Tach and Speedo Guage Replacement Led on Standard and Tourer -Lots of Pictures.

[chrise2469]

There have been several posts of late about converting the incandesant bulbs in the speedometer and tachometer with a high power LED.   This post may look like spam but it's not.  My experience could save you some money.

I purchased all the LED's from www.superbrightleds.com.  Due to shipping restrictions to Canada, I ordered a lot to play with and am posting pics.

The tach and speedo bulbs are a 194 wedge style.  There are many different styles on the website.  From other posts http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,32663.0.html I knew the Cool white wled-cw5 was a good start. I also tried the WLED-xHP bulds as well.  Now the pictures begin, explanation below the photo.


Left to right 1.7W incandescent, WLED-xHP and WLED-x5 (x being the colour of the led).  As you can see the led's will fit okay when placed in the gauges.


Here you can see the different emitter sytles between the xHP and the X-5.  The HP has a single die six emitter head for high power while the X-5 makes the power with 5 smaller emitters. 4 on the side and one on top.

Now for the comparison photo's.  All photo's are taken at night in my garage.  The exposure and time for each shot is the same (f5.6, 1/4sec, 1600 ISO).  Pictures are hand held so some are not supercrisp. First the speedo's shots then with the speedo and tach.


This is  1.7w incandescent, the control shot.


This is the cool white x5(WLED-CW5 mcd rating of 2000F,1000S). It has a slight blue tinge and it has a very even spread across the speedo


This is the green x5 (WLED-G5 mcd F2200,S1200).  I don't like it as it obscures most of the markings.  I thought it would highlight the green of the speedo but it washes it out and the KM scale is very hard to read.


This is the cool white xhp(WLED-CWHP mcd 15000).  This is much brighter than the cw5, in fact it's too bright.  There is high glare and spill from the top of the guage and poor diffusion to the edges.


This is the blue xhp (WLED-BHP mcd 6000).  Due to the single style die, this has poor side diffusion and a lot of glare on top.


Cool white x5 speedo and 1.7w incandescent in tach.


Green x5 in speedo and 1.7 w incandescent in tach


Cool white HP in speedo and 1.7w incandescent in tach.


Blue HP in speedo and 1.7w incandescent in tach.


Cool white x5 in speedo and cool white HP in tach.  You can see how much spill there is from the HP bulb over the face of the gauge.


Cool white x5 in speedo and green x5 in tach.  My setup until I reorder another cool white x5.

There was one more led I tried but didn't shoot because it would not fit.  That is the WLED-xLX, high power 1 watt led.  The bulb is too long to fit and the base does not seal against the gauge body..  

In summary, I found the cool white x5 to be the best overall led in terms of colour and diffusion.  The blue HP would be my second choice.

The extra bulbs did not go to waste, they wound up in my Rebel. 

Here is a link to show how to use a rebel wiring harness with leds to improve the trun signal indicator.
http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,35394.0.html

Hope this helps someone, ride safe.

[Tim H]

I am interested in doing this as well.  I'm glad you took the time to share with the group so I can get what I need instead of wondering if it were the right thing.

[OverdueBill]

Excellent post.  Very easy to see what is going on.  I agree with your choice but the blue looks good.  Too bright, but good looking.  Thanks.

[Tx Bohemian]

Yeah, thanks for sharing.  This is really interesting.

I see you have dark faces and lighter numbers. On my '99 Standard I have light faces and light numbers (and at my age my eyesight isn't the best anymore).  On account of this I have a really hard time seeing anything on my speedo at certain times of the day, right before sun-up and at twilight.

Would you have any idea if this would help with the lighter colored faces? or would it just make my blank faces look brighter but still not readable?

This seems easier than what other option I was going to try, changing the faces.  Awhile back I contacted a person from another M/C site that makes replacement faces and he said he can make faces for the Valk and put anything on them.  I was attempting to find a couple of good Dragon pictures but too many other projects got in the way.

