Gauge Back Lighting On A Fourth Gen

I was wondering what your opinions on these bulbs are for changing the back lighting on a 1994.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261879108775

I have a friend who had these exact bulbs left over from when he did his car dash. He also has yellow, green, and blue plus other various colors that I dont see me needing, which I think would work perfect for the turn light and warning lights.

I am just concerned on the watts these are putting out and if they would hurt the bike at all. They are the correct size for the socket and I think I should just go ahead and put them in but I wanted opinions first before I destroy something somehow haha.

Thanks, Stephen.

 

LEDs put out so little heat that you won't need to worry about any melting. I've heard those 5050 type SMDs are bright...they may be too bright...you have to experiment & hope a little. Some LEDs are also slightly larger than the bulbs were, so a little modding might be required.

IMHO the cheaper the better since the instruments need very little light to work properly. I installed some cheap 120 degree single-element LEDs (like these) on my old V65 Sabre and they worked very well. If I had to nitpick, I'd say the white backlights were a bit too blue and unevenly lit the cluster. The green neutral light never worked due to Honda's odd wiring, and the blue high beam LED was blindingly bright - it lit up my garage, LOL.

 

Since they will free I guess I will try them since you think they will be fine. Yes they are extremely bright but I do not do much night driving plus ill have it apart so I can always put the stock back in where I think it is too bright. Such as the High Beam indicator.

Thanks, Stephen

 

I have some LED bulbs in my wife's 96 VFR that are identical, though I purchased them from www.superbrightleds.com a couple years ago. They are the SMD 5050 style bulbs in blue and they look fantastic and are not hugely bright. I tried red ones and blue and the red ones did not work very well. I might be able to get a photo of them a bit later tonight once I get home. You also need to color match the bulb to the plastic cover that the LED light shines through. ie. orange for turn signals, blue for high beams, white or blue for the dials. I did get some extra LEDs for the turn signals and high beams and such on my wife's bike and only did the gauges because the turn signals and high beam light were way too bright, especially at night.

 

Yes, please take a picture if you can. I'd love to see the look of it. Maybe I will go with the blue since you said the red doesnt work as well.

Thanks, Stephen.

 

Here is a photo of the gauges in blue. The oil and neutral light are still regular bulbs and not LED. For the cost of the LED bulbs for the other warning lights I didn't feel the extra cost of the bulbs was warranted but that was just personal preference.

 

I installed some Sylvania LEDriving 194s on my other bike. Brighter than stock bulbs, but less current and heat. Dome on bulb is frosted so helps diffuse the light out a bit instead of just the bright led spot.

 

That looks really nice. I may just go with only blue and let him keep the other colors. Also can you read the clock still or is it just because of the picture that I cant.

Thanks, Stephen