Instrument Lighting

[Lightspeed]

Hi, I searched but didn't find anything on this. Has anyone up-graded their dashboard/instrument panel lighting? Between the dimness and my progressive eyeglasses, i can't read them at all at night. Thanks for any info.

[JPaganel]

I swapped my bulbs for direct-replacement LED ones. I liked the results.

[aviationfred]

I replaced my OEM incandescent bulbs with Red LED bulbs a while ago.



A few months ago I replaced the Speedometer and Tachometer with digital units. All of the indicator bulbs are OEM incandescent bulbs.



Fred

[FJmonkey]

If you swap out the bulbs to LED, do not swap out the "Fuel" bulb... It will stay bright all the time. That part of the system requires incandescent resistance to register properly....

[chocker]

Nice speedo and tach. Where did you get them Fred?

Thanks,
Mark

[aviationfred]

Here are the threads for the Speedo and Tach install

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=12391.0#lastPost

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=12405.0


Fred

[aviationfred]

Here are photos showing the rear and side of the instrument panel. The opening have been sealed with RTV and have shown no issues.







Fred

[Firehawk068]

Fred,
I meant to ask you (maybe you already mentioned it?)
What did you do about your speedometer drive/cable?
Did you cap off the drive with anything? or just remove the cable and leave it as-is?

[aviationfred]

Fred,
I meant to ask you (maybe you already mentioned it?)
What did you do about your speedometer drive/cable?
Did you cap off the drive with anything? or just remove the cable and leave it as-is?

What did you do about your speedometer drive/cable?    I removed the cable completely

Did you cap off the drive with anything? or just remove the cable and leave it as-is?    Right now, I have left it as-is, I plan on cutting the cable in half, sliding the end off, sealing the hole with RTV and cap off the speedo drive.


Fred

[Lightspeed]

I replaced my OEM incandescent bulbs with Red LED bulbs a while ago.



A few months ago I replaced the Speedometer and Tachometer with digital units. All of the indicator bulbs are OEM incandescent bulbs.



Fred

Thanks for the tip, I think I'll go the LED route, red probably. Any tips as to what brand/configuration of LEDs? Also, did you have to put in a voltage resistance thing, or is that just for turn-signal LEDS? Thanks again.

[aviationfred]

These are the LED's that I used.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-pcs-T10-Wedge-5-SMD-5050-LED-Light-bulbs-192-168-194-W5W-2825-New-/350768919208?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item51ab74f2a8

Fred

[movenon]

After you install them power the cluster up before you do a final install and make sure they all light up. If you have a dead one then turn it around. Don't ask..    And as mentioned by FJmonkey leave the low fuel bulb as is.  LED's are either full on or full off.  From memory I used white LED's for the indicator lights and red for the rest.?
George

[Charlie-brm]

My Photobucket is public accessible. You should be able to browse a series of images to see what I did and see what those LEDs look like close up. The emit white light yet the gauges are still yellow like OEM, so there must be a translucent yellow film in the gauges. The odometer shows the true color from the LED. They usually have that slight blue cast to them.
The whole conversion has been satisfying to my eyes. Friends have done their bikes with blue and with red LEDs. I find them harder to read accurately at a glance. The numerals seem more blurred. That's my eyes' response to the colors, not the LED's fault.



Click on that image and you'll be linked out to the rest of the set.