So as the arctic extended it's chilly tendrils across North America in mid-February I decided to finally pull my instruments and send them to BLUEGAUGES.COM for an LED upgrade. I weighed the pros and cons of doing it myself. If my workplace were unrestricted I'd have both ready access to the equipment as well as skilled and willing accomplices to perform the work. But I figured Scott Woodruff needs to eat so I decided to give him my business. Though he was a little slow to respond at first, and his answers to my questions were terse, he was in no way rude or abrupt and in the end he did what I requested.
I ordered white LEDs all around except amber for the turn indicators and red for the needles. They arrived Sunday via USPS Priority Mail a day ahead of the scheduled delivery (am I alone in still being taken aback by mail delivery on Sunday? LOVE the USPS )
I also ordered via Amazon a gear indicator that explicitly list the 2008-2015 ST1300. It's a blatant copy of the GIPro except less than one third the price at $44.50 with free shipping. Sadly, they even stole their installation and setup instructions nearly word-for-word. I feel so unclean.
But it works. I temporarily connected it to the ECU port under the seat and performed the set up. It's really weird running the bike up through the gears on the centerstand. Frankly in 45+ years of riding and wrenching I don't ever recall having done this for any reason. Yet there I was with my new ST in the garage running it in 5th gear at about 3,000rpm. What a Farmers Insurance commercial that would make if it rolled off the stand!
So here's where I look to the collective for some opinion, advice and help.
I've looked at the work others had done to mount their gear indicator like mine in the instruments. I've seen one or two who inserted it into the blank space above the ST1300 logo in the right indicator section. I've seen another where the LED module was so big that it displaced the logo entirely. And I've seen countless others that mounted outside the pod in various location on the dash, handlebars, center triple clamp cover, etc...
But I'm not sure I've seen what I have in mind - please point me to posts if I'm wrong.
I intend to place it within the meter assembly case, directly on the face of the speedometer in the empty quadrant in its lower right to the left of the LCD display, almost directly below the MPH label.
I'd secure it with VHB tape to the gauge face and then route the wiring down to the bottom edge of the gauge, pass through to the back and then up and out of the case assembly through the opening for the two main connectors for the meters.
I'm certain I'll need to make a small notch in the lower edge of the meter face, the white frame which holds the face, the edge of the circuit board and finally the edge of the rectangular opening for the connectors. My plan is to cut the lead and install a three conductor Hitachi style connector just outside the instrument assembly so when I do have to pull the instruments, I don't have to rip out the wiring all the way back to the ECU diagnostic port.
Unfortunately the length of wire supplied won't reach from the face of the speedo, over the river and through the woods, so before I'm done I'm going to have to splice some length of suitable gauge wire between that Hitachi connector and the remainder of the original wire, because as delivered it has the terminals for the Sumitomo connector already crimped on. I thought about buying some terminals from Beaver Power, after all they are only 14¢ ea for the terminal and 9¢ ea for the weather seal, but then they require a $10 minimum order and though I see myself buying a few items from them in the coming years, I'm not ready yet. So butt splices it is for this project!
Comments? brickbats?
Here's the instruments getting their smoke test before final assembly later this week. Everything lights as it should. The FI light stays on only briefly after the ignition is turned on so I wasn't able to catch it and the turn indicators on at the same time.
Here's the "GFYSHIP for Honda GL1800 Goldwing F6B 2013-2017, ST1300 Pan European 08-15, Motorcycle LCD 1-6Level Gear Indicator Digital Meter (Red)" Works fine in the garage. But that "HONDA" logo has to go. Dremel buffing wheel and toothpaste might do the trick.
Something like this location.
There's adequate clearance between the clear cover and the instrument face. I think.
This is where I would notch the instrument white frame and circuit board - yes, I know the circuit board is a sensitive thing to modify, but that's right where the breakaway tabs are for removing the non-rectangular board from its surrounding frame. There should be enough clearance to remove that excess without damaging any traces on the board and still slip the cable through. My goal is not to do anything to the instrument case that could compromise its watertightness, except at worst where the cable emerges beside the existing connectors.
