(Instrument panel) bulbs

[pozo]

As I was looking for quite a while which bulbs I should get to replace my failed bulbs on my instrument panel I thought I'd share my findings here as I couldn't find it using the search. Haynes doesn't state the sizes, only the amount of Watts. I was pretty sure all I needed a bunch of T6.5's as they're commonly in 1.7W, only to find out I needed T10's (which are usually 2W it seems).

The price difference between buying them online or at your local dealer is large enough to buy them online in my opinion (for me they're €1 each at my dealer, and €0.43 online - they can be send via regular mail in a slim cardboard box to save on shipping).

For a German NTV model P ('93) I have confirmed that these are the lights you need. I'll probably add more once I have time to check out my tail light & turn signal lights.

• 3x T10 wedge 1.7W - speedometer, tachometer & temperature indicator. Honda part number 34909-KW3-003* (34909KW3003)
  
• 5x T6.5 wedge 1.7W - headlight, turn, oil, neutral & side stand indicators. Honda part number 34907-KW3-003* (34907KW3003)
  
• 1x T4W, aka BA9S, 4W - The 'side light' (small one under the H4 headlight). Honda part number 34903-388-611* (34903388611)
  
• 1x H4 60/55W Halogen - The headlight, this one is pretty obvious & the only one actually in Haynes. Honda part number 34901-MC7-601* (34901MC7601)
  

* Part numbers are just for reference, and with-and-without dashes to make them easier to find using the search. As long as your bulb is the same standard you can use any you want, this really isn't something where OEM parts are the best. Just be careful when the wattage gets a lot larger (i.e. 4W in stead of 1.7 - this might overload the electrical system) or when it's lower (i.e. turn signals of 10W in stead of 21W - then they might lose their main function of giving enough light to signal anyone .

For the instrument panel bulbs, the optimal diameter is 10mm (T10) and 6.5mm (T6.5), but slightly larger ones should fit as well in the rubber fittings.

My T10's are 23mm long, and the T6.5's are 19mm long and they fit just fine - the length seems to vary a lot for different brands.

The bulb replacement procedure is pretty straightforward/easy, just remember to take a picture or two before you take the instrument panel off the bike so you can check the routing of your wiring.

[groovylee]

you can also get SMD LEDs for the instrument display, will be doing it in the near future.

cheers for all the info pozo

[rj2para (Bisto)]

Great first post pozo.
Welcome to the forum.

Pleased to have you in the club.

Rj

P.S. If you need help loading pictures or adding your nearest town to our members map. Please let me know.

[pozo]

Dec 22, 2011 18:20:40 GMT 1 groovylee said:

you can also get SMD LEDs for the instrument display, will be doing it in the near future.

cheers for all the info pozo

Yup me too, I've ordered a bunch of 12V T6.5 & T10 leds via eBay. White T6.5 ones for the indicators and blue T10 ones for the meters - hoping that it will look cool and not too cheesy And of course hoping that they're bright enough - I think so because their only purpose is to be installed in a car/motorcycle dash but the really cheap ones don't specify how many lumens they have.

I think it should be just plug and play right? They use a lot less power but since they're not driven by a relay I think there should be no issues with that, or do we still have to add some resistors?

@ rj2para (Bisto)
Thanks! I've had email contact with 'De Graaf van Salland' about his guide to fitting a center stand a couple of months back, of course he recommended joining this forum but I didn't get around to it.

[Buzzin (^_^)]

You only need resistors (or a different relay) for the indicators (knipperlichten ).
And that's only to stop them flashing to fast.
Any other led lighting can be fitted without resistors

[pozo]

Ah good to know! Hopefully I'll still be able to test them on the road, but more likely it'll be way too cold for safe driving starting next week...

[pozo]

Dec 22, 2011 18:20:40 GMT 1 groovylee said:

you can also get SMD LEDs for the instrument display, will be doing it in the near future.

cheers for all the info pozo

I just finished installing mine I have mixed results, mostly due to me not being careful about selecting LED's with more or less omnidirectional beams.

I've installed some bright white LED's for all of the indicators, this picture shows the old bulb and the new LED one. The ones I picked are slightly too bright for night time operation, but luckily the 'High Beam' indicator is the only one ever constanly on in normal operation, and that specific blue filter filters the LED light quite a lot.

