LED Replacement Bulbs for Gen 1 Speedo Assembly

[Blind Squirrel]

I went with blue. I will snap some pics in the garage tonight and post them up for you to see.

 

[dcarver]

. I somehow misplaced that screw when it came time for reassembly...

Now we can definitively and accurately state you have a screw loose?

or missing?

 

[Bustanut joker]

. I somehow misplaced that screw when it came time for reassembly...

Now we can definitively and accurately state you have a screw loose?

or missing?

Put a **** in it jackbag..

:rockwoot:

:finger:

 

[Wlfman]

Those with Gen 1 bikes know the ***-pain to replace the instrument cluster/speedometer bulbs when they burn out. You rack up miles and time on your bike when one of the four speedometer assembly lights burn out or goes intermittent. Gen 2 owners are fortunate to have redesigned dashes with LEDs stock and up to this point...Gen 1 owners haven't had very good options for aftermarket LED bulbs.
That potentially changed when our Illustrious Illuminati Ionbeam sourced these potential 120 degree LED replacement lights from SuperbrightLEDs.com. And since I had the nose off my old FJR and going to take the nose off my new FJR...a perfect time to drop $30 and do some experimentation.

clickable pic:



I bought a few different colors mostly in the 120 degree variety, but a white 100 degree light just in case and tried it first. First pick is with a 100 degree white LED in place..and pretty obvious hot spot around the 160mph area. I also noticed the 100 degree lights have an extra long bit of plastic glued to them and would interfere with part of the panel in one of the positions. Also note the LEDs have a polarity, so if the light doesn't turn on you have to remove it and install 180 degrees differently.

Then a stock light bulb on the left and 100 on the right for comparison. Notice the even fill of the stock light. However, the color of the lights is very similar.

Then I tried a 120 degree white LED instead of the 100. Exposure is brighter, but the fill seems a little better. Still a bit of a hot spot, but not as bad.

Then let's try 4 white 120 degree LEDs....pretty decent with some hotspots and glare....but 99 years of life or 25,000 miles for the stockers? You decide.

And since I was spending $4 on shipping anyway....how about $9 for some blue LEDs? I didn't hold out a lot of hope, but I gotta tell you in the dark...I REALLY like the blue and think it will be better on those long night desert rides!

Easy way to eliminate the "hotspots" is to take some 1000 grit sandpaper and lightly sand the top flat part of the LED. I did this mod to my FZ1 years ago and when I first installed them they had hotspots, so i did the sandpaper trick and no more hotspot.

 

[FJReady]

Thanks to all you innovators that paved the way for us followers. I completed the LED swap out last night on my Gen 1. Pretty straightforward process with these excellent instructions. I now have a blue instrument display at night!

 

[PFranck331]

The light behind the 0 to 80 mph was dark, ll was just not securely seated, sitting here waiting for the mailman to bring some of these LED replacements, going to go with the blues. Since I have it apart aand the tracking number says it is out for delivery.

thanks a lot for the recommendation .

 

[BIODSL]

A bump for a great thread.

I bought a new to me 2005 FJR a few weeks ago. On the first night ride I discovered one of my speedo bulbs was burned out. Since I was disassembling the front end for farkels anyway, I placed my order for LED bulbs.

I followed Iggy's lead and went with blue. Love it! No night vision preservation but since I'm staring into about 14,000 lums of driving light, that's probably overrated. The blue instrument light is a nice complement to the blue bike ; ) And I'm saving 3 watts of power!

 

[Ignacio]

A bump for a great thread.
,,,,,.

I followed Iggy's lead and went with blue.

I'm tickled! Thanks. I think this was one of my better contributions to the forum....

 

[FJReady]

Iggy, I'm sure that 'Blue LED' can be delicately integrated into your epitaph.

 

[Fred W]

 

[FTL900]

So the Gen2 gauges "LOOK" the same.. are the bulbs the same??

 

[RossKean]

GenII already has LEDs on the board instead of the incandescent bulbs in the GenI. Don't think they are even replaceable (and will probably last the life of the bike anyway).

 

[Ignacio]

So the Gen2 gauges "LOOK" the same

Not so much. Gen 1 & Gen 2.

are the bulbs the same??

Since this isn't your first rodeo, that's already answered in the thread's very first post .

 

[Brodie]

Nice thread Matt, good research back then.

Its a shame the back lighting on the Gen. 2 LCD panel cant be changed to a different color (red) and made dimmable, I dont need to look down at it, just glance at its reflection in the windscreen.

Brodie

 

[kmanflyer]

This thread was a huge help in the quest to change my Gen 1 over to all LED's and since I had to tear the front cowl off for other repairs anyway.

There are 3 white colors now all 120 degree beam angle, (Cool 6600K, Natural 3800K, Warm 3200K). For the 4 back lights I wanted to somewhat keep the stock color, so I went with the Warm 3200K and they turned out to match pretty good. They are brighter but not overly so. Since the old bulbs worked but were all blackened they were pretty dim. Now they look like Ignacio's stock picture but slightly brighter. Just what I was after. There is still slight hot spots but not bad.

For the 4 indicator lights, (5 for ABS model), I matched the bulb color with the lens color. Again I got lucky and it turned out like I had hoped. Warning: they are brighter but not as bright as Fred's picture with the white bulb. For me I had a hard time seeing the neutral light in the sunlight so it works for me. I don't ride much at night but if you think the stock bulbs are too bright I probably wouldn't change them to these.

The turn signals indicators I did the same matched bulb color to lens and they are bright, but it helps me not to leave them on. At night they might be too bright for some.

The Neo5's worked for the turn signals and the Neo3's for the others. Matching the bulb color to the lens color helps with the overly bright effect. But they are still brighter than stock.

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread it helped greatly.

 

[FJR_Rebel]

This thread was a huge help in the quest to change my Gen 1 over to all LED's and since I had to tear the front cowl off for other repairs anyway.

There are 3 white colors now all 120 degree beam angle, (Cool 6600K, Natural 3800K, Warm 3200K). For the 4 back lights I wanted to somewhat keep the stock color, so I went with the Warm 3200K and they turned out to match pretty good. They are brighter but not overly so. Since the old bulbs worked but were all blackened they were pretty dim. Now they look like Ignacio's stock picture but slightly brighter. Just what I was after. There is still slight hot spots but not bad.

For the 4 indicator lights, (5 for ABS model), I matched the bulb color with the lens color. Again I got lucky and it turned out like I had hoped. Warning: they are brighter but not as bright as Fred's picture with the white bulb. For me I had a hard time seeing the neutral light in the sunlight so it works for me. I don't ride much at night but if you think the stock bulbs are too bright I probably wouldn't change them to these.

The turn signals indicators I did the same matched bulb color to lens and they are bright, but it helps me not to leave them on. At night they might be too bright for some.

The Neo5's worked for the turn signals and the Neo3's for the others. Matching the bulb color to the lens color helps with the overly bright effect. But they are still brighter than stock.

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread it helped greatly.

Kman, could you snap a pic or two please at night. I was about to order until I finished reading this and saw your post. Took me a bit to figure out the natural, warm, and white also. So i've been sitting here debating which kelvin and color to go with for which bulbs. 

thanks 

KYFeeJeR David

 

[BigOgre]

Welcome to the Forum Dave.  Nice to see the search skills you're bringing but keep an eye on the dates of some of those posts.  That one you quoted is closing in on three years old.