I picked up some led strip lighting the other day (2 1.5' amber strips), and I want to add it to a little Yamaha scooter that I have, to increase visibility. What I want to do is have a strip on either side of the seat wired into the tail lights, but also setup so that when I turn on the turn signals, the corresponding side blinks.
What I figured out would be to use a PNP transistor with the emitter tied to the 12V (tail light) wire, the collector running to the LED strips (and then ground), and the base having two resistors tied to it; a small resistor going to 12V (turn signal), and a larger resistor going to ground. The only problem is that any combo of resistors I can come up with either only dims from 100% to 80% for blinking, or else only illuminates the strips to about 70% brightness.
Any thoughts? I've contemplating just shelling out for a couple of 12V solid state relays and hooking them up, but I'm sure I can make this work. Before anyone wants to bug me about modifying electrical systems on a vehicle 1) it's a scooter, so hand signals are quite readily available should something die on me, and 2) I'm not cutting any of the wires in the harness, just stripping a little bit of insulation and doing some t-splices with my wires.
What I figured out would be to use a PNP transistor with the emitter tied to the 12V (tail light) wire, the collector running to the LED strips (and then ground), and the base having two resistors tied to it; a small resistor going to 12V (turn signal), and a larger resistor going to ground. The only problem is that any combo of resistors I can come up with either only dims from 100% to 80% for blinking, or else only illuminates the strips to about 70% brightness.
Any thoughts? I've contemplating just shelling out for a couple of 12V solid state relays and hooking them up, but I'm sure I can make this work. Before anyone wants to bug me about modifying electrical systems on a vehicle 1) it's a scooter, so hand signals are quite readily available should something die on me, and 2) I'm not cutting any of the wires in the harness, just stripping a little bit of insulation and doing some t-splices with my wires.