Maybe this has been covered before but how about these brighter lights for the "neutral" and "turn indicator"? Think that would work too?

[BlueValk]

Excellent post.  Very easy to see what is going on.  I agree with your choice but the blue looks good.  Too bright, but good looking.  Thanks.

Nice work Chrise.  If someone wants the blue one, but is too bright, you could add a resistor in series to dim it. 

A neat thing might be to have a photo sensor dim it at night.  Just thinking out loud ...

[RTaz]

  thanks for sharing I ordered some today 

[gordonv]

Excellent post.  Very easy to see what is going on.  I agree with your choice but the blue looks good.  Too bright, but good looking.  Thanks.

Nice work Chrise.  If someone wants the blue one, but is too bright, you could add a resistor in series to dim it.  

A neat thing might be to have a photo sensor dim it at night.  Just thinking out loud ...

I wonder if a black felt marker on strategic locations of the LED would lesson the beam of light, but still allow light to leak out the side? (maybe a small piece of electrical tape instead?)

[Cruzen]

Excellent presentation.  Thanks for taking the time to document and report your findings.  I've got this one book marked for future projects.

[chrise2469]

Yeah, thanks for sharing.  This is really interesting.

I see you have dark faces and lighter numbers. On my '99 Standard I have light faces and light numbers (and at my age my eyesight isn't the best anymore).  On account of this I have a really hard time seeing anything on my speedo at certain times of the day, right before sun-up and at twilight.

Would you have any idea if this would help with the lighter colored faces? or would it just make my blank faces look brighter but still not readable?


Maybe this has been covered before but how about these brighter lights for the "neutral" and "turn indicator"? Think that would work too?

I'm not sure about your speedo, but  the wash out is why I wanted to upgrade.

Leds for the neutral and high beam are available but..... it says on the package not use them in headlight assemblies, where ours are located.  The bulbs are a t6.5

I did install a green and blue led, it is model 24xHP and they are very bright.  The amber led does not work for turn signals as it is a polarized bulb.  It will only flash on one side. 

There may be a plug and play solution to this.  The misses has a 05 Rebel.  The indicator bulbs for high beam and turn are a 194 base.  I put the high power 1 watt WLED-xLX (a non-polarized led) and it is super bright.  I checked the cost at HDL for the rebel harness (socket, pilot 37650-KEB-901) and its 7.64, less than the cost of the led. I havent checked the connector and lengths yet but it looks like it may be a straight swap.

I don't know how hot the headlamp housing gets but it may be worth a try for me.

If you want photos of the neutral and high beam, I can do, but there won't be any comparsion shots as those bulbs are a pain to get out.  I don't have a hose that fits tight enough to pull them out.

Ride safe.

[chrise2469]

Excellent post.  Very easy to see what is going on.  I agree with your choice but the blue looks good.  Too bright, but good looking.  Thanks.

Nice work Chrise.  If someone wants the blue one, but is too bright, you could add a resistor in series to dim it. 

A neat thing might be to have a photo sensor dim it at night.  Just thinking out loud ...

Thanks, if someone really liked the look of the blue, they could try the x5 led.  It is rated mcd 1800 front and 800 side.  That would give a greater spread and reduce the spill out the top.

I'm pretty lazy, and want as much plug and play as possible.

I only bought enough leds to outfit both bikes. I didn't want a lot of expensive extra's around so  I didn't order the blue x5. The blue HP went into the neutral indicator on the Rebel. The cool white HP went into the Rebel speedo as there isn't any spill on the face. 

Ride Safe

[Phil57]

Thanks for the info. I just ordered the bulbs 7.50 with shipping.Can't wait to see how the look.

[Thespian]

 Have mine on order as well. Thanks for the excellent demonstration. I've been wondering what options there were for the weak oem. 

[RonW]

illuminating write-up.

[Xtracho]

I bookmarked this thread some time back and last time home ordered the cool-white X5 from Superbright. I am totally please with the results. A very good thread with some good information and pics to show. Thanks!

