-200mA for the whole kit. The most I found this thing drawing is 490mA (I think white), and the average is around 330mA. So, you don't want this thing running for hours without your engine on, and the RGB colors will be the least demanding on your electrical system. Red Green and Blue all look really good, with some very nice combinations for 12 other colors. I played with this with my room light on and the LEDs were still very bright; http://youtu.be/qq7DENRhtns
And, it's worth noting, while power is connected it retains the setting. So, when you find the color and setting you want next time you turn it on, it's set.
I have NOT hooked this up to my bike yet, so that's still pending.
Per previous discussions here, local TX PD and DPS did not suggest I would get pulled over for this, so as long as I keep the colors away from emergency vehicle colors, indirect lighting, and not flashing on the road....should be good to go for some extra safety/visibility.
EDIT:
Ok, took about 2 hrs, taking my time. About 30 mins of that was fairings removal and install.
Came out nice, if I do say so mayself. Here is a "how to" video I put together;
http://youtu.be/MMmkMGOMkjE
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