And this is a VERY rough idea of how the cable would route out behind the back of the meter assembly on its way to the opening where the connectors are.
I ordered white LEDs all around except amber for the turn indicators and red for the needles. They arrived Sunday via USPS Priority Mail a day ahead of the scheduled delivery (am I alone in still being taken aback by mail delivery on Sunday? LOVE the USPS )
I also ordered via Amazon a gear indicator that explicitly list the 2008-2015 ST1300. It's a blatant copy of the GIPro except less than one third the price at $44.50 with free shipping. Sadly, they even stole their installation and setup instructions nearly word-for-word. I feel so unclean.
But it works. I temporarily connected it to the ECU port under the seat and performed the set up. It's really weird running the bike up through the gears on the centerstand. Frankly in 45+ years of riding and wrenching I don't ever recall having done this for any reason. Yet there I was with my new ST in the garage running it in 5th gear at about 3,000rpm. What a Farmers Insurance commercial that would make if it rolled off the stand!
So here's where I look to the collective for some opinion, advice and help.
I've looked at the work others had done to mount their gear indicator like mine in the instruments. I've seen one or two who inserted it into the blank space above the ST1300 logo in the right indicator section. I've seen another where the LED module was so big that it displaced the logo entirely. And I've seen countless others that mounted outside the pod in various location on the dash, handlebars, center triple clamp cover, etc...
But I'm not sure I've seen what I have in mind - please point me to posts if I'm wrong.
I intend to place it within the meter assembly case, directly on the face of the speedometer in the empty quadrant in its lower right to the left of the LCD display, almost directly below the MPH label.
I'd secure it with VHB tape to the gauge face and then route the wiring down to the bottom edge of the gauge, pass through to the back and then up and out of the case assembly through the opening for the two main connectors for the meters.
I'm certain I'll need to make a small notch in the lower edge of the meter face, the white frame which holds the face, the edge of the circuit board and finally the edge of the rectangular opening for the connectors. My plan is to cut the lead and install a three conductor Hitachi style connector just outside the instrument assembly so when I do have to pull the instruments, I don't have to rip out the wiring all the way back to the ECU diagnostic port.
Unfortunately the length of wire supplied won't reach from the face of the speedo, over the river and through the woods, so before I'm done I'm going to have to splice some length of suitable gauge wire between that Hitachi connector and the remainder of the original wire, because as delivered it has the terminals for the Sumitomo connector already crimped on. I thought about buying some terminals from Beaver Power, after all they are only 14¢ ea for the terminal and 9¢ ea for the weather seal, but then they require a $10 minimum order and though I see myself buying a few items from them in the coming years, I'm not ready yet. So butt splices it is for this project!
Comments? brickbats?
Here's the instruments getting their smoke test before final assembly later this week. Everything lights as it should. The FI light stays on only briefly after the ignition is turned on so I wasn't able to catch it and the turn indicators on at the same time.
Here's the "GFYSHIP for Honda GL1800 Goldwing F6B 2013-2017, ST1300 Pan European 08-15, Motorcycle LCD 1-6Level Gear Indicator Digital Meter (Red)" Works fine in the garage. But that "HONDA" logo has to go. Dremel buffing wheel and toothpaste might do the trick.
Something like this location.
There's adequate clearance between the clear cover and the instrument face. I think.
This is where I would notch the instrument white frame and circuit board - yes, I know the circuit board is a sensitive thing to modify, but that's right where the breakaway tabs are for removing the non-rectangular board from its surrounding frame. There should be enough clearance to remove that excess without damaging any traces on the board and still slip the cable through. My goal is not to do anything to the instrument case that could compromise its watertightness, except at worst where the cable emerges beside the existing connectors.
And this is a VERY rough idea of how the cable would route out behind the back of the meter assembly on its way to the opening where the connectors are.
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