Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Accessories LEDs for tank instrumentation

Here are the part numbers for the LED bulbs if you want to replace the crappy 168/194 stock bulbs used to scarcely illuminate your tank warning lights:

1 WLED 6-LED bulb - Red (for oil pressure)
2 WLED 6-LED bulb - Green (for nuetral and turn signals)
1 WLED 4-LED bulb - Blue (for high beams)

Grand total, including shipping: $18.26 from www.superbrightleds.com.

These LEDs are surface-of-the-sun bright compared to stock.

Cool! I just might have to do that.

Soren

Are they a straight swap, or do you need to change the holders?

I never looked at these. Do they just push in? Or do they have leads on them? LED's would be great! This should go in the Tech Vault.

They're a direct, push-in replacement for wedge bulbs. Just pull the original bulbs out, push these in, turn them on and if they don't work turn them round. However without a bit of very minor surgery to your bike's wiring these will stuff up your turn signals (unless they're doing something really tricky they're not telling me about). Let me explain...

Vehicles that have two indicator warning lights don't have a problem with LED replacements, however the single turn signal warning light in our bikes does. It works by connecting the left hand signals to one terminal of the warning light and the right side to the other terminal, like this:



When you signal left or right the side that's NOT on acts as an earth for the warning light. Due to a traditional bulb's resistance this works just fine. LED's have a much lower resistance (as demonstrated by the need for load equalisers when using them on the exterior turn signals). This lower resistance means that the turn signals will see the LED as a dead short circuit between left & right. The upshot of all this is when you signal left or right ALL the turn signals will light up like hazard lights.

What you need to do as mentioned earlier is a little electrical surgery. First you need to get a couple of 12V power diodes (about $0.30 each from any electronics place). Then:
- cut off the turn signal warning light
- connect the cathodes of the diodes to the left & right wires
- join the anodes together and connect them to one side of the warning light
- join the other side of the warning light to any earth wire (there's one on the clock/tacho connector)

You should end up with something like this:



Even if you don't use the LED's this'll make the warning bulb slightly brighter (very slightly), and if you do my hazard light modification the warning light'll work with the hazard lights.

Matt

Thanks Sandmann.

It's always good to be informed before you start changing things

I guess I'm not going to attempt that one. If it was a swap out procedure O.K. But I am not much for electrical.

Those bulbs are such a pain to get out anyway that I wouldn't even bother unless you REALLY need them brighter. REALLY!

I just got my LEDs today and put them in. No need for a signal minder now! The turn signal indicator is BRIGHT even in the sun. I followed Sandmanns advice and put the diodes in the wires to the turnsignal light (and was reminded of my pathetic soldering skills) They are not needed for the rest of the lights. All are very bright now, even in direct sunlight I may put the incandecent bulb back in the high beam indicator once I go riding at night. It may be too bright. I certainly don't need to worry about not seeing an oil pressure light now! Thank you Donnie_Fair and Sandmann. For $20 it is a very good upgrade!

This is a reat solution to the dim warning light problems. I have been thinking of trying to do this my self. Now I don't have to. Thanks Donnie and Matt. If this ain't done by the end of this riding season it'll be happening through the dark months.

I just took the Blue Streak out for some night riding. The high beam light was WAY too bright. I tried covering up all but the center LED and it was still too bright. I put the incandecent bulb back in. After all, we really only need it at night when it's easy to see anyhow, and it shouldn't distract from riding. I'd recommend saving a few bucks and just get the green and red ones. The whole procedure took me two hours or so, mainly because I'm near hopeless at soldering the two diodes into the turn signal wires. Otherwise it's a matter of a few minutes. Once again, thanks guys. By the way, anyone want to buy a barely used blue LED bulb?

If you don't want to mess around with the diodes, try some Sylvania #168 bulbs in your idiot lights. And don't push them back as far in the boot as the stock ones are. Probably not as bright as the LEDS, but they're bright enough to see them on a sunny day(if anybody on here would know about bright sunny days, it'd be me. We get over 300 of them a year here in Tucson and I'm riding on most of them).

But like Benny says, these idiot lights are a PIA to mess with. It's those lens covers I have trouble with. Seems like everytime I push them back on, part of the rubber seal wants to go back inside the console.

I just ordered my 3 bulbs (2 green 1 red) $15.67. Thanx for this info Sandman. Now, off to find those 12V diodes.

Best way I found to get them back on is push the rubber boot up thru the console more, then put the cover in the end of the boot, and pull it back into its socket.

I was about to buy these, but before i do i have a question that hopefully someone can answer. Since the lenses are colored, why do we want the same color of bulb? Wouldn't using a white LED under the green lens give even more brightness? or is there a reason to go with an LED color the same as the bike's lens'?

EDIT: Ehh, nevermind. I just went with the colors.......same as Reido113, IE:no high beam, just neutural, turn and oil. It will be amazing not having to stare at my lights in hopes of being able to see whether they're on ! May even be able to trash the old signal minder. (hate that thing)

Daz if you decide to remove the signal minder let me know. One of my ongoing theories with my signal wiring issues is a bad signal minder... Might take yours off your hands to speriment.

we'll see. If it makes me always remember to turn them off then yes. Otherwise i'll have to leave it. The main reason for the lights tho is so i can see if they're on when i hit the turn signals, because right now i'm often not sure if they're blinking so i have to turn them off then back on to be sure, sometimes twice !

