Darkside of the Zmoon

Willsmotorcycle

Willsmotorcycle

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Joined
Oct 26, 2020
Messages
2,018
Location
Makefield Highlands PA
Bike
2016 ST1300P
2025 Miles
000545
These $20.00, now $25.00, lights lasted 60k miles, no complaints. Not sure if dirt or just time has left one dark and one with a very noisy fan on start up. They were hooked up as hi and low originally, however I probably didn't have them aimed right and the "hi beam" was blinding traffic as I passed them. I left them amber and always wanted them to flash as turn signals, but EE is not my forte'. Enter the Photon Blasters from Skene with turn signal function.

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Im thinking there is a new set of Zmoons in my future as the Skene looks good for being seen, but throws limited light to see the road. I may amend this later as get them bracketed and outside at night. Of course no simple light upgrade is complete without adding unnecessary complexity by including a 6pack of red amber LEDs to the top box. Alas, another thread for another time.

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As the great lyricist Billy Joel once said, "If you can't drive with a broken back, at least you can polish the fenders". In my case though it's, if you can't take a 6k miles ride, at least you can add lighting.
 
Great thread title. Skene makes good stuff, I have one of their aux light controllers. Looking forward to your upgrade!

ps. Is that a car tire?

Edit: okay I get it, Darkside gives it away :biggrin:
 
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Yes, the zmoons aren't built with the fit an finish of some more expensive lights, but they do work well.

As for aiming, you have to set the height for the height of the two beams, realizing the other beam will always be lower.

Normally this is dictated by where your wire comes out of the zmoons. Wire out the top meas yellow is higher, wire out the bottom means white is higher.

Those Skene's look good though as conspicuity lights!
 
Happy Rob said:
I just bought the zmoon lights after seeing them on OBOs bike in New Brunswick. I have traveled to 5 different local shops trying to find a 3 way toggle switch and can't find one. If I can get 60k out of them for $25.00 I'll be happy.
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There are more complex ways I could send you to hook them up than the 2 ways I showed you :)

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Happy Rob said:
I just bought the zmoon lights after seeing them on OBOs bike in New Brunswick. I have traveled to 5 different local shops trying to find a 3 way toggle switch and can't find one. If I can get 60k out of them for $25.00 I'll be happy.
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The Amazon links might be the best bet. As for the ugly toggle ones, I see there's one left at C-Tire in Mount Pearl.

General PDP Template

www.canadiantire.ca www.canadiantire.ca

Edit: it shows a 3 pos but says 2 pos, so I don't know.... it also says there are 2 switches... argh. :)
 
I bought some Z moons also, they are great. I have them wires down so the white is more predominant. I originally placed the beams on the wall with the headlight and put them just below, but I was still getting flashed by drivers. So I turned the left one down some more (right side road drivers) and I still get an occasional flash, but then I know they're still working at letting me be seen.

Side note: One fella in particular really likes my lights, and we were stopping at a 4 way stop one day, and he liked them so much, that he wanted to show me his lights too on his Ford F-350 truck, and he didn't turn them off until I turned my lights off. So now whenever he sees me coming from the other way, he shows me his bright lights until he gets past me. Just because he likes them so much. Sharing is caring...
 
Happy Rob said:
I just bought the zmoon lights after seeing them on OBOs bike in New Brunswick. I have traveled to 5 different local shops trying to find a 3 way toggle switch and can't find one. If I can get 60k out of them for $25.00 I'll be happy.
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If you want to run the white light all the time, you would only need an on/off switch: (I think @spiderman302 provided this note, I had saved it off on my PC)

If you wire up the red wire (white fog) to the running lights then just put the switch on the yellow wire (yellow conspicuity).
When you turn on the yellow the white will turn off. However, it does not work the other way.
 
