Honda Rebel 250 LED Brake Light Installation: How To

I just finished installing an extra brake light on my Honda Rebel 250. It works great and is very visible even in bright sunlight and adds that extra dimension of safety that we all seek. What's even more exciting news is that it cost less than $20. It almost makes me wonder why the Honda Rebel doesn't come equipped with this lighting.

LED lighting uses an extremely small amount of power, so there is virtually no strain placed on the electrical system. The Honda Rebel has a limited amount of power for accessories so LED lights provide a great option. LED lighting is available on numerous web sites, but I prefer oznium.com as they have flexible LED strips that are waterproof, reliable, inexpensive and come with about three feet of wire already attached. I used two 4.7 inch strips of red LEDs and attached them to the bottom of my license plate frame. Each strip contains 12 LED's so that is a total of 24 LEDs that provides a brake light with the same intensity as the stock light. I was a bit concerned because when I carry a sleeping bag or other luggage on my rack, it has a tendency to obscure the brake light.

Here's how to install a LED brake light on the Honda Rebel 250.

The power for the brake light is under the passenger seat. Two bolts on the right and left rear of the seat need to be removed. The seat then slides out by pulling it gently to the rear - be careful not to scratch the chrome on the brake light when you remove the seat. Once removed there are three wires. The brown wire is the ground, the green wire is power for the running light and the green wire with the yellow stripe is power for the brake light. You need to tap into the green wire with the yellow stripe. There are obviously several ways to do this, but since I hate to cut wires I used a tap splice which are available at your local hardware store. Six cost $1.99. I cut away a bit of the heat wrap around the wires and used the tap splice along with about a 4 inch section of 18 gauge wire. I used the 4 inch section of 18 gauge wire because the LED wire is extremely thin (less than the width of a toothpick) and I wanted to make sure the tap splice made a good connection and would not come lose as a result of any vibrations.

Once this is done, you're ready to prepare the LED lights. The LED's are waterproof and the thin wires are encased in plastic, but I decided to use some vinyl electrical tape for additional protection. Simply cut a section of tape and lay it down on a flat surface and then lay the LED wire in it and close the tape around it. I put tape first in one direction and then the other. A roll of tape is $.69 cents. I did this to insure the wire is waterproof and the wires are protected against any chaffing that might occur. Also the tape is black and the little bit of wiring that is exposed between the license plate frame and the rear fender is hardly visible.

Next, I temporarily attached the LED lights to the license plate frame using wire ties and then ran the wire through the bottom left hole (looking from rear) of the license plate and the license plate frame and then under the rear fender. There is a 4-5 inch wiring tunnel under the fender that will hold the wires and prevent them from getting tangled in the wheel. Be cautious not to have any lose wiring that could get tangled. The wiring tunnel does not have a lot of room to push the wires through. I used a bit of stiffer 18 gauge wire and taped the LED wire to it and pulled it through easily.

You will now note where the wires for the brake light go through a rubber grommet on the fender. Remove the grommet and pass the wires through the rubber. The grommet is simply there to prevent wire chafing. It will take a second or two to reseat the rubber grommet. Make sure you have it completely and properly seated to prevent any future problems.

You now have your wires ready to connect. On the oznium flexible LED's the power wire is the silver wire. Strip about 1½ inches of wire from each silver power wire (you have two LEDs) and the twist them together and fold them over to increase the thickness. Do the same for the copper wire - which is the ground. Connect the silver wire to the 4 inch section of 18 gauge wire with a butt connector. Use the electrical tape to cover this connection. The ground wire now needs to be connected. I connected it to the existing brown wire that has a terminal that is attached to the brake light housing, I just removed the terminal and inserted the ground wire there. It could be soldered, but I believe it is well attached.

Turn the key on - squeeze the brakes and you've got an inexpensive, functional and nice looking brake light for your Honda Rebel 250 for less than $20 and about two hours of effort.

You can now attach the LED's to your license plate frame. The oznium LED's come with double-sided tape - remove the red tape cove first as it is the most difficult. This double sided tape is strong and I have used it on other projects without a problem - but just to be on the safe side I used two clear wire ties to insure the LED's stay in place. Put it all back together and go for a ride -

Ugh! don't try to ride and look back at your handiwork - you'll have to settle for the admiration of your friends.

I've attached two pictures - one with lights off - one with brakes applied. This provides an idea of brightness as the picture of the brake lights on was taken in full sun. Note the wire passing through the plate bracket.