anyone know about smd led strips...?

[ben]

I put some led's on the front of my scoot to improve my visibility but ive found they are far brighter than i expected and producing heat, very warm to the touch after 20mins ride time. I have some smaller smd's on the rear but they stay cold? Wondering if heat being generated is normal for the larger smd's, am i drawing too much power or maybe wired it up wrong to its to power source?

I tapped into the little sidelights to power the strips.

[Alibally]

I have a wiring diagram for the bike but its a US one but looking at it shows fuse 7 is the fuse for the sidelights. The way to test the total current draw on that circuit would be to connect an ammeter to the circuit in series. The easiest way to do this is to remove the fuse and connect the meter to the fuse connections.
DISCLAIMER. DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Get a competent person to do this as done wrongly you can damage the wiring and or the multimeter. If the current draw is nearing the fuse rating DO NOT put a larger fuse in. You would have to wire a relay for the lights.
Bright LEDs do get surprisingly hot. I use a LED head torch at work and it gets hot after its been on for a while.

[Alibally]

The torch, not my head. Before someone comments on that.

[gn2]

You can turn your head off?

[Alibally]

Only when the wife is speaking.

[gn2]

The real trick is to make it look like you are actually interested...