More tail lighting and strobing LEDs can help you become more noticeable and reduce your chances of being rear-ended by an attention impaired driver behind you.

Another advantage is that they are sometimes effective in waking up tailgaters and getting them to back off.

Strobe Controllers: These come in a variety of flavors. Some, like the one above, simply flash several times before gong solid.  Others, like the one pictured below, allow you to control how fast the brake light flashes and the duration before it goes solid.

The lights I install in the outer sections of the tail light lens are described here. Once that's been done, there are two ways to skin this cat.

1) Only Outer LEDs Strobe: This is the easiest approach and gives you improved tail lighting, keeps the BMU happy and the outer LEDs strobe when you apply the brakes. Here's how to wire it up with a three wire strobe controller:

 

2) Outer LEDs/Brake Light Alternate Flashing: (As shown above.) This is a bit more difficult to implement as it requires getting rid of the BMU. However, once that's done, it gives you the option of running LED tail and brake light bulbs. Here's how to wire things up for this approach:

If you're going to use the second approach and the stock tail light bulb then make sure that the strobe can handle 21 Watts.  Some are made specifically for LEDs and may fry if you overtax them.

Note: Different states and countries have different laws regarding flashing brake lights on motorcycles.  In some places they aren't legal as flashing red lights are reserved for official vehicles only. In some states they have very specific laws regarding the number of flashes and duration. Check the laws where you live or plan to travel if this concerns you. That said, I've been running various forms of flashing brake lights for over a decade and it's never been an issue.

© 2013 Drake Smith - Please do not use or reproduce this elsewhere.  Feel free to link to it though.