How to change the color of you gauges lights...bye orange

poochie781

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first off not to offend anyone but I hate an entire orange gauge cluster be it on a bike or in my tundra. With that being said it was time to take action. i'm sure I will skip a step or two so if you have questions just ask. Also this mod can be done to change your gauges to practically any color you want. First off you need 8-10 smd type l.e.ds (light emitting diodes) and a 15 watt soldering iron. The leds can be bought from several online stores but I got mine from ebay. the soldering iron is a cheapo from radio shack (10 bucks). Link for leds

0603 Ultra Bright SMD LED Blue 20pcs - eBay (item 320555140499 end time Dec-25-10 23:25:06 PST)

First step is to remove the push pin on the lower right and lower left of the plastic panel immediately below the gauges, there is also an allen bolt in the middle right even with the key cylinder
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Next remove the 2- 10mm bolts (one on each side of the lower gauge cluster) one is under the temp and the other under the fuel
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Next remove the 2 push pins on each side of the upper gauge plastic its byt he rear view mirrors, this piece is a little snug due to 3 plastic hooks so u will have to tug on it a little
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Now the gauges will pull out, there is a guide pin in the back so just pull straight out.
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There are 20 screws that need to be removed to take off the white back cover for the gauges. also if you look at the top of the white back here you can see the two guide pins that hold the gauge i was talking about
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Front of gauges
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5 more screws then the circuit board for the gauges can be removed from the housing
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Gauges removed from housing
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Use 2 spoons or something similiar to remove the gauges evenly
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needles and 2 screws holding gauges removed
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Gauge face removed
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The 4 wite squares are the led that need to be desoldered
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when soldering the new leds in place make sure the indention in the little square led matches up the same way the original came of, these little things only go on one way.
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Do the same thing for the othe gauge. The gear indicator is more of a pain in the A$$ and will have to come back to it since it face has 64 solder joints and I have not decided if I want to tackle that yet.
Once you are done it would be a good idea just to plug the circuit board into the plug on the bike to make sure all the leds work and you have done a good soldering job before you put it all back together.
To put it all back together just do everything in reverse. I know I left something out or if you have any questions just pm me. Let me know what you think.

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You didnt desolder the motors?!?!?! ???

Why would you not do that... are your gauges off?
 
no just pull the needles, there's no need to, when you put the needles back on make sure they rest against the stop on the gauge all in all it took me about an hour and a half
 
The green is much deeper in person. The camera did not do it justice but you get how bright they are :thumbsup:. Just gotta fix my CHEC problem... Not sure how i did that yet. Pulling them off tomorrow to see what the hell.

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I know it's a matter of preference but I just cant stand blue gauges. I have always found them hard to read. Orange and red are much sharper and don't spoil my night vision like blue or white. Lots of european cars use red/orange for that very reason. I've never had a vehicle with green gauges but that looks pretty cool.

Try this next time you drive at night. Turn your dash lights down so you can just read the gauges without trying hard. You'll find you can dim them quite a bit. You'll be surprised at how much your night vision improves. What happens is that the bright dash lights cause your pupils to constrict a little even though they are in your peripheral vision. Dimming them down helps a lot (red gauges have the same effect) that is of course until someone comes by with HIDs or silverstars that burn out your retinas:laugh:
 
I know it's a matter of preference but I just cant stand blue gauges. I have always found them hard to read. Orange and red are much sharper and don't spoil my night vision like blue or white. Lots of european cars use red/orange for that very reason. I've never had a vehicle with green gauges but that looks pretty cool.

Try this next time you drive at night. Turn your dash lights down so you can just read the gauges without trying hard. You'll find you can dim them quite a bit. You'll be surprised at how much your night vision improves. What happens is that the bright dash lights cause your pupils to constrict a little even though they are in your peripheral vision. Dimming them down helps a lot (red gauges have the same effect) that is of course until someone comes by with HIDs or silverstars that burn out your retinas:laugh:

Green does also not affect night vision. Neither does a true blue

Good reading:
Night Vision - The Red Myth
 
Great info RussellJ. I see that other colors are good also. I do feel the red is sharper especially when dim.
 
I should have known to check this site before I do anything to my bike. I ordered a kit from ebay for $15 and the guy took almost a month to get it to me. LESSON LEARNED. Quick question, I got the blue leds but how do I know if there the super bright ones like yours? I love the look of yours.
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I should have known to check this site before I do anything to my bike. I ordered a kit from ebay for $15 and the guy took almost a month to get it to me. LESSON LEARNED. Quick question, I got the blue leds but how do I know if there the super bright ones like yours? I love the look of yours.
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you simply replace one of the LEDs on the board. If it looks like this compare to the orange ones then you are good! If not, I can give you a link where to order these. I also can change them out. I have a thread floating around offering to do it for members for a bit which includes the price of the LEDs
 
great job poochie and russell, really makes your gauges jump out at ya, i like that:thumbsup:
 
:thumbsup: Very nice. I would love to change mine to red but I know I do not have the soldering skill required.
 
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