Having just mounted a new luggage rack on my Savage (see signature), I decided it was a good time to install the Hyper-Lites that had been sitting on my shelf for a while.

I have an old-style JC Whitney trunk on the bike.  First, I tapped into the brake and running light wires and made a waterproof connector to connect the wires to the trunk.  This way, the trunk would still be easy and quick to remove.  The small black box is the flasher unit:





I got the waterproof connector from Eastern Beaver.

I made the wiring harness internal to the trunk and armored the wires with clear tubing to prevent damage to them:





I placed the lights themselves at the rear of the trunk.  They are mounted such that they face straight back (the rear of the trunk is curved):





The lights come on when I hit the brakes.  They blink five times then come on steady with each application of the brakes.  They're plenty bright, I think:





The job was easy, but time-consuming.  I'm happy with the results.

The job was easy, but time-consuming.  I'm happy with the results.


Time consuming,, seems nearly everything I DO is exactly that. I think it stems from paying attention to detail, doing work that wont fail later, is neat & clean looking. Its a typical job for you, very tidy. Looks good.

Yeah that is a very neat functional addition.  Digger Thank you for the build pics - great post.  Did you use scotchlok connectors to tap the brake wires?

If you had gotten the standard 8x10 rack, would it be too short to accomodate mounting your JC Whitney trunk?  edit- oops you already had the Suzuki rack which is obviously much shorter - great!

I like the modified rack except it's a little long.

ero4444 wrote on 08/07/10 at 12:51:31:



8" X 11 1/2" would have been perfect.  8" X 10" would work, but the trunk's mounting platform would extend a bit past the rear edge of the rack.....which is OK, I guess, but I didn't want that.

I did not tap into the brake wires.  Instead, I made a harness that plugs into the bike side of the brake wire connection (that sits under the rear seat on my bike (see signature)).  My homemade harness then Y's into two legs (I used these to form the "Y").  One leg of the "Y" gets plugged back into the brake light side of the brake wire connection and the other leg of the "Y" goes to the trunk.

I can remove my homemade harness any time I want and return the bike back to its OEM configuration back there.

I'd take a pic, except that things are taped up under the rear seat now and you'd not be able to see anything.

I got the connectors to make my Y-harness here.  The owner is very helpful.....the crimping tool he sells is an outrageous deal, IMO.

During this project, I learned how to make my own connectors.

IHTH!

I mounted 2 to my trunk in a similiar manner, but wired them to the high beam switch. I use them for people that are too close and ignore the brake light flash(s) that I give them.