Switching from Regular Lights to LED's

[cajunbiker]

I have a 2011 Big Dog K9250 that came stock with regular Harley style tail light/blinker bulbs. The internal bulb plug mechanism is cheap & fell a part. I want to switch to an led set up from Spiegler Performance Parts. Will I need to install a load equalizer? Thanks,

 

[Jwooky]

nope, those are there for old style flashers

 

[Reddickracing]

Idk bout Spiegler, I replaced the blinkers on my Wideglide with Harley LEDs and it was just a bolt on. Spiegler 937 291 1735 call and ask

 

[Jersey Big Mike]

I have a 2011 Big Dog K9250 that came stock with regular Harley style tail light/blinker bulbs. The internal bulb plug mechanism is cheap & fell a part. I want to switch to an led set up from Spiegler Performance Parts. Will I need to install a load equalizer? Thanks,

If you are changing them out check out Custom Dynamics LED's -- VERY VERY BRIGHT

 

[cajunbiker]

Went with the ones from Spiegler Performance, nice heavy duty construction.
Drawbacks,
1. Mounting bolt is fixed to the tail light housing, is same size as stock but threads are different. Will need to use heli-coils to make it work
2. Existing wiring harness is three wire & new tail light is four wires. Will have to trial & error till I figure it out.

 

[cajunbiker]

Update:
Drilled & tapped fender strut hole & installed heli-coil for new tail lights, no issues.
Problem: Existing tail light/blinker harness is 3 wires & not LED. K9 250's have the 1157 style bulb set up. The new Kellerman Bullet 1000 DF's have 4 wires. I have determined which are the ground & blinker wires, both new & existing. That leaves with a new grey w/ white stripe & a grey w/ red stripe wire. I connect the new grey w/ white stripe to the existing red wire & the red halo ring comes about half power which makes me believe it's the running light. When I connect the grey w/ red stripe wire to the red wire or the blinker wire the red halo ring gets very bright telling me that wire is probably for the brake light function. The problem is it goes bright red as soon as I connect it so when I apply the brakes it doesn't get any brighter.

Any & all ideas are appreciated.

 

[Rottweiler]

Not sure with your new lights. My 2004 has three wires one ground, one parking and one turn / brake wire.

 

[Jwooky]

OK First, I have never heard of a 2011 with incandescent bulbs. They have had LED's back to ~2006 at least. Are you sure you have a stock setup?

Regardless, The stock setup has constant 12v for the running lights. The LEDs are dimmer because they are circuited through a resister on the LED board.

The Turn and Brake are control via the EHC. The EHC will provide 12v to the appropriate (R or L) LED based on Brake / turn inputs.

The third wire is ground.

You can test /verify what you have with a multimeter.

You should see a ground, verified by a continuity test to ground, a constant 12v for running, and a 12v that corresponds to brake / turn events.

 

[Reddickracing]

I THINK they introduced the K9 250 as a cost efficient chopper so it might have come with bulbs

 

[roadie1389]

I THINK they introduced the K9 250 as a cost efficient chopper so it might have come with bulbs

Yes that K-9 250 had a lot of cost reduced things on it. The front end is different, the struts are different, the speedo is different. In reality they should have never called it a K-9. It is just confusing to folks.

 

[Brandon Downey]

Interesting model I didn't know existed. Mind posting a pic and showing the cost saving differences after you sort out the turn signals? Thanks.

 

[PacoPetty]

I THINK they introduced the K9 250 as a cost efficient chopper so it might have come with bulbs

I did not know that!

 

[cajunbiker]

OK First, I have never heard of a 2011 with incandescent bulbs. They have had LED's back to ~2006 at least. Are you sure you have a stock setup?

Regardless, The stock setup has constant 12v for the running lights. The LEDs are dimmer because they are circuited through a resister on the LED board.

The Turn and Brake are control via the EHC. The EHC will provide 12v to the appropriate (R or L) LED based on Brake / turn inputs.

The third wire is ground.

You can test /verify what you have with a multimeter.

You should see a ground, verified by a continuity test to ground, a constant 12v for running, and a 12v that corresponds to brake / turn events.

The 2011 K9 250's came stock with the 1157 two element bulb setup, along with HD style controls & primary. My problem is not with the existing 3 wire set up it is with the 4 wires on the new led lights. I'm starting to think what I bought will not work with my existing wiring or at least not with my knowledge base!.

 

[cajunbiker]

Yes that K-9 250 had a lot of cost reduced things on it. The front end is different, the struts are different, the speedo is different. In reality they should have never called it a K-9. It is just confusing to folks.

I agree, it's nothing like a K9.

 

[cajunbiker]

Interesting model I didn't know existed. Mind posting a pic and showing the cost saving differences after you sort out the turn signals? Thanks.

My avatar is the pic of my bike, I changed the stock bars to what you see in the picture. a true K9 ran somewhere in the $30k range, the K9 250 ran around $24k.

 

[Reddickracing]

Call Spiegler and ask them, got to be a way to wire it up

 

[woodbutcher]

yes, the K9250 was, in the truest sense of the word, a redheaded stepchild.

 

[Ernie12]

The 2011 K9 250's came stock with the 1157 two element bulb setup, along with HD style controls & primary. My problem is not with the existing 3 wire set up it is with the 4 wires on the new led lights. I'm starting to think what I bought will not work with my existing wiring or at least not with my knowledge base!.

I have looked into to this a lot because I want to change my bulb setup 1157 in the rear and 1156 in the front 02 Pro Sport. The best I can do without making a major wiring change is to use the LEDs like from custom dynamics. I would email or call them for measurements to make sure the diameter will work. Looking forward to seeing what you will use.

https://www.customdynamics.com/bullet-style-rear-red-1157-led-cluster-1?cat=623

 

[dentdude36]

I have looked into to this a lot because I want to change my bulb setup 1157 in the rear and 1156 in the front 02 Pro Sport. The best I can do without making a major wiring change is to use the LEDs like from custom dynamics. I would email or call them for measurements to make sure the diameter will work. Looking forward to seeing what you will use.

https://www.customdynamics.com/bullet-style-rear-red-1157-led-cluster-1?cat=623

Ask @bdm7250 i believe he changed his wife’s early model ironhorse Tejas to led lighting he would know and I’m betting it’s the same as or similar to what you have going on

 

[cajunbiker]

I have looked into to this a lot because I want to change my bulb setup 1157 in the rear and 1156 in the front 02 Pro Sport. The best I can do without making a major wiring change is to use the LEDs like from custom dynamics. I would email or call them for measurements to make sure the diameter will work. Looking forward to seeing what you will use.

https://www.customdynamics.com/bullet-style-rear-red-1157-led-cluster-1?cat=623

I would have preferred to go that way but the light bulb connector & wiring fell apart inside the housing. Since I cant find a replacement for that I thought the LEDs were the way to go. Kinda rethinking that plan!