1983 GL1100A digital dash illumination light bulb

[CDub73]

Hi all. I am looking for some help locating some new light bulbs for my digital dash, but since this is my first post I suppose I should do a bit of an introduction first.

I'm a newish 'winger' from Calgary and I got my first motorbike, a 1982 GL1100i, and mc license back in 2006. Since then I have upgraded to a 1983 GL1100a and added a set of twin boys to the stable, they love helping daddy work on the bike. I think they love the bike more than I do. I've been lurking on this site for a couple years and have found the information here to be invaluable. Thanks for putting together a great site WingAdmin and to everyone else for sharing their knowledge and experience.

Last year I noticed an issue with the illumination bulbs on my digital dash. They both work but the amount of light they put out has dropped dramatically. I have been able to pull them out and see that the bulbs are quite dark inside the glass, almost as if something had burned inside. I have been searching online and a several m/c and lighting shops for a replacement to no avail. The bulbs don't have any markings to identify it, which has compounded my problem. I am hoping that someone out there can tell me what bulb it and point me in the direction to get a replacement. Even better would be an LED replacement.

I have attached pictures of the bulb, the base it fits into and the bulb and base together as a unit.

Thanks in advance for your help.
Craig

[WingAdmin]

I'd go with LED. Something like this:

http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo ... l-led/221/

It has a wide 120 degree dispersion, but I would be surprised if it didn't have a hot spot, so I'd glue a diffuser on top before installing it. A small piece of plastic cut from a milk bottle would work fine. You should be able to pull the wires out the bottom of the existing connector and wire it into your existing setup without too much trouble.

[CDub73]

Thanks WingAdmin. I had looked at those bulbs but I had not considers removing the led from its housing.

[CDub73]

My LEDs arrived today. I was so excited when I opened the box. Finally I am going to have some decent light on the dash. As you can see in my previous post that was what I was working with before.

Here is the only working light buld. It is not bright at all.

The only working light

Here is one of the LEDs.

One of the Replacement LEDs

With a little patience and a sharp utility knife I was able to trim the grey base down to the correct size.

LED trimmed to fit the base

Here is the LED in the original bulb base.

New LED in bulb base

The LEDs are polarized so it only worked when plugged in the proper way. That was easy enough to figure out and then plug the LED and base into the socket. This photo does not do this LED justice. This was probably the most difficult photo to take because the LED was so bright it was difficult looking at it.

LED plugged in and lit up

And now I will have some proper light in the dash. Sorry about the reflection from my camera, I could not figure out how to turn it off. The light diffusers were glowing like the sun. I could hardly see the LCD panel backlighting with these new LEDs working.

Lighting up the dash

I think my next small project will be to replace the remaining incandescent bulbs in the dash with LEDs. I am already working on the marker, signal and break lights.

[thunderwing]

Can we confirm that this link is still for the bulb, and can you confirm what size you ordered 3mm ? 4mm ? 5mm?, also how many are in the dash.....mine are all out.....soooooo I'm enjoying flying with no instrumentation which is liberating in one way, and quite frustrating in quite another!

Also would you prefer the original halogen or LED bulb? Is the LED light overbearing.....I am enjoying the dash lights being out as there are no distractions, just the road, the sound of the motor, and a clear view out the front windshield. My concern is the LED illumination will be distracting as it will be overly bright and not as mother honda intended....would love to hear your feedback and any other modifications that you made beyond what this post details.

Thank you for sharing what you've done. It's very helpful and details like this keep my old girl running.


https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinf ... l-led/221/

[CWJ73]

Hey I sold that bike 5+ years ago. Since my original post was 7 years ago I can not confirm if the link is accurate anymore.

[thunderwing]

The link for bulbs still works after 7 years....that's good, my question is, were the led bulbs on the dash overbearing....would you prefer led or OEM tungsten?

Just curious....nice GL1500 upgrade!!!

[CWJ73]

The link for bulbs still works after 7 years....that's good, my question is, were the led bulbs on the dash overbearing....would you prefer led or OEM tungsten?

Just curious....nice GL1500 upgrade!!!

I absolutely preferred the led bulbs. The original bulbs were very dark, likely due to their age.

Good to hear the link still works.