I found that relocating the signals down to the forks made it easy to see if they were on. I guess unless you had a type of signal that you can't see unless you are in front of it...

Just for the record, i tried those sylvanias and even have them all the way up touching the lens. still can't see em any better. thats why i bought the LED.s

I agree with SalMaglie. I figured I would try the #168 bulbs first. If they weren't bright enough then I would switch to the LED's. Well, forget the LED's! The #168 bulbs are plenty bright enough and that change will only cost about $5. I put in the #168 bulbs and backed my bike out onto the driveway in BRIGHT sun. There was no mistaking when the lamps were lit.
Thanks for the bulb idea! You Da MAn!

How the heck do the lights come out? Wheres my Haynes.. Oh here it is. Let me look.

It looks like they just push out.?. Lemme go try that.

Ahh. They just push right out the front. Then you just roll the rubber boot back a little so you can pull the bulbs out. (NOTE: The neutral and oil warning lights worked no matter what way the LED bulb was in. I havent done the turn signal yet because I need the 12V diode still.) Then they go right back in, like Ben said, Push the rubber boot up throught the hole put the lense back on, then push the boot back through the hole while pullng the rubber. If the rubber is all uneven, just pull the rubber from the bottom and wiggle the lens. It will just pop right in.

Quote:

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Those bulbs are such a pain to get out anyway that I wouldn't even bother unless you REALLY need them brighter. REALLY!

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Don't let this scare you away from this mod. It is not hard at all. No complications. They are definatly brighter. They work awesome and are a perfect fit.

Now where are those darn 12V diodes? Off to E.P.O. I go. (electronic parts outlet)(it's a electrical/etc. store around here)

I'm ready for those rubber comments to get played on.

3 days and i already got them. great service. Installed them and holy ****! If anyone is holding back because they're worried they may not be bright enough, forget it......these things could give the sun a run for it's money. I had the bike sitting in bright sunlight and they were so bright they were as easy to see as the normal bulbs were at nite. I'd say a good 10 times as bright. so if thats your fear, fear no more. if installing them is your fear, just get em and let me know and i'll do a detailed explanation on the install. By the way, the polarity doesn't matter ! Don't ask me why. as they are LEDS so i'm not sure how this is, but it's the way they're internall wired i guess.(tho i still can't figure how) But whatever the reason i put them to a 12 V DC power supply and they work either way, so i didn't bother even considering polarity at all, which makes install even easier. and even if that was an issue all you'd have to do is turn the bulb around. You can use any old rectifier diodes like 4001 on up, a very common diode found anywhere including radio shack. Or if like me you have parts or old circuit boards lying around they can be found in the power supply section of anything that has an internal power suppy.

Anyways, it's quite simple to do tho it'll be a bit time consuming for those with little experience soldering and all that. But let me know and i'll write up a step by step written so even someone with no electronics knowledge can do it. man am i ever happy about this. it's always been one of my big problems with the bike.

I'd appreciate a write-up! I'm not too good with the electrical stuff, but I have soldered a few wires, so with some guidance, I'll tackle this!
Thanks

All I did was plug my LED bulb in for the turn signal indicator and it works! I did not need to do any soldering of wires. No diode needed for me?
The oil and neutral LED lights were the same, just swapped bulbs.
THIS MOD WAS JUST A STRAIGHT SWAP OF BULBS. THATS IT!!!


Oh and Yes they are way bright enough to see in direct sunlight. What a difference. I can not believe I even functioned without these.

Hey Matt, I picked up a couple 12V Zener Diodes today. Are those what I am looking for? They were the only diodes in the drawer at Radio Shack that said 12V on them...

I just got a pair of the 4001 silicon diodes, 50v, 1 amp, max from Radio Shack for 59 cents a pair. The part number is 276-1101. I got some heat shrink tubing to electrically insulate the leads.

I have not installed them (as Sandman described) yet because my LEDs have not yet arrived.

I got loads of heat shrink Not a problem there. I just don't know anything about diodes, so I want to be sure I get the right ones.

just use any old rectifier diode. 400x. x being any number. Theres a white stripe on one side of the diodes. Those will be the sides that join together and go to one side of the LED.

Reido113......did you check to see that the turn signals themselves are working correctly? i suspected the diodes wouldn't be needed since the bulbs aren't polarized. but i did it anyways since i'd already cut the wires when i realized that.

Everything works fine.
BEN - No!. Just a 12V diode, not a Zener 12V. I can send you 2 if you need them. PM me. I didn't even need them. Go Figure?

Good thing I haven't done it yet PM sent, thanks again!

I wonder if the turn signal flasher in the 2006 is LED compatible and is different than the older vehicles such as my 2002 TBA? I will post after receiving and installing the LEDs.

They should be the same.

Soren