| Author | Message | ||
     Typeone |
The thread we were discussing this went into archive land, you can find the original here: Gauge Cluster Overlay To continue the discussion, I finally received my LED Type A's from superlumination.com and had a little time at lunch to investigate. As I had assumed, I'm not really into the way they fit. Sure you can screw them in, and they do work but the clearance is super-super tight which caused the LED to be very bright in one spot. To help others investigating this mod, I took a snap and made some measurements of the stock bulbs vs. the LED Type A. Here's what I found out.  My next plan of attack was to remove the LED bulb and use my stock neowedge base, but that didnt go so well. Upon attempting to gently remove the LED, first straightening the leads out, it broke away, ruining the bulb. Ooops. Very fragile. I'm going to contact Superlumination.com today and send them this pic, see what they say. The only positive, the light emitting from the LED was very crisp and clean, just not focused correctly because of its height. At least for my standards. I'm sure some would be fine with overly bright spots but I know it would continue to bug me. (Message edited by typeone on January 29, 2008) | ||
| Thulsadoom |
Thank you, Typeone. As always very, very helpful. Biting the bullet to help us out. Thank you. DOOM | ||
| Typeone |
no sweat, DOOM. i heard back from superlumination just now, they said thats the smallest LED they offer. lame. but i dont understand their spec on the website. the Type A is supposedly 10mm high with an 8mm base. the base is def. 8mm in width but you can see from the pic above that it doesn't match that center bulb in height at all. the hunt continues! | ||
| 984gasm |
This is a great thread. I have been thinking about changing the cluster color for some time now. So, to be clear, there is three bulbs in the instrument panel? Please keep us posted! | ||
| Typeone |
gasm, there are three bulbs illuminating the speedo/tach side of the cluster, 2 on each 'corner' and 1 in the middle. in total, there are 6 of the 9mm height bulbs (on left above) and 2 of the 10mm height bulbs (in center above). my measurements are as close as i could get, btw. the additional bulbs make up for the CEL, fuel, etc. on the right-hand side of the cluster. i know i found a resource that had LEDs without a base that looked really promising. i cant find the damn link now though! i think it was last winter i was researching this stuff already. man, time flies! | ||
| Chainsaw |
Thanks for the follow up. Keep us informed!  | ||
| Retrittion |
I recently put some red ones in my dash and I noticed the same issue with "hot spots", though it still looked great -- didn't get any pictures before I popped a 10 fuse. Will take some pics this weekend if I remember. I was thinking that it might be worthwhile to attempt a dye job on a stock bulb -- LEDs run pretty cool so it could be done with something maybe as simple as nail-polish -- I'll let you know my results. Any other ideas on dye technique/materials would be greatly appreciated. All and all, tt is a cheap mod -- worth trying yourself IMHO. Pick up some extra fuses thought . ;) (Message edited by retrittion on January 30, 2008) (Message edited by retrittion on January 30, 2008) | ||
| Typeone |
Ret, thats a bummer about the fuses. I'm glad they didn't fit correctly now, not cool to have fuses popping consistently. electrical sh*t on these bikes worries me enough (kneels and prays to the voltage regulator gods for a good 2008 season out on the open road) | ||
| Retrittion |
Lol! Actually the fuse pop came from an installed red one during reattachment to electrical -- it shifted when plugged in (LED went out then back on, then off w/ a *pop*). FYI, your R comes with a spare 10 and a spare 15 fuse, and they run $2 or so at dealerships or any auto shop. Standard type, so no real problem. I'm carrying extras in all my empty fuse slots now.  Really the only issue is the height -- a stock height red one would make for more even lighting under the dash. It still looks awesome though -- better than the stock white, matches my red 12R and good for the night vision too. | ||
| Bigauggy |
i just had a thought. Anyone thought about using a 1mm shim, or plastic washer of some kind? Im pretty sure you could space it with the washer/shim and use an epoxy of some kind or suPERBo glue for you thrifty folk. Lemme know your thoughts about this. Thanks a ton. Auggy | ||
| Typeone |
thanks for the clarification, Ret. i thought you meant the fuses just kept blowing because of the LED install and you kept replacing  got it now. take some pics of the red setup! sounds sweet. Bigauggy, not really understanding where you would shim 1mm to help the situation. do you mean space out the cluster halves to create more space for the LED? i wouldnt recommend that since the cluster should fit together tightly, sealing the rubber gasket to protect from the elements. the tight seal also holds your faceplate secure if the adhesive underneath is worn out or gone (as in my case) from swapping faceplates randomly. if you dont mind hot-spots, the Type A's work, otherwise an LED that matches stock height is best (i think). side note: an XB owner on one of the german forums (i think it was a german site) wired his own LED setup in. placed them along the outer edges rather than just underneath. from pics, it looked great. | ||
| Bigauggy |
I meant putting the washer/shim on the leds with hot spots to kinda even things out. If im reading right they are too close, with not enough space. The shims would keep all the leds the same distance from the top, with no hot spots. | ||
| Typeone |
