Kawasaki Concours Forum
The C10, aka Kawasaki Concours - The Original => Accessories and Modifications - C10 => Topic started by: George R. Young on December 03, 2011, 10:09:38 PM
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Ages ago, I replaced the stock dash lights with some freebie blue/white LEDs, and recently one gave up the ghost.
So this time I decided to try all 4 red LEDs, inspired by the EX250 dash.
'Twas a mistake, the red was only visible on dark country roads, anywhere with street lights washed them out. These were the single LED inverted ones.
So back to white. And now I know why the red ones are useless. The gauge display is largely green, which shows up passably well with blue/white lighting, lousy with red, and great with white.
Getting real good at taking off the windshield, inner fairing bits, dash cowl, clock wiring, instrument panel and instrument holder bracket. And assembly is the reverse order of disassembly.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10x-T10-Bulbs-194-168-W5W-White-LED-Wedge-Inverted-Side-/270861075497?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item3f10940429 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/10x-T10-Bulbs-194-168-W5W-White-LED-Wedge-Inverted-Side-/270861075497?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item3f10940429)
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I, too, replaced my instrument lights ages ago with LEDs, I don't remember the source, maybe a Murph kit from back when?
In any case, the lighting at the bottom of things is really poor, it's hard for me to read the odometers at night with my poor vision now. I know the technology has improved a lot since '05, do the white LEDs you linked get the light down there so the odo is easy to read in the dark?
Now that I have the alternator upgrade I'm less of a watt grinch, do the stock incandescent bulbs light-up the odometers nicely at night?
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. . . the lighting at the bottom of things is really poor, it's hard for me to read the odometers at night with my poor vision now. I know the technology has improved a lot since '05, do the white LEDs you linked get the light down there so the odo is easy to read in the dark?. . .
Yes, big improvement. Maybe one of yours is burnt out too.
No alternator upgrade, still a watt grinch. LEDs in the dash, front turn and tail lights. Reverted from an 80W/100W halogen to a 55W HID. Every little bit counts.
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I was looking for something like this. Is one kit of ten bulbs enough to do the entire dash? Sorry, on vacation at the moment, not near my C10 service manual.
Larry aka Charliedog
Bristol, TN
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I only replaced the 4 lights for the gauges as those are on all the time drawing current. The others indicators are oil, hi beam, 2 x turn, neutral, didn't touch those.
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Becareful which LED bulb version you get. You need an LED that spreads the light out into the dash channel as it was designed for, meaning multiple LEDs on each bulb. If not the visible light will be lower making the gauges hard to see. Bergman was the original one to find and test these and then passed it to me when I upgraded my dash. I used the green version of these (WLED-G5 (for the green lights) and it is nice and bright, but not annoying. I also ordered a red, blue, warm-white,and two ambers. I even replaced the clock bulb with a green 74-xHP wedge Base LED Bulb. Here are the links:
dash bulbs:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2FWLED-x5.htm#photos (http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2FWLED-x5.htm#photos)
clock bulb:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2F74-x.html#photos (http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2F74-x.html#photos)
Back on the old forum, there was even discussions of bulb colors related to darkness and your eyes adjusting to it. Green is the best gauge color because it does not cause your pupil to close down as much so they can re-adjust to the road in front of you quicker. White is about the worst. Just food for thought.
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I put blue singles in for dash lights. Tough to see the bottom odometers, but I like the no glare thing for riding in the dark, a nearly daily occurrence. Plus the blue looks cool! :thumbs:
I did the four light clusters for the indicator lights, except kept the incan bulb for the high beam. I got these from Murphs' a long time ago, still working perfectly.
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I changed my clock bulb to a 74-GHP LED. A great improvement!
Reference photo:
Left: WLED-G5 (194) wedge base
Center: 74-GHP Mini wedge base
Right: OEM clock light bulb
(http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff186/rick3foxes/Connie/LED.jpg)
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I did what rick did, except I made the mistake of using the 5 LED bulbs for the indicator lights. Way too bright. I need to go back to a less bright bulb - maybe the four LED bulbs. The tach and speedo look great and I can actually see the clock at night now.
