Skene Design Photon Blasters

Would like to increase daytime visibility on the front of a R1100RT that I recently purchased and am considering the Photon Blasters by Skene Design. Anybody have any input or experience with these lights. Or other suggestions. Bill Shaw did an impressive write up on the product for Mororcycle Consumer News back in the January Issue. I do not ride at night and have no need for the big $ lighting options that are available.
Thanks,
Mark

42016 said:

Would like to increase daytime visibility on the front of a R1100RT that I recently purchased and am considering the Photon Blasters by Skene Design. Anybody have any input or experience with these lights. Or other suggestions. Bill Shaw did an impressive write up on the product for Mororcycle Consumer News back in the January Issue. I do not ride at night and have no need for the big $ lighting options that are available.
Thanks,
Mark

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I bought some about a week ago for my '08 RT, but I have not yet installed them. The instructions are very clear; my only concern is having enough room to put the wire taps onto the parking light wires. When things slow down at work I hope to install them.

Jerry is a member of our local club - BMWBMW - and several members have these lights. Many happy customers, and glowing reviews. No pun intended.
Seriously, the visibility enhancement is impressive. If you attend one of our tech days, (a short ride from Maine) you may have the designer himself assist with the installation.

I have asked any members with the lights to post feedback here if possible.

Here is a link to the site:
http://www.skenedesign.com/lights/

I don't have them but I have seen them on other bikes and they work exceedingly well, look pretty simple to install as well.

I have the Photon Blasters mounted on an 07GT and think they work exceptionally well.

Since the time the lights were installed I have noticed a significant decrease in other drivers cutting into my right-of-way (either left turners or lane encroachers) and I commute in the relatively heavy traffic of Northern Virginia.

They are very reliable, I have not encountered any significant issues. What few issues I encountered were promptly redressed by the owner in a top-of-the line fashion. You can bank on the owner's integrity.

I imagine I have put at least 100,00 miles of mixed use (commuting, touring, IBA rides, etc.) so they have lasted at least that long in however many hours the mileage represents and through all sorts of weather.

I would buy them again without reservation.

I like it...

I like the way these look and they aren't "break the bank" expensive, I just may
try a set myself. I wonder how they are rigged to a CANBUS system? I can't imagine it would be that complicated, but you never know.

I really like how they add visibility on my fellow club members' bikes that I ordered a pair. I also use Skene Design's P3 brake lights that increase brake light visibility tremendously. Thumbs up on Skene products. I plan on installing both the P3 and Photon Blaster on my second bike as well.

I recently installed Skene P3 lights on my GS and feel compelled to put in a plug for their customer service. I had a question about the install and compatibility with my existing Brake! light, so sent an email at 7am. Ten minutes later Jerry had responded with all the info I needed.

I installed and checked the function of the lights (wow, those suckers are attention getters!) then reassembled, only to find the lights had stopped working. I sent Jerry a frustrated email -- reinstalling my Jesse racks was a PITA -- and again he responded, telling me which connection had come undone based on my observations. And he was right!

Jerry knows his products inside and out, and offers top notch customer service!

Pete

Beemeup said:

I like the way these look and they aren't "break the bank" expensive, I just may
try a set myself. I wonder how they are rigged to a CANBUS system? I can't imagine it would be that complicated, but you never know.

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Because they require so little power, they're compatible with the CANBUS bikes & readily piggy back off existing wiring (+1 on the good instructions). I've seen them installed on many here in BMWBMW land.

Any idea what the electrical draw is, Photon Blasters compared to Motolights?

Anyone have the Photon Blasters on an R1200GS? I like the concept, but in the Skene Design gallery the Photon Blasters on the R1200GS don't appear nearly as prominent as on other bikes like the RT.

Photon Blasters on a GS are just as bright as on other bikes. It's difficult to judges the brightness in a photo, as the exposure and angle has a big impact on how the picture turns out.
The GS photo does look less bright, but this is because of the angle of the camera relative to the 30 degree cone that the Photon Blaster puts out.

mvscorpio said:

Any idea what the electrical draw is, Photon Blasters compared to Motolights?

Click to expand...