[BobB]

Chris, we met at Inzane XII where you demonstrated your lighting to us.  I made the SuperBrite LED conversions to the cans as well as the the other indicators that winter.  Everything was a huge improvement over the OEM bulbs on my Tourer.  I have been highly recommending these changes, based on your original posts, for two years.  Thanks again for your contributions.

[Hotrodwing]

 :cooldude:been running the x5's for a few years now very pleased

[FTL900]

How many x5's are needed for the gauges?? 

I was hoping to find more info on the idiot lights as well, such as which bulbs to order and how many of each bulb.   

Thanks!

[John Schmidt]

Great presentation. I found if you want to diffuse light on an LED, put tiny drop of clear RTV on a portion of it on the side near the top of the gauge where it washes out. If you don't like it, it's easy to remove the RTV. 

I have blue LED backlit temp, fuel, and oil pressure gauges. Using a blue LED in the tach/speedo would look killer.

[cobra_joe]

Thanks for your terrific post. I'm very interested in upgrading the brightness on my turn signal indicator as a priority... You mentioned potential difficulties here... Can you offer a recommendation?
Thanks again, Joe

[itsallabouthim]

How would red or amber LED's work?  I wish BMW motorcycles would take a lesson from the car instrument gauges on BMW cars.  Same goes for Honda & all the car makers.

[chrise2469]

Thanks for your terrific post. I'm very interested in upgrading the brightness on my turn signal indicator as a priority... You mentioned potential difficulties here... Can you offer a recommendation?
Thanks again, Joe

The difficulties is that the 24 led is a one way led only.  It will only blink with one side of the bike and not the other.  That was why I did the rebel wiring harness conversion so I could  get the 194 leds which are bidirectional.  
http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,35394.0.html
This seemed a way easier solution then connecting up some diodes into the harness.

[chrise2469]

How would red or amber LED's work?  I wish BMW motorcycles would take a lesson from the car instrument gauges on BMW cars.  Same goes for Honda & all the car makers.

I didn't try red at all.  I figured that the instrument needles would be hard to see with a red light.

You can always give it a shot and report back your findings.

Ride Safe.

[cogsman]

Would these bulbs be compatible with the WLED-xHP bulb listed above from Superbrightleds? I am seeing that these say T10 wherease the specs on the WLED-xHP say T3-1/4 for the bulb type.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/5X-Blue-3000K-T10-168-194-W5W-1SMD-5050-LED-Car-Clearance-Incaditor-Light-Bulb-/291351075966?hash=item43d5e09c7e:g:G1oAAOSw8d9UsWhG&vxp=mtr

[98valk]

194 is the # to look for, this is the base type to plug in.

[Lyle Laun]

Cogsman
you'll be dissapointed with the Chinese ones, I tried a couple and went back to Superbrights.

[h13man]

Thank you very much for a very comprehensive write up! Just got done ordering the cool white and red x5's.

[cogsman]

Ok fair enough, I'm not all that thrilled about Chinese products.

What about these? They're from the US. Ends up being about $20 cheaper than through Superbriteleds shipped to Canada + exchange rate. And I get 20 bulbs.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/20-x-Ultra-Blue-T10-COB-LED-Car-Instrument-Dash-Light-Bulbs-912-194-161-168-12V-/252129166242?hash=item3ab411c3a2:g:6VcAAOSwT5tWIfvd&vxp=mtr

[Flat6Valk]

very good report.  useful.  thank you.


Greg
Flat6Valk

[h13man]

I replaced mine tonight with the cool white 5 emitters and I am very pleased with the results. They were a tight fit into the plastic housing but went in. Also ordered red ones but they washed out the markings etc.

[Aquaman]

Just received 2 of the WLED-X5 & got it to fit my Tach OK but it would not fit the Speedo. What can I do to make it fit ? Thanks

[h13man]

Had the same issue so tilted the lamp and firmly pushed it in. If you don't feel confident doing it that way, try reaming out the port with a small round file or proper size "letter" or fractional drill bit. This was my option if didn't finally go in.

