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How To: 07/08 Gauge Color Change

68K views 136 replies 48 participants last post by  drizzy 
#1 · (Edited)
I decided to finally go ahead and change my gauge backlight color after seeing xxdevilzeroxx's bike, as well as the several other ones posted in the "Changing you backlight color in your gauges" thread.

First off, I want to point you to that thread, which has tons of valuable information. Click Here

Second, This mod requires knowing how to solder. I learned by googling "how to solder." Specifically, I found this page to be extremely helpful, especially with the technique used to solder PLCC LEDs. Click Here

Tools Needed:
Sockets, Screwdriver, Allens keys, Soldering iron (mine was 25 watts), Rosin-Core solder (I used .032 diameter), Tweezers, Needle Nose pliers, 2 spoons, and most importantly PATIENCE

LEDs Needed:
AT LEAST 10 Surface Mount LEDs (4 for the tach, 6 for the odo., speedo, etc.), 3.5mm x 2.8mm Refer to the other thread for more info about the LEDs. I got mine from eBay. 20 LEDs for about $10 shipped.

Time:
15 minutes to get the gauges out, 10 to take it apart, about an hour to solder, 20 minutes to put it all back, and at least 15 minutes to admire your work. Total = 2 hours, less if you know how to solder.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL. I am not responsible for any damage you may cause. TAKE YOUR TIME. Go slow and be careful not to burn yourself or the board.

Now on to the good stuff...

1. Remove the windscreen and pull back the rubber boot circled in green



2. Remove the 3 bolts circled in the picture (I believe they're 10mm)



3. Remove the 2 nuts that hold your mirrors and the bolt circled on each side to remove the fairing bracket



4. Remove the gauge cluster and the 3 Phillips screws that hold the cluster to the bracket



5. Remove the 9 screws circled



6. Remove the 5 screws circled (4 black, 1 silver)



7. Use 2 spoons to remove the needle. Be careful not to break anything. A LITTLE force will pull it off



8. These next 2 pictures show all of the LEDs that you will be replacing. The first 4 are easy. The other 6 are not. I just pried the LCD screen back far enough so that a AAA battery would hold it up away from the board. Again, BE CAREFUL.





9. Now follow the instructions in the 2nd link I posted above. Remove the old LEDs and solder in the new ones. I did mine one at a time. Note that the LEDs are directional. Each one has a small indentation on one corner that shows the cathode (shown as K on the circuit board) side. That should remove any guesswork involved with placement.

Again, Take your time. Be careful not to burn the board or any plastic attached to the board, especially when working underneath the LCD screen. It is a very tight fit.

10. Now it's time to test it out. I just put the tach screen back on and hooked it up to the bike. Turn the key and see this



11. If every LED lights your good to go. Just put everything back together and get it back on the bike to enjoy YOUR custom gauges.

NOTE: It is very important to get the needle back to the correct position. To do so, the needle must rest at "0" but not be able to go any further past "0." In other words, play around with positioning the needle until the point when it sits at "0" when you push it all the way to the right. When you plug it back in it should do a full sweep and stop back at "0." Hope that makes sense.

If one or more of the LEDs don't light up then you probably have it set wrong. Just turn it around and resolder it. Then test it again. If it still doesn't work then post up with your problem.

Final Product:






Thanks to xxdevilzeroxx for his advice, as well to all others that have performed this mod.


Now, DO IT, and enjoy. :D
 
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#6 ·
great write up this should be moved to the how to section.
 
#12 ·
Here's the auction I won. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350008126423

Seller ID is wellton_sh

They're from Shanghai but shipping was extremely fast (like a week and a half). Plus you get a cool Chinese envelope. It doesn't look like they have much on there now though, unless you want 100 LEDs.

The biggest thing to remember is 3.5mm x 2.8mm SMD LED.

