Instrument bulbs kaput

[Slipperyeel]

I finally had a moment to take a look at why the bulbs in the speedo and tacho were not working. Wasn't difficult to see why:

As for the cause, two thoughts came to mind. Cheap and crap quality LEDs. Second was the connection to the bulbs in the sockets which were already a little suspect (easily fixed just by gently adjusting the metal tangs inside with a tiny screwdriver) giving a poor connection, straining the circuit.

Interested in people's thoughts on this. I've adjusted all the sockets and fitted more of the same bulbs. So it'll be interesting to see if they fail as quickly as last time.

 

[luke scott]

Did they all stop working around the same time?

 

[warmshed]

Did they all stop working around the same time?

If they had a poor connection then the burning would be adjacent to the wire connectors or they would have gone out before burning their cases. Seems like the resistors used to reduce the voltage to the LED have heated up and melted the plastic, just cheap crap LEDs as you suspected. I have also had problems with LEDs, hard to get good quality, gone back to normal bulbs.

 

[Slipperyeel]

I think they all went roughly the same time. Within the same week/week and a half.

Warmshed. I share your thinking about the point they've burnt out. I too would have expected the area around the actual connection to the socket to have shown signs of burning but they're clean.

The quality of light from the LEDs is so good I'd like to find some quality versions. But as you say, do they exist and where to get them? !

 

[warmshed]

I had a hunt around the net and the only reference I could find was on adventure bike forum, someones tacho needle stuck and he needed to get into it. :-

"Well, wiggling the wires along the length of the wire harness, dis- and re-connecting the tach plug had no effect on the performance of the tach. My guess was I need to replace the unit, so I decided to remove it and see if I could open it up, as it was probably junk anyway. I was able to gently pry the bezel up a bit around half of the unit, and flexing the plastic housing was able to "shoe-horn" it off with a small flat screwdriver. Removing the 4 screws from the back allowed me to remove the housing. I moved the needle gently by hand, and it at first had some stiffness to it. It then would return to zero by itself, felt smooth after that. I couldn't see anything obviously wrong with it. I considered lubing the pivot points, but it was difficult to even see where I could do so. I didn't want to get lube all over and as it seemed to be performing correctly so I cleaned the glass and re-assembled. Unfortunately I bent the bezel slightly putting it back on, but it's hardly noticeable. Works well now. I don't know really what was wrong with it. I don't feel as though I really fixed anything, but at least it's working for now."

Best LEds I could find were from here :- https://www.superbrightleds.com/search/instrument-cluster-gauge/74/

 

[Ian J Hartley]

I bought some of these in Feb 2013 off eBay, following a recommendation on this forum. They are the same illumination level as the original bulbs, and are as good as the day fitted.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=351228050789

Ian

 

[Slipperyeel]

Ian. Thanks for that. Haven't seen these, they look much better than the COB things i have in. I'll get some and give them a try!

Cheers