I got caught in a summer storm this afternoon. Total downpour so bad I had to take my shades off to see where I was going. And I was full into the throttle to get home before the storm clouds broke, but didn't make it. Had about the last mile to go through heaviest rain I have seen in a while. Plus there was marble sized hail hitting the ground about 1 every square foot or so. Those suckers hurt. All I was wearing was a short sleeve polo shirt and short denims. I poured water out of my shoes when I got home.
The best part was I did have the headlight and tail lights to put on. So I really think that helped being seen in this downpour. And those cheap saddle bags did not leak that I could tell. I opened and inspected the side with battery, controller and dc-dc converter for running lights. So I was rather happy.
When I left the house the battery was at 70%. When I realized the weather had turned for the worst, I ran the thing home almost full throttle the entire way. That was about 4 miles, and I did it at 20 to 25mph in frantic mode. LOL!
I added a plastic toggle switch used in marine applications to switch on/off the running lights. Its plastic so it will not corrode easily. Mounted it in the front edge of the left saddle bag next to the hinge for the lid. Its in easy reach while riding to flip, and very obscure. So far its working well.
View from the rear at night.
Inside the left hand side saddle bag. The controller is mounted to the left, and the DC-DC converter is on the right. That thing in the upper left corner is a drop light. The battery in its blue shrink wrap can just be seen a little at the very bottom. All connections are either crimped or soldered. Nothing is just twisted and wrapped in tape. I know it looks messy. Still have to come back and shorten up some of the wires so it is nice and neater in that tight space. Notice the inline fuse holder that feeds the battery voltage to the DC-DC converter. I think there is a 1 amp auto fuse in there now. The converter puts out a constant 12.6V when I test with the multi-meter regardless what the battery voltage is. There is no output voltage adjustment on the DC-DC converter, its just set for 12V. About $4 on ebay.
And this is the switch for turning on the running lights. This view is looking at the front of the left hand side saddle bag. The red thing just covers the hinge.
And a headlight shot. Sorry so many of the night shots are blurry, I didn't use a tripod. Next time.