1998 VFR800 Instrument Bulbs

So, I was some cleanup and mods on the VFR and had ordered some dash bulbs to replace the T194. Got them from SuperBriteLEDs in Blue color. Took about 1 1/2 hours as I took my time and also installed a waterproof Digital voltage meter also. I saw a few posts here on how easy/difficult the job is. Easy. I took some pics so here goes, took me about 1 1/2 hours as I also put in a waterproof LED voltage meter on the steering head. Two sided tape mount for now. I had installed an automatic garage door opener on the fairing last week. Anyway, here's the pics hope they help someone. First shot is with front cowl removed. Second is from behind the dash, the bulb retainers you need to unscrew ( half turn counterclockwise) Only the brown ones, the blue are the turn signals. Leave the blue alone or you might replace the bulbs now with new T194 now so they'll be fresh. 5 bulbs to replace. 3rd pic is the new bulbs mounted and ready to install with the old ones on the side. The hardest to install was the top bulb behind the Speedo. Very tight fit but you'll do it. 4th pic the number of the bulbs I purchased (blue) they have other colors. 5th pic , light in and on and the voltage meter. The small button on the black fairing piece to the right is the garage opener. Enjoy.

 

I just ordered the parts (LEDs and voltmeter) yesterday to do the same mods on my 2000. I'm going to add a pair of led integrated mirrors too. Thanks for sharing.

 

Look like this mod have been popular lately ......
Good job and thanks for sharing. :thumb:

 

I've ordered and received the bulbs as well to my 2000. I went with Red just because, well, it matches the color of the volt gauge I installed last year. Also just so happens that I installed blue LED's in the gauges of my wife's 96 VFR. Originally I ordered 5 red and 5 blue so I could see which I liked better.

Since the wife's bike was in the garage and she had two bulbs burnt out she wanted to try the blue because it better matched the silver paint and the decals on her bike. Alas, I get the red ones.

Now if I don't like the red, I know what the gauges look like in blue. Thanks for sharing and nice write up.

 

Thanks for the post & pics Mr. bentleyss . Part of my upgrade plan for my VFR over the winter

 

I don't understand why people would change out their instrument lighting to blue or white or green or what ever. If I were to change mine out, it would be to red. Don't get me wrong. I really think there is a great cool factor involved in the blue ones. But to have any white or blue light, basically anything other than red, facing you in the dark, and getting between you and what you want to see ahead, well all colours of light except red, will hamper your ability to see past that light to some degree. Red lights do not do this anywhere near as much as white or blue. Also if you look at a light source in the dark, you will loose a lot of your night vision for anywhere up to I think it is 17 minutes. Red does not do this.

I had a supervisor years back who was infamous for flashing his flashlight in ones eyes in the dark. I warned him about that once, then the second time, threatened to shove that fucking light up his ass sideways if he ever did that to me again. That was when we were crawling through dark bushes looking for someone with a gun. Goddam dickweed he was.

It may be a minor thing but one that I think is worth considering when changing out you instrumentation lights.

 

Randy are you having a flash back ound:

 

Whenever I see this guy coming along, I make a quick detour to avoid him. He is the same supervisor that broke my foot, was going code 3 at an astounding speed of 35 mph while we were trying to chase down and corner some guy shooting out of his car. I should start referring to him as Klinger. But that would be painting Klinger with a bad brush.

 

I'm going to try the UV LEDs as soon as I get an opportunity. I'm interested to see if they'll "glow" the instrument paint without lighting anything else. Could be cool!

 

zoom-zoom,

Do you have a pic of your cluster with the red LEDs installed? I ordered some new gauge faces (don't like the white tach) and want to do LEDs at the same time. I was thinking red for better night vision but wasn't sure how they would look.

On a side note: I take it that replacing the 5 T10 bulbs for the gauges also affects the multi-gauge? I wasn't sure if this was lit on it's own.

 

Yes, 2 of the bulbs backlight your multi-panel gauge.

 

Awesome. I think I might try white LEDs for the tach and speedo and red for the LCD. See how that looks. zoom-zoom sent a pic of his red LCD screen and it looked really good.


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thanks for the pics i ordered the blue led's to replace the dead lights on my spedo and wanted to see how to get at them that's just what i was looking for

 

I changed mine several months ago. They don't really have a white, they only have a light blue, and that's what I used.
While red is better for night vision, the OEM bulbs were so dim that they were fine for night vision too.
The point of changing them is to make it brighter so I can actually read the gauges at night, not so I can infiltrate another country at night without being seen.
I don't imagine the red will provide much lighting, but it will look cool.
Good luck with it, and post pictures!

 

Just did this to mine at lunch time, all main instrument lights are LED 5 lamp types. The indicators are now flat type & the warning lights are standard. I found that the 194 W5W style can also be used for the parking light, so i now have an all led headlight array



As I don't ride the bike often in the dark, I never realised that 4 of the 5 instrument bulbs were blown ! Amazing how it looks now

 

Actually, they have 3 different white options: cool, warm & natural

 

Very interesting. I need to look into just how much APITA this will be to do I have large hands. . I did this to my MR2 dash, Wow what a difference, hadn't known it was good for the VFR too, Cool. nothing like pure white IMO. I take it the LCD display benefits from this as well.