| Author | Message | ||
     Al_lighton |
The XB Instrument clusters, at least 05 and later, have small incandescent lamps for the illumination and idiot lights. They look like this:     The bulbs in their twist-lok bases are part number Y0162.02A8 (backlight) and Y0163.02A8 (idiot light). Has anyone converted from Incandescent to LED on these? Do you have a spec for the LED that you used? When the Kisan turn signal flasher is used with running light mode, the bleed through the incandescent bulb in the instrument cluster compromises how well they work. Kisan tells me that if I change them to an LED, the problem goes away. Looks easy enough to do if I can spec the right LED. Heck, LEDs would be better there anyway, they'll last forever in that application. Bulbs burn out. Al | ||
| Al_lighton |
I got a few to test with , and am happy to report they worked well. They aren't polarized for proper installation, and aren't even marked for + and -, so you have to put them in, power it up, and flip the ones that don't light. The three that backlight the unit are so much brighter than stock that they create a small "hot-spot" in the backlighting. I found that sanding the face of the LED dims their output a bit which helps. I have a bunch of LEDs on the way in a few different colors. I'll get them up on the web site when I get them in. Al | ||
| Al_lighton |
They're up on the store, here: http://www.americansportbike.com/shoponline/ccp0-prodshow/9506.html Note: These are slightly too tall for the three backlight illumination spots and will just touch the light distribution frame. Gently sanding the dome tip of the LED with 320 wet-or-dry sandpaper provides the necessary clearance, and also reduces the transparency of the LED which helps reduce the hot spot brightness flare in the illumination. It's trivial to do. No such height issue exists for the idiot lights. Here's a picture of one that I did that to:  More info is found in some other badweb thread here: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/32777/333511.html#POST1060109 and here: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/32777/333511.html#POST1059717 I have them in my XB9 dash and they work fine, but there is a bit of a hotspot where the bulb is at. Doesn't bother me, might bother some. Al | ||
| Capitantem |
Cool, I'll have that in mind when it's time to change. Thanks Al. |
