Luggage rack tail lights

One time I had the luggage rack removed for some reason and while having it in my hands I realized that why not install some more taillights in it.

At first I drilled the three holes in the rear legs of the luggage rack. The diameter of the holes must of course match the size of the leds.

Then I inserted the leds in the holes and soldered their legs together. These leds were connected in series which means that the shorter leg is connected to the longer leg of the next led.

Since I happen to have a lot of photos of the next phases I just add them here in case you want to copy this.

You must calculate the resistor that is needed on the "longer leg" side of the led system. You will find a lot of instructions by writing on Google search "calculating led resistor values" for instance. The picture above shows how I simply wrapped the resistor leg around the longer leg of the led before adding a drop of solder on it. The shorter leg already has the minus-side of the 12 V wire connected and covered with shrink tube.

Here the led set is being tested in place.

There is plenty of room in this place to apply hot melt glue generously. This keeps the leds in place and also seals them properly. These were installed back in 2007 and they are still working.

In this picture you can see how the power for the leds is brought through the same hole as the factory brake light power. The cable glued with the three hot glue spots is the one taking the power to the other side leds and the cable in the upper part of the photo is the main lead bringing the power from the bike tail lights. In order to fit this cable properly I used Dremel for grinding a proper route in the plastic for the cable.

Like this...

...and this.

After the cable routes are clear inside the rack and the hot glue is applied in the needed places then just screw the rack back together and on top of the trunk lid. Follow the factory brake light cable route and take your new tail light cable along it. You can take the power to the tail lights from various sources but don't forget to use a quick connector between the trunk and the rest of the bike. In case you need to remove the trunk for some reason then this new cable can be disconnected together with the factory trunk connectors.