Happy Rob said:
I just bought the zmoon lights after seeing them on OBOs bike in New Brunswick. I have traveled to 5 different local shops trying to find a 3 way toggle switch and can't find one. If I can get 60k out of them for $25.00 I'll be happy.
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I actually bought the Z Moon wiring harness, that has two switches and two relays with it, and allows me to flip back and forth between the two colors. And FYI, I also am wiring challenged :rolleyes:
 
Happy Rob said:
I'm a simple guy. Simple wiring is hard enough for me, but I loved the way you wired yours to flash when you blow the horn. That was very cool. Is that too complex for me????
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Based on your comments (not judging here!) & hooked up my way I'd say yes. It also wouldn't allow you to pick which color you wanted at any given time.

The color is tied to the headlight low & high beams. Low is yellow, high is white. The dual horn upgrade flashes the headlight high beam, and thus the zmoons that are tied in to the high beam. I can't otherwise pick a color, but I do have a master off switch that kills whatever color is on in case I'm offending oncoming traffic or LEO's.

The difficulty doesn't lie in making the wiring connections vs a basic setup, rather it's there's a lot more connections and components required.

The way I did my setup required 3 relays (dual horn/headlight flasher/beam color selector), 1 switch, a bridge rectifier, 1 male headlight connector, 1 female headlight connector and a helping of spaghetti. :rofl1: It would have required a bit more had I not used the existing wiring setup for my trailer.

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Obviously not wiring challenged, but I seem to have issues with design simplicity.
 
Obo said:
Based on your comments (not judging here!) & hooked up my way I'd say yes. It also wouldn't allow you to pick which color you wanted at any given time.

The color is tied to the headlight low & high beams. Low is yellow, high is white. The dual horn upgrade flashes the headlight high beam, and thus the zmoons that are tied in to the high beam. I can't otherwise pick a color, but I do have a master off switch that kills whatever color is on in case I'm offending oncoming traffic or LEO's.

The difficulty doesn't lie in making the wiring connections vs a basic setup, rather it's there's a lot more connections and components required.

The way I did my setup required 3 relays (dual horn/headlight flasher/beam color selector), 1 switch, a bridge rectifier, 1 male headlight connector, 1 female headlight connector and a helping of spaghetti. :rofl1: It would have required a bit more had I not used the existing wiring setup for my trailer.

IMG_4124.JPG

Obviously not wiring challenged, but I seem to have issues with design simplicity.
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That makes my head hurt.............
 
Beeflips said:
I actually bought the Z Moon wiring harness, that has two switches and two relays with it, and allows me to flip back and forth between the two colors. And FYI, I also am wiring challenged :rolleyes:
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Yea I got that harness too but thought the push button switches were garbage so rigged new waterproof/lighted ones.
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Obo said:
Yes, the zmoons aren't built with the fit an finish of some more expensive lights, but they do work well.

As for aiming, you have to set the height for the height of the two beams, realizing the other beam will always be lower.

Normally this is dictated by where your wire comes out of the zmoons. Wire out the top meas yellow is higher, wire out the bottom means white is higher.

Those Skene's look good though as conspicuity lights!
Click to expand...
Im definitely happy with the look of the Skenes for that and turn signals. The Zmoons are great in the fog, I'll pay closer attention when I reset.
 
Willsmotorcycle said:
Im definitely happy with the look of the Skenes for that and turn signals. The Zmoons are great in the fog, I'll pay closer attention when I reset.
Click to expand...

I'd have preferred a light that was more sealed and without a fan, given the mounting location.

I may swap out my under mirror fog/driving combo white LED for a pair of these dual colors. They come in a double lens and a triple lens. No fans. Passive heat syncs.

The yellow gets you noticed, which is the goal for me.

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The Amazon rabbit hole... I love the small, big punch Zmoons, I have the rectangular Hella spots for driving and being seen. My next play maybe the 4" round hi/lows I took off, and remount them under the mirrors for some serious punch.
 
Oddly enough the zmoons use to be sold on the ADVmonster website for considerably more, before they ever showed up on Amazon. The zmoon was the more expensive light and they had a smaller version for less $$.
 
I'm looking into Morimoto's offerings: Mod Pod, Mod Pod mini, or One Banger. I'm asking them technical questions about beam patterns and whether the internals can be rotated to allow a vertical mount, yet retain a horizontal beam pattern. They have yet to get back to me.

Rob
 
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