Here you go:

Photon Blasters: 0.2 amps
MotoLights: 5.8 amps (35 watt bulbs), 8.3 amps (50 watt bulbs

Thanks for your input everybody. I will put a set on my short list of must haves for my new to me R1100RT.
Mark

Hi gang,

Also a member of Jerry's regional club, I'll give a big thumbs up for both the photon blasters (amber front marker lights) and the P3s (red rear marker & brake lights).

I've got two sets, one for the 1150GS, and one for the Yamaha WR250R. I have definitely received comments from motorists (some bikers, some non-bikers) saying that they notice the lights, and that's the idea!

A couple shots below - can't seem to find any posted pix of the GS on my online account, but here are a couple of the WR





Go Jerry, go!

This is good stuff; thanks for all the input. Jerry, or anyone else......do you know if anyone has mounted the Photon Blaster on an R1200GS in a location other than the brake calipers? I was thinking of mounting a set up a little higher.

Some GS customers have mounted them on engine guards, like the F650 on this page:

http://skenedesign.com/lights/PB_F650.shtml

Happy, daily commuter on an R12R with P3 lights out back and Photo Blasters out front. Great products.

Installed Photon Blasters on my 08 RT a few weeks back.

Had a freak problem with the first set- modulator didn't work so installed LEDs didn't operate. At that point I made an error not covered in the instructions for the unit that others shouldn't repeat. Because my VOM showed the modulator wasn't providing voltage to the LEDs I simply bypassed it and wired the LEDs direct. They worked fine for a few minutes but then some of the leds in each cluster burned out. Jerry says the current limiting function of the modulator is necessary to protect the leds from burnout.....Wish I'd know that ahead- would have saved an "uninstall" of the LED clusters and wiring.

Anyway, Jerry replaced the defective modulator and graciously replaced the LEDs without charge, also. Second set works very well. When group riding those in front say it makes it very easy to see the bike behind even at longer distance and I have already observed a couple young cagers who might have tried the fast pull out in front of me go for their brakes instead. They are plenty bright enough for day and night use. So I put them in the "cost effective" category for front end conspicuity. My bike also has Trail Tech HIDs up front but they make lousy conspicuity lights due to the short bulb life (400 hrs rated but I've never gotten one that far yet) and high cost ($75-90) for the bulbs. The Photo Blasters are a lot cheaper than Motolights where all the $ is in the lamp housing and a cheap bulb is used. If the LED clusters on the Blasters prove durable in rain and road grit impacts, they're the better choice but I'll need a year of riding to tell that for sure. I haven't asked but I'm sure Jerry supplies replacement LED clusters if needed and it would be possible to change led clusters without removing all the previous wiring with a little cut/solder/reinsulate work down near the brake caliper.

The RT install is a bit fussy if you don't have all the plastic off the headlight area (if you can't change headlight bulbs without pulling the plastic you probably ought to pull it to put Blasters on the RT) but is doable simply by pulling the mirrors, windshield and spreading the housing open a bit unless you have very large hands (Mine are size 9). You will want a lot more short 4" cable ties than supplied and a handful of 8" cable ties to do a "factory neat" job. I also sheathed the LED leads in heat shrink to provide more physical protection to the small gauge wires and allow the cable ties a better purchase for holding the wires in place. Used 3/32 and 1/8 inch sizes for that. I housed the connectors inside a small bit of loom to provide them additional physical protection, also. Though I live in a warmer climate these days, I prefer to do installations like I still live in the land of mud and ice- they last the life of the machine if done right.

Summary - good product, good service, worthwhile addition to the bike. Recommended.

racer7:
Glad your Photon Blasters are helping to keep you safe.

On the RT, there should be no need to remove any plastic from the bike to install the lights. The connector that carries the parking light wire used to power the Photon Blaster control module is accessible on the rear wall of the R1200RT headlight shell. This is slightly to the right of the center of the motorcycle and has several wires going into it. It can be accessed by turning the handlebars fully to the left, then reaching in the right side of the headlight area to locate the connector. Push down on the plastic tab on its upper side and unplug it. You attach one of the gray/red Positap connectors to either of the two blue/white wires.