Gear indicator the factory should have done

[ZOA NOM]

I bought one of these from RPM...


and bought some flat LED's... Four bright yellow, and one bright green.


Ran the wires into one of the small vent holes on the cluster body. The orange wire was left out to connect to the existing neutral bulb.



The results are very clean...

Neutral as always


1st Gear...


2nd...


3rd...


4th...


and 5th in green for quick peripheral confirmation that I don't need to try and find 6th...



I will be looking at some more appropriate LED's that will be much easier to affix. These are held in place on the backside of the tach with tape for now. I intend to create a removable rigid LED holder that can be simply plugged in. What I really like is that I didn't have to modify the bike in any way, and it can be returned to stock without issue.

[FJmonkey]

Very clever Rick, I just might do the same when I pull the cluster to fix the fuel gauge needle cap.

[ZOA NOM]

Very clever Rick, I just might do the same when I pull the cluster to fix the fuel gauge needle cap.

There is ample room behind the tach on the 1-5 side. The five wires coming from the tranny switch are just grounds. I grabbed the 12v off the little lug on the back of the tach.

[andyoutandabout]

Super neat job Rick. Cool idea having the tach numbers light up to instantly tell your ratio. Double points for making a useful, relatively inexpensive dash mod.

[andyoutandabout]

My fuel gauge too Monkey. Suddenly fishing out that cap and needle looks almost worth the effort.

[aviationfred]

 
Great, outside of the box thinking.


Fred

[Country Joe]

Awesome mod! I just started looking for LEDs......

[Tor-King]

Rick,
That is one ingenious modification!  I would LOVE to add this feature to my FJ's.  Would it be possible to provide us with a link to the LED's you used or are planning to use? What is the best way to affix the lights onto the tach?
Thanks
Dean

[Pat Conlon]

Thanks Rick! Very cool idea.

Our FJ's have such great low end torque it's easy to think this engine should cruise at 3k rpm.
Even after all this time, I wish I had a dollar for every time I looked for a 6th gear... still.

So now we have some options: 1) Rick's mod 2) Alf's mod and 3) Randy's gauge.

[CutterBill]

A very slick mod. I approve...   
Bill

[efejota]

gear indicator

Great solution with understatement, simple, easy, functional, cheap. Doesn't alter the bike's look at all. It can be used in any bike. Awesome. Thank you for showing your work.
But
I won't do it at my FJ, then it got only 5 gears. I can keep 5 numbers in my head. I notice when I am in 5th gear and I can check the combination of speed with the rpms to be sure in which gear my FJ rolls long before I try to upshift to the next gear the FJ does not have. If I still try to, nothing happens. The 5th gear still remains.

I also ride an old Honda GL 1200 Aspencade from 1986 with electronic dash and oem gear indicator that disturbs  because I look at it more than needed taking time away from other things one should pay attention. I think it is psycological, you have it, you look at it. No need to. It is like it is saying look at me, I am here.
A similar problem are the digital numbers for speed and rpms. I have to see and read them more often than I have to see at traditional system. When I ride at about 80 it is ok when it shows 78 to 82. At the Honda I will normally see 79 and accelerate or see 82 and deccelerate. Why do I do this? It doesn't really make sense but I do it untill I tell me not to do it. That is why I prefer to keep the dash informations at a low, just needed, level and I will not ad anything that it is not really necessary.
This is my point of view and you have made a great job for people that want or need a gear indicator.
Greez
Efejota

[ZOA NOM]

Thanks everybody!


For those interested...

I searched forever for some flat LED's that could be affixed directly over the numeral on the back of the tach. I still haven't found exactly what I would like. I found these flat LEDs that come with a surround that I believe installs into a dash socket. I'm thinking of simply hot-gluing each LED to the back, but that's a one-way street. For now, just taping the group of wires seems to hold everything in place. I'll probably move towards making a small semi-circular pc board style socket for the LEDs that can just sit behind the tach.




Superbrightleds.com

They are cumbersome, but they fit. I had to do some intricate soldering to connect the five ground wires, and the one power lead to the common sides. They are polarity sensitive, as LED's are.

Efejota, I agree that less is more, but I can't tell you how many times I've tried to shift into 6th. I think the 5th gear in green will be easy to see without even looking down.

[Pat Conlon]

Question Rick: With the LED's behind the numbers 1 thru 5, does that change how you can you see those numbers at night?
i.e. If you're in 5th gear, are the numbers 1 thru 4 still visible at night?

[ZOA NOM]

That remains to be tested. It looks normal in the garage. I'll see how it works tonight.

[ZOA NOM]

Question Rick: With the LED's behind the numbers 1 thru 5, does that change how you can you see those numbers at night?
i.e. If you're in 5th gear, are the numbers 1 thru 4 still visible at night?

Well, back to the drawing board... they're effectively dark compared to the 6-12, but I have an idea...




It should be a simple modification to leave an "ambient" voltage (maybe 2v) applied to the LEDs so they stay on, but dim until the ground is applied from the appropriate gear. A resistor that drops most of the 12v should work. It could also help to use clear scotch tape instead of blue painters tape on the wires, Stay tuned...