the issue is the opposite, they're too high to begin with and almost touch the plastic 'diffusers' above them. see my pic above for max height, the LED on the right is so tall its almost pushing up against the underside of the faceplate. ah, unless you mean add the spacer below the LED, pushing it 'down' in a sense. that's not possible though because the wedge base needs to feed through the circuit board. 'clamping' onto it. if that makes sense. not sure if i'm being clear but if you take apart your gauge cluster you'll see what i mean. very tiny working space. since the Type A's do sorta fit, i was wondering if you could dip the tip of the LED in something to diffuse the light that way. pushing the light out to the sides rather than directing up. you see ceiling light bulbs like this sometimes. not sure if that would work though, the field of light emitted from the LED might not be broad enough. if i didnt break mine i was going to try that next. but i was also worried about ruining the circuit board since the Type A base was ever so slightly bigger making the hole expand some. if that ended up ruining the hole for the stock incandescent, id be stuck. | ||
| Retrittion |
The washer might actually work if it was able to space the LED down from the back of the dash silicone AND conduct the current to the LED from the contact ring without causing a short. It's actually a good idea and would solve the hotspot issue, allowing the use of the available aftermarket LEDs. Anyone know enough about electronics that they would like to try making/finding a shim? I'm not knowledgeable enough personally. | ||
| Glitch |
Are y'all just trying to change the color of the light? If so, can't y'all just find a different color bulb the correct size? | ||
| Typeone |
Glitch, my personal goal is to convert to a pure white LED. I'd even go for a bright white incandescent. | ||
| Bigauggy |
The other option is to try to yank the stock LEDs out of the dash, and replace them with some aftermarket ones. But i have never undertaken some thing of that magnitude, and i hear that the stock bulbs are incredibly weak and just love to break on you. Shoot me back any other ideas. | ||
| Jwhite601 |
Ty, I do believe you are confused.  | ||
| Typeone |
hahaa, i'll take a hit, man. just pass it over | ||
| Retrittion |
Glitch, the main issue is we can't seem to find a LED that is the correct size -- the dash actually has two size types, to make things even more fun. Changing the lights and dash graphic is actually easy -- takes me 15-20 minutes to have the unit opened up, even faster to put it back on. The only real issue is getting the speedo and tach needles zeroed precisely if you do the dash graphic switch. All and all, its a cool mod, just need better LEDs. | ||
| Glitch |
Gottcha. I'll keep an eye out for some LEDs. I have an old XB12 dash face for a dash face I've been working on. I like the idea of LEDs instead of the stock bulbs, as mine kind of look more yellow rather than white. SilverBullet added some red LEDs to the outside, I'd get some pics, but he has since traded for a V-Rod. | ||
| Chainsaw |
i was wondering if you could dip the tip of the LED in something to diffuse the light What do the LED's look like with the stock faceplate? If you look at the back of the stock Buell faceplate, there is a black dot pattern silk screened over the location of the bulbs. I photocopied the back of the faceplate and put it behind my custom one. It works well at diffusing the light with the stock bulb, I wonder if doing something similar will help with the tall LED's. | ||
| Typeone |
Chainsaw, I've got the diffusion pattern on the back of my faceplate as well. the hotspot issue would be the same with a stock faceplate. the problem is that little plastic diffuser that reaches down towards the stock incandescent to spread the light. thats the point that is almost touching and creating the hotspot. there is plenty of room under there if those diffusers were different. all this makes me curious to take apart a car dash. the light is so even and nice, must use a different diffusion method. | ||
| Typeone |
Links related to Chainsaw's spec sheet posted elsewhere: JKL Components | Incandescent | Neo-Wedge Lamps JKL Components | Incandescent | Silicone Rubber Filter Caps | ||
| Glitch |
all this makes me curious to take apart a car dash. the light is so even and nice, must use a different diffusion method. While searching for LEDs I've run across tons of car dashboard lights. They are bigger and taller. Cars don't need to be as compact as ours does, so they have all the room in the world compared to ours. | ||
| Glitch |
Does this one look right?  | ||
| Typeone |
While searching for LEDs I've run across tons of car dashboard lights. They are bigger and taller. Cars don't need to be as compact as ours does, so they have all the room in the world compared to ours. right, but i wonder what the back of the gauge faceplates look like, as in material/color/diffusion patterns/etc. as well as the spacing for the bulbs. Does this one look right? those are the colored filters rather than a bulb. but those filters could work with out stock incandescents i believe. just slip 'em on to get a color effect. | ||
| Eldredma |
Hey Clinton, how about these? http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=35738 &criteria=CJ66W&doy=8m2 Perhaps the anode and cathode could just be pulled through the base of the stock bulb after pulling the old glass out? Do you think a 60 deg viewing angle would be wide enough? | ||
| Midnightrider |
I'm wondering if we couldn't attack from a different angle? For those that are familiar with the different custom faceplate overlays - could those be printed on some color-tinted but translucent material? The black or dark parts would still be black but the stock LEDS shining through the tinted material might produce the different colors (like the speedo and rpm numbers) we are looking for. Just a thought. | ||
| Typeone |
Matt, those look interesting, thanks for the link! BTW, got your bike pics, lookin' good! your note went to my spam folder. Midnight, for those only wanting to change color, the filter Glitch posted above should slip right over the stock incandescent bulbs. as for the faceplate printed on some other color, at least for the ones im intimate with, it would still be printed on clear poly but then you could use colored translucent ink anywhere you wanted. add white into the mix and you get different shades of those translucents. you could also start with white poly i think, but sometimes you get better light using clear as the base. |