[Mapper]

Could you please repost the pictures?  This info was very helpful in the past but no longer being supported by Photobucket.

Thanks!

[Houdini]

Could you please repost the pictures?  This info was very helpful in the past but no longer being supported by Photobucket.

Thanks!

Download the Firefox addon that "fixes" Photobucket.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/photobucket-fix/

[Harryc]

Could you please repost the pictures?  This info was very helpful in the past but no longer being supported by Photobucket.

Thanks!

Download the Firefox addon that "fixes" Photobucket.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/photobucket-fix/

Great tip, thanks!

[MarkT]

Adding to this moldy thread since it's been linked to lately.

I added a "pot" (potentiometer or dimmer) to the instruments lighting circuit, which I isolated.  I used the superbrightled's 5-emitter X-5 type white LED bulbs.  This lets me turn them off, or dial them up to full brightness, like a car's instrument dimmer.  Off is great at dusk when the normally (OEM) backlit numerals appear black.  Normally they have some degree of washout when they are lit about as much as the dial faces from twilight.  Works great for me now.  Probably best if I film it dialing up & down and post on youtube.  Might do that if there's any interest.



Here's a shot with them fully bright, followed by another with them dimmed some.  I can dim them all the way to off.  The automatic exposure on the camera hinders showing the range.

[sssportsmfg]

Yeah, thanks for sharing.  This is really interesting.

I see you have dark faces and lighter numbers. On my '99 Standard I have light faces and light numbers (and at my age my eyesight isn't the best anymore).  On account of this I have a really hard time seeing anything on my speedo at certain times of the day, right before sun-up and at twilight.

Would you have any idea if this would help with the lighter colored faces? or would it just make my blank faces look brighter but still not readable?


Maybe this has been covered before but how about these brighter lights for the "neutral" and "turn

indicator"? Think that would work too?

I'm not sure about your speedo, but  the wash out is why I wanted to upgrade.

Leds for the neutral and high beam are available but..... it says on the package not use them in headlight assemblies, where ours are located.  The bulbs are a t6.5

I did install a green and blue led, it is model 24xHP and they are very bright.  The amber led does not work for turn signals as it is a polarized bulb.  It will only flash on one side. 

There may be a plug and play solution to this.  The misses has a 05 Rebel.  The indicator bulbs for high beam and turn are a 194 base.  I put the high power 1 watt WLED-xLX (a non-polarized led) and it is super bright.  I checked the cost at HDL for the rebel harness (socket, pilot 37650-KEB-901) and its 7.64, less than the cost of the led. I havent checked the connector and lengths yet but it looks like it may be a straight swap.

I don't know how hot the headlamp housing gets but it may be worth a try for me.

If you want photos of the neutral and high beam, I can do, but there won't be any comparsion shots as those bulbs are a pain to get out.  I don't have a hose that fits tight enough to pull them out.

Ride safe.

There is a solution at customled.com  You have to solder in two diodes.  strip the crimped on black plastic covering on the two wires going to the incandescent turn signal bulb socket and cut the wires with enough distance to work on each end.  Take ONE of the wires from the SOCKET side add in a length of wire with a straight line connector and put a ring connector on the other end.   Then attach it to one of the headlight mounting bolts for a dedicated ground.   Take the two + wires (orange and blue) coming from the left and right turn signals that originally went to the bulb socket and solder a diode on each of them orienting the diode properly to allow + 12v to flow to the socket but not back down the other wire.  Twist the output of each diode and the remaining wire from the socket together and solder all three together.  I then used liquid tape and put on a couple of coats before a light application of tape.   Then just orient your LED bulb correctly for +/- in the socket and you should be fine.   If you don't want to put in a led, this will also fix the 4 way flash problem that occurs with the moving ground of the original wiring setup.  You can get the diodes at customled.com.   I just did this on 06/16/2019