Idiot lights

mylovelyhorse · Dec 9, 2008

Hmm. my neutral light no longer, er, lights. RID says '0' and I can let the clutch out without leaping forward so it's an electrical thing not a not-in-neutral thing. So I wonder if the bulb has gone? I'll check at the weekend (no light in garage, get home after dark).

Co-incidently, the battery charge light, the red one, doesn't light when I put the ignition on. Or at all, more or less. I saw it briefly the other day but only for a sec when I stalled the bike :-/. The battery shows a healthy 12.74v (engine & ignition off) & the bike starts well so it must be charging - plus I do run it with heated grips, heated jacket and a number of extra lights so I reckon it'd be flat by now if it were not charging. Can this be ignored?

Lastly, does anyone use LEDs as dashboard bulbs? And can anyone recommend a source if they do.

Lastly again, I want to replace my side lamp with a bright LED. Any recommendations for source etc?

Cheers

davegs · Dec 9, 2008

Leds

I put them on my 1150 look nice but not really bright enough to read speedo etc.

motobiker · Dec 9, 2008

davegs said:
I put them on my 1150 look nice but not really bright enough to read speedo etc.

Wasn't your mistake using 'blue' leds though dave??

Roger Chatterton · Dec 9, 2008

davegs said:
I put them on my 1150 look nice but not really bright enough to read speedo etc.

That's an age related problem Dave !!!!

-try Ultraleds, [email protected]
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/automotive-bulbs-c-101.html?osCsid=abac54235241235e34cd82c5310e5d16

they sell all kinds of LEDS - I bought some bright blue ones, that should be brighter-

286 New 120' Wide Angle High Ultimate 5mm Wedge Blue

that I've yet to fit. But, in fairness to the above DaveGS ( who is so old he falls off a lot, and cant see his speedo !!), the green ones I have at present are too dim for night riding......both Dave and I have the same problem , and we can't see the speedo either . :JB

Grizzly · Dec 9, 2008

It's a Broken Wire in Loom

Hi,
Do a search - I've replied to this problem before as have a few others. It's a common problem - BMW, in their wisdom

decided to put "splitters" in the wires of the short loom that comes from a plug under the front of the tank up to all the idiot lights + speedo/rpm illumination. This cable is fixed & doesn't flex but water collects in the sheath & corrodes the splitter crimps - usually mainly the earth one(s).
You can either repair, as I have done a few times or buy a new one - but it's about a £100

It does no harm to ignore until you have time to repair but it sometimes effects some of the "electrical logic" used to stop gear selection with the side-stand deployed etc - ie , you can select a gear & start to move off with stand down & it will only cut engine when clutch FULLY released - so be careful.

Cheears.................Grizzly :beer:

Steptoe · Dec 9, 2008

Grizzly said:
. It's a common problem - BMW, in their wisdom decided to put "splitters" in the wires of the short loom that comes from a plug under the front of the tank up to all the idiot lights + speedo/rpm illumination. This cable is fixed & doesn't flex but water collects in the sheath & corrodes the splitter crimps - usually mainly the earth one(s).
:

Seconded.

davegs · Dec 9, 2008

LEDs

Roger Chatterton said:
That's an age related problem Dave !!!!

-try Ultraleds, [email protected]
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/automotive-bulbs-c-101.html?osCsid=abac54235241235e34cd82c5310e5d16

they sell all kinds of LEDS - I bought some bright blue ones, that should be brighter-

286 New 120' Wide Angle High Ultimate 5mm Wedge Blue

that I've yet to fit. But, in fairness to the above DaveGS ( who is so old he falls off a lot, and cant see his speedo !!), the green ones I have at present are too dim for night riding......both Dave and I have the same problem , and we can't see the speedo either .

Yes so dodery infact i can't find my old cat, ogh never mind I'm sure he'll understand whoever it was. Y4es thats were I got mine from I ment to put it in my preivous scientific paper but couldent find the name. I brought blue being a good old toy Clolour couldent have bloody red! commie bastards!.
I did get these from that firm and thought they'd be brighter, not too bad but after the bulbs take abit of getting used to, got totake the screen off to cahnge them so havent botherd probably do it the next time the screen get busted!. Roger your lucky day! tunnel toll is only £50 so better than I thought. (each way)!. plus vat! no only £2 for the van £1.50 for cars why £2 for car derived vans is anyones guess.
Dave ( I hate christmas ) gs roll on 2010

Hong Kong Nick · Dec 10, 2008

tony.nottm said:
Wasn't your mistake using 'blue' leds though dave??

I did the same (ULTRALEDS), using the blue ones. Yes, they are difficult to read at night but I now think this is due to 'light wave spectrum thingy' :nenau

interference from orange street lamps? In an unlit area they are fine but on the street the dials are difficult to see - I guess WHITE LEDs would do the trick nicely, as the standard 'bulbs' for the dials are indeed YELLOW. If you do this, you will need FOUR (4) bulbs as each dial has 2 bulbs.

Regarding 'side lamp', do you mean the little 'running light' in the HIGH BEAM housing? If so (yeah, I suppose you do ... ) then I recommend the WHITE LED also from ULTRALEDS (mmm ... did I keep the model number ... they don't seem to have them now, just checked the site). They were the BA9 ones similar to these green ones http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/uba96g233-leds-green-bulb-p-813.html but they were 'reverse polarity white' ones - this means that they simply fit straight into the existing holder without the need to turn turn the wires around (supposedly LED bulbs have a 'different' positive / negative to regular bulbs :nenau

?). Anyways, nice and bright and look much better than standard, especially with HIDs fitted.

Good luck.

Nick

Bryn · Dec 10, 2008

the LED replacement side light bulb from Ultra LED's looks as bright as the HID dip... so does the job excellently

Roger Chatterton · Dec 10, 2008

Hong Kong Nick said:
I did the same (ULTRALEDS), using the blue ones. Yes, they are difficult to read at night but I now think this is due to 'light wave spectrum thingy' interference from orange street lamps? In an unlit area they are fine but on the street the dials are difficult to see - I guess WHITE LEDs would do the trick nicely, as the standard 'bulbs' for the dials are indeed YELLOW. If you do this, you will need FOUR (4) bulbs as each dial has 2 bulbs.

Regarding 'side lamp', do you mean the little 'running light' in the HIGH BEAM housing? If so (yeah, I suppose you do ... ) then I recommend the WHITE LED also from ULTRALEDS (mmm ... did I keep the model number ... they don't seem to have them now, just checked the site). They were the BA9 ones similar to these green ones http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/uba96g233-leds-green-bulb-p-813.html but they were 'reverse polarity white' ones - this means that they simply fit straight into the existing holder without the need to turn turn the wires around (supposedly LED bulbs have a 'different' positive / negative to regular bulbs ?). Anyways, nice and bright and look much better than standard, especially with HIDs fitted.
Good luck.

Nick

With or without the dark visor ????

I think this is the "side light" I use, which is same as Hong Kong Nick is talking about-
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/wide-ang....html?osCsid=abac54235241235e34cd82c5310e5d16

Hong Kong Nick · Dec 10, 2008

Roger Chatterton said:
With or without the dark visor ????

I think this is the "side light" I use, which is same as Hong Kong Nick is talking about-
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/wide-ang....html?osCsid=abac54235241235e34cd82c5310e5d16

HA HA - got me! No, seriously, visor up and 'normal vision', it still seems a bit blurry. Still, I bought 10 LEDs and have used 4 so I will stick with them for now!
:thumb2

Cheers.

Nick

davegs · Dec 10, 2008

LEDs

Hong Kong Nick, don't worry about Roger he's only jealous that he hasent got any, spends all his money on fuel pumps!.
Dave ( i hate christmnas ) GS roll on 2010.

sethmopp · Dec 12, 2008

I've got the same problem with mine, but I haven't yet got round to sorting the neutral light issue. No other related problems so far. Strangely enough, with the ignition on, in first and with the sidestand down, I noticed a faint light from both the bulbs:confused :

As to LEDs, I got a couple of LEDs for the pilot light from fleabay and a set of nice red LEDs for the dash from this site, though they're faint in daylight, but look cool when it's fully dark.

Idiot lights

mylovelyhorse

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davegs

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motobiker

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Roger Chatterton

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Grizzly

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Steptoe

Him/Bloke/Fella.

davegs

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Hong Kong Nick

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Bryn

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Roger Chatterton

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Hong Kong Nick

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davegs

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sethmopp

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