Here's a link to eled.com. Anyone of these will fit. http://www.eled.com/category.asp?catalog_name=LEDs&category_name=PLCC2+-+3.5mm+x+2.8mm+LED&Page=1



 
#17 ·
tycar86r....u da man. Not alot of people are motivated enough to take time to show others how to do something.
Anyway, quick question about the led's.....on the eled.com site, there are different "light intensity"s anywhere from 30 to 300 for red led's and on your e-bay link it showed "brightness" of 600-780. How is the brightness compared to the intensity?
Which of the intensities would you recommend if you're familiar with the led's intensity settings.

Sorry if thats confusing....just trying to get my stuff together before I go jumping on it
 
#18 ·
I'm not exactly sure what the difference is, if there is a difference. Hopefully someone else here can explain this. If not, I will ask my electrical engineering buddies and get back with an answer for you.
 
#19 ·
OK, after some research, it looks like "intensity" and "brightness" are used interchangeably. I think the correct term is "luminous intensity," which is measured in mcd.
From superbirghtleds.com, The unit of measure commonly used to describe LED intensity is the millicandela (mcd), 1000 millicandela equals 1 candela. Candelas measures how much light is produced as measured at the light source.
The candela is the Luminous Intensity, in a given direction, of a source of monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 × 1012 hertz and that has a radiant intensity in that direction of 1/683 watt per steradian.
All that confuses me, but you can see that the leds I ordered were 600-780 mcd and on eled the white leds are either 150 or 1000 mcd. You can go here and read more about LEDs... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-emitting_diode because I really don't know what I'm talking about.

Your best bet is probably to buy the highest rated intensity (mcd) in the color you prefer.

Here is another place to find the LEDs - Digikey

Source www.digikey.com
I posted this info in a few places but here are the part numbers that will work well for backlighting these gauges:
Note they have three shades of green, I used True Green (523 nM wavelength) in my gauge.
Digi-Key Part#, Manufacturer Part#, Description
475-1007-1-ND, LB T67C-P2R1-35, LED BLUE 465NM CLEAR 2-PLCC SMD
475-1009-1-ND, LV T67C-S2U1-35, LED VERDEGRN 503NM CLR 2PLCC SMD
475-1008-1-ND, LT T67C-S2U1-35, LED TRUE GRN 523NM CLR 2PLCC SMD
475-1004-1-ND, LP T676-L1M2-25, LED PURE GRN 562NM CLR 2PLCC SMD
475-1006-1-ND, LY T676-R1S2-26, LED YELLOW 591NM CLR 2-PLCC SMD
475-1003-1-ND, LO T676-R2S2-24, LED ORANGE 610NM CLR 2-PLCC SMD
475-1002-1-ND, LA T676-R1S2-1, LED AMBER 622NM CLEAR 2-PLCC SMD
475-1005-1-ND, LS T676-Q1R2-1, LED SUP RED 645NM CLR 2-PLCC SMD
475-1010-1-ND, LW T67C-T2U2-3C5D, LED WHITE DIFFUSED 2-PLCC SMD

-Jerry

i just typed in the part#'s in the search box on digikeys page and they came up, then just put in your quantity....
Hope that helps.
 
#23 ·
i think i might try that with the tach white and green speedo
 
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#25 ·
finally someone asnwers my prayer!!! i just finished doing the angel eyes myself w/ a buddy on my red 07 zx6r and was going to send my cluster out but if i can successfully do this for less than $10 i will be happy. looks easy enough just gotta find a solder gun now and read up how to solder. i'll be posting up pics of my angel eyes soon.
 
#26 ·
for the white leds did you use the 1000 or the 150 brightness?
 
#27 · (Edited)
Well I got mine off ebay, they said they were 600-780 mcd. xxdevilzeroxx used the 1000 mcd leds I believe. Here's a comparison...

Mine


And his...



I'd say go with 1000 mcd. Mine actually looks closer to his in person though. The camera takes a little away from the quality.
 
#29 ·
is it me, the camera angle or what but that second pic of xxdevilzeroxx his tach is not dead on the 0 rpm... needs some adjustment.

I will create a thread here to show all us 07 6r owners how it looks on our bikes but a write up, ehh i guess i can just briefly explain what i did but the wiring was complicated, the way i did it but i didn't use any relay or anything but what came w/ the fan kit. I'll start the thread soon.
 
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