One thing I only discovered when working on the panel is the way the turn signal warning light works. If you're going left, the Orange wire will be positive voltage and the light blue one will be negative. When you're going right, its the other way around. While this is a quite nice way to reduce wiring by Honda, it did mess around with my LED plans as mine were non-retified - they care which of their contacts gets a positive voltage. If I'd just plug mine in, they'd only work going one way (left or right). Luckily I had some diodes around and some spare LED's, so I snipped the base off of one and used it do solder my own rectifier ;D

The meter lights were replaced with blue ones. When installed these were a lot less bright than I had hoped,they probably focus their light in a way that isn't that efficient in this situation. I might replace them if riding in the dark is too uncomfortable, or I might have to do some messing around with a reflector to focus their beams differently.

Update - One extra thing I forgot to mention: if you're like me and assume that any common wire should be a ground wire, you're wrong Don't forget to check the wiring in your Haynes manual or by testing it with a multimeter. In case of a NTV model P the brown/black wire of (amongst others) the sidestand, neutral and oil pressure warning lights is a common +12V wire. I wrongly assumed them to have a common ground, so I installed my LEDs the wrong way around. Of course I did check that they worked before reinstalling the whole panel on my bike, so fixing it was not so hard.


^ Normal T6.5 & LED replacement

^ Testing the oil light


^ The turn signal warning light modification pt 1: making the rectifier with a T6.5 base


^ The turn signal warning light modification pt 2: finished light which will work both going left & right

^ The turn signal warning light modification pt 3: Turn signal warning light is too long now... Hopefully it will work out, but I might have to fix this in the future.


^ The turn signal warning light modification pt 4: the too long light gets right up to the green filter. This is too bright in the dark, so I fitted a dimming device (which is to say I taped some paper over it )


^ The original meter light and it's replacements. For me the middle one worked best, but still its only just about enough.


^ Comparison between original and LED


^ Installed on the bike, it's pretty little light but for now it seemed to be just enough (on my computer monitor this picture is slightly too dark).


^ All lights in working order

[De Graaf van Salland]

Jan 7, 2012 21:47:52 GMT 1 pozo said:

One thing I only discovered when working on the panel is the way the turn signal warning light works. If you're going left, the Orange wire will be positive voltage and the light blue one will be negative. When you're going right, its the other way around. While this is a quite nice way to reduce wiring by Honda, it did mess around with my LED plans as mine were non-retified - they care which of their contacts gets a positive voltage. If I'd just plug mine in, they'd only work going one way (left or right).

Thanks for this information !

Because I've been thinking about fitting an additional warning light for my indicators.
I sometimes forget to switch off my indicators (ask Buzzin, RJ & Skyhook ), so I want an additional or better light.

I had been thinking of positioning a second warning light (LED) more in my field of vision. I can still do that, but I'd also have to fit some diodes.

GvS

[McF]

Jan 8, 2012 10:47:11 GMT 1 De Graaf van Salland said:

I had been thinking of positioning a second warning light (LED) more in my field of vision.

Surely an audible signal would be better than another light?

[De Graaf van Salland]

Jan 8, 2012 10:53:15 GMT 1 McF said:

Surely an audible signal would be better than another light?

I always ride with earplugs in (I already have a hearing problem; I don't want to make this worse).
So the noise would have to be rather loud for me to be able to hear it.
And I wouldn't want a loud horn beeping all the time I'm waiting for a traffic light

I read on another forum that somebody had added just such an audible device, but added another relays, so that the audible device wouldn't beep as long as his brake light was on.

Now that's a good idea, but a lot of work to make.

GvS

[pozo]

GvS: you might be able to get away with just using a LED like mine, it's a lot brighter than the normal bulb.

Of course you can also hook up an extra light like you say. You can buy pre-rectified LED's so that shouldn't be much of a hassle, or just get a bridge rectifier which also makes life easier

[pozo]

Update on the LEDs: After a test run on a highway with no streetlights, I can confirm that the instrument panel luckily is bright enough with the blue LEDs. You do have to know it by heart as the digits are barely readable, but I guess we all do.

The warning lights I installed are a bit too bright for night time operations... I will have to dim the 'high beam' warning light should I ever use it a lot. That said, I think the lights will be clearly visible now even in direct sunlight, so I'm a lot less likely to ever miss a oil warning light (which I of course hope will never go on while driving, but still

[wheel]

Tnks for the post
Super handy, need to replace some bulbs on mine (otherwise can't see the speedo at night )