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there are 5 of these: 92069 BULB,12V3.4W 92069-1007
and 4 of these: 92069B BULB,12V 1.7W 92069-1059
I assume the 3.4 watt (92069) is for the indicators so I would need 4 bulbs for the dash illumination (not including the clock).
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Are any relays needed for this or is it plug and play
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Plug and pray ....
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Just went and spent some $$$ online for LEDs. FARKLE!!!
saxman
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I still do not know what to buy. (http://scosoft.com/h/d/60947c0.gif)
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there are 5 of these: 92069 BULB,12V3.4W 92069-1007
and 4 of these: 92069B BULB,12V 1.7W 92069-1059
I assume the 3.4 watt (92069) is for the indicators so I would need 4 bulbs for the dash illumination (not including the clock).
For the 4 dash lights, I used
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&vxp=mtr&item=251006219712 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&vxp=mtr&item=251006219712)
10 for $1.99, a few weeks to arrive. I didn't bother changing the indicators.
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I still do not know what to buy. (http://scosoft.com/h/d/60947c0.gif)
On my ZRX I tried Blue, White, Red, Amber and Green (No, not all at the same time ;D). Amber was by far the coolest color, but Green was the most visible.
All my LED bulbs come from http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fmini-wedge.html (http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fmini-wedge.html)
Just my $0.02. :thumbs:
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I still do not know what to buy. (http://scosoft.com/h/d/60947c0.gif)
Mike,
If you don't like what George posted above, see my post about 10 back. I have links to the "Superbrite" website and tell you what you are lokking for. They carry a very nice product for a reasonable price.
Frank
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I ordered 4 WLED-G5's for my cluster lights and 1 74xHP for my clock, all in GREEN. Looking forward to better night visibility. Thanks for the info guys. Mike in TX
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Talk about quick service. I ordered my Superbrite bulbs Friday and they arrived Monday! I haven't installed them yet as I want to buy 2 more single led bulbs to make my green turn signal idiots brighter so I can see if I've left them on in daylight. The stock bulbs are almost impossible to see in sunlight and we get a lot of that down here in North Texas. I will get back online and order the other 2 bulbs today. Thanks again for all of this useful information. (now I'll have a bunch of "spares" for all of the ones I'm not swapping out) Mike in Texas
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Talk about quick service. I ordered my Superbrite bulbs Friday and they arrived Monday! I haven't installed them yet as I want to buy 2 more single led bulbs to make my green turn signal idiots brighter so I can see if I've left them on in daylight. The stock bulbs are almost impossible to see in sunlight and we get a lot of that down here in North Texas. I will get back online and order the other 2 bulbs today. Thanks again for all of this useful information. (now I'll have a bunch of "spares" for all of the ones I'm not swapping out) Mike in Texas
I'm using 4lite LEDs for turn, oil, neutral. I'm thinkin' maybe the one light ones may not be bright enough in the sunlight.
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emjayw-
I replaced all of mine with bulbs from superbrite. I used the amber version of the blub for the turn signals, blue for the highbeam, red for the oil, and warm-white for the headlight indicator (if your bike has that). WLED-A5, WLED-B5, WLED-R5, and WLED-WW5. Of course green for the general gauge lights and clock. WLED-G5 and 74-GHP (clock). Maybe one day i'll get around to changing all of the running lights and brake lights. Probably will need a digital flasher module then.
Here is the webpage for the dash bulbs:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2FWLED-x5.htm (http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2FWLED-x5.htm)
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I just replaced my clock light with the blue 74-x, and the 4 gauge lights with the blue wled-5. Makes the gauges look great. they're bright and crisp. Really like the results. Blue is the way to go.
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Finally got around to installing the 4 green led's in the dash and the 1 in the clock today. Had to take lots of stuff off as I was replacing the tired stock front brake lines with a Galfer 2-line set so it was a perfect time to tear into it. I'm very pleased with the improvement in visibility with the green bulbs, not too bright but very visible now. BTW: The Galfer 2-line system was a snap to install and makes the front brake a 2-finger affair each and every time with no lack of stopping power as with the stock "soft" rubber lines. Thanks again foe everybody's 2 cents on this topic. Mike in TX