Had a couple of bulbs not working, so I replaced them with LED’s. Just thought I’d share the parts info and results.
Mark
Mark
Dashboard lights
- Thread starter Mark2864
- Start date
Nice touch!
How do you find the brightness at night? I've thought about replacing some of my dash lights with LED's but I don't want my dash to be distractingly bright. Does anybody know of an easy way to incorporate a dimmer into the dash lighