Denali D2 LEDs on an RT

I am looking at some different options for auxiliary lighting for my 1150RT. I am especially interested in the new Denali D2s from Twisted Throttle. Does anyone have a advice for mounting options? I am leaning towards putting them down low on the forks near the brake calipers, however I am also considering the lower side of the fairing in front of the oil cooler where some of the PIAA kit mounts are located.

Any ideas or shared experiences would be appreciated.

I have the Denali D2's mounted just under the oil cooler where my PIAA's used to be. I use the auto-dimming feature and the combination works well. High beam and full power D2's in bright daylight. Low beam and low power D2's in traffic at night. Very visible, but no oncoming drivers have flashed their lights at me.

LMIWA156120 said:

Very visible, but no oncoming drivers have flashed their lights at me.

Click to expand...

They must not be bright enough.

pictures - daytime

Here is a link to some pictures of the lights on the front of my RT.

http://themiwas.smugmug.com/Misc/Aux-lights/

1. No lights
2. HID low beam only
3. Low beam and D2's on low
4. High beam and D2's on high
5. High beam, D2's on high, and PIAA's
6. High beam, D2's on high, PIAA's, and fog lights
7-9. Details of D2 mounting
10-12. Details of PIAA mounting

While I shot the first six pictures with exactly the same exposure, I wasn't able to keep the position consistent, so sometimes I'm more directly in the beam than others, but I think you can get the idea.

The D2's are automatically switched between low power and high power by the high beam. During bright daylight, I use the highbeam and D2's on high. In medium light and at night, I use the low beam and D2's on low. On twisty roads in deer country, I use every light available!

The PIAA's used to be mounted on the plate where the D2's are now. They are now mounted on BMW police mounts. I swap them with amber emergency LED's during the summer when I am working as a motoref.

I'll try to get some nighttime comparison shots and post them in the same gallery later.

pictures - nighttime

Got back out again after dark, so here they are (same link as above):

13. HID low beam only
14. Low beam and D2's on low
15. High beam and D2's on high
16. High beam, D2's on high, and PIAA's
17. High beam, D2's on high, PIAA's, and fog lights

The HID doesn't look all that bright, but it is WAY better than the stock bulb!

The D2's on low add some fill, but don't do a lot other than make you MUCH more visible to oncoming traffic. If they were on high with the low beam, they would be too bright to use in traffic.

With the high beam and D2's on high, things are a LOT brighter. You can actually tell that the road ends just ahead.

The slight downward tilt of the camera exaggerates the added light from the PIAA's, but still it is BRIGHT out there with all that wattage!

Not much added by the fog lights other than a little "deer spotting" fill on the sides.

One other thing. I had the bike just sitting idling while I took these. There was no noticeable change in idle speed until I kicked the PIAA's on. The additional load clearly dropped the idle speed. Adding the fog lights dropped it even more.

That's another nice thing about the HID and LED lights - they use a lot less power than halogen bulbs.

Thanks for posting the pictures, I appreciate it. Where did you find the mounting plate that you have under the oil cooler that the D2s are mounted on?

lights

I have a 1994 R1100RS to which I will be adding additional lighting--called Twisted Throttle about these same lights-- am having them installed on the forks so the lights can turn in the direction I'm turning--These lights look great--brightness of the LEDs has no option other than be tied into high or low brightness of headlight--Great lights!!
Tony

Denali Disappointment

I purchased D2s some weeks ago. After about 2 weeks one of the pods failed. I returned it and received a replacement. Now, after about 10 days the replacement has failed. I am awaiting an email response from TT.