Spider LED Light
SpiderLite X2 Folding LED Brake Light
by Rick K. for webBikeWorld.com
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The SpiderLite folding LED light hits all the hot buttons:
it's cool, it's unique, it's interesting, it's useful and on top of all
that, it pumps out a lot of light.
Worthy of a webBikeWorld review, for sure.
There's just one problem: this review is going to take a
couple of installments, because I couldn't quite get everything figured out
the first time around, which I'll explain in a bit. Nevertheless, it's
a very interesting product and even though we usually wait until we have all
the bugs worked out on an installation before publishing and article about
it, I thought you might like to know more.
It's been a while since we checked out the latest LED lights
so I wanted to see if there was anything new and interesting happening for
motorcycle brake lights or turn signals. And since the Ducati GT1000
is new to the webBikeWorld stables, it would become the perfect victim for
an LED makeover.
I recently attempted to
replace the GT1000's stock 1157 dual-filament tail light and brake light
bulb with one of my favorite
LED cluster lights not too long ago, but the 1.85" LED didn't fit
through the small light bulb receptacle in the GT1000's brake light red lens
housing.
I considered having the entire red lens filled with LEDs,
similar to the
project we commissioned for the brake light on the BMW R65, but I didn't
feel like giving up the GT's entire tail light assembly for the 2-3 weeks it
might take for the installation.
While researching other potential LED brake and tail light
ideas I found this intriguing Spider LED light. "Spider LED light"
isn't really technically correct but seems to have become the street name
for the product; it's really called the "SpiderLite X2" folding (or
expanding) LED light .
This is one of those "why didn't I think of that" products
that has generated a lot of buzz in the custom car world. It recently
won two SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) awards for Best New
Exterior Accessory and Best International Product (it's made in Canada).
The idea is relatively simple: a folding LED that plugs into
the bulb socket and which can be inserted into a tail light or brake light,
where it expands to offer much more light, spread over a wider area, than a
single LED or even an LED cluster light (or, in theory, the stock
incandescent bulb).
Most single LED "bulbs" don't always offer the light output
of the tried-and-true 1156 or 1157. And it's difficult and expensive
to remove the entire tail light and send it out to fill it with a custom LED
assembly. Thus, the SpiderLite is a sort of compromise that's better
than the single LED light but nowhere near as complicated or expensive as a
custom installation.
So the SpiderLite seemed like a perfect solution. I
was hoping that I could slip the folded Spider light through the 1" (25.4mm)
hole in the GT1000's lens, where it would unfold and provide cool LED
lighting for the brake and tail light.
OK, that's the theory anyway. The problem is fitting
the compressed SpiderLite through the hole in the red lens on the GT1000's
tail light. This is the first time I've experienced a real
head-scratching problem when fitting an LED; normally, the red lens acts as
a cover on the tail light and there should be adequate room inside to insert
either an LED replacement light or the SpiderLite.
My guess is that installing a SpiderLite most motorcycles
probably have "normal" red tail light lenses and won't experience this
problem. But I discovered that when folded, the SpiderLite is 1-1/16"
in diameter (26.99mm) and it will not fit through the bulb hold in the red
lens on the GT1000. I toyed with the idea of grinding out the small
inner lip on the red lens, but I decided instead to order a new one to use
for this experiment just in case it doesn't work out.
The 5-arm unfolded SpiderLite is approximately 2.8" in diameter.
The yellow arrow points to the 1" diameter inside lip that prevents the
insertion
of the SpiderLite. The red arrow shows the outer diameter.
It folds to about 1-1/16" in diameter (it's spring-loaded).
This is as far as it can be inserted into the GT1000's lens assembly.
The SpiderLite is available in three and five arm versions
to fit a variety of standard brake light or tail light bulb receptacles,
such as the 1156, 1157 and the 3156 and 7440 and other "wedge" type
press-fit bulbs.
The SpiderLite shown here is the red LED, five arm, 2.8"
diameter (open) 5X2BYDA model that fits the 1157 dual-filament bulb.
In addition to considering the folded diameter of 1-1/6", it's also
necessary to consider the arc that the arms pass through as they swing from
open to closed.
I'm not yet sure if this will be an issue when or if I
finally work out the problems with getting the folded SpiderLite through the
hole in the GT1000's lens, but I think it may be close because the height of
the lens from front to back is marginal in terms of opening the SpiderLite
inside.
Other LED manufacturers recommend using red LED lights for
red tail light lenses; in other words, they recommend matching the color of
the LEDs to the color of the lens that will be covering the light.
This means using red LEDs for a tail or brake light and yellow LEDs for turn
signals, so I ordered the red LED SpiderLite shown here.
I was able to mount the SpiderLite on the GT1000's bulb
receptacle and shot a couple of photos of the running light and brake light
and it looks great. It seems extraordinarily bright, but I'm not sure
if it will be as brilliant after the lens is mounted over it. Too bad there wasn't a clear lens option
for the GT1000!
The five arms spread out the lights and give the rear of the
bike a unique look and the 30 LEDs seem to really grab your attention.
That's about all I can report for now, I'm in the process of
ordering a spare lens for the bike and I'll grind out the hole to fit (I
hope) the SpiderLite and will report back. But if your motorcycle has
a different style lens and if you think the SpiderLite will fit, you may want to give it a try.
If you do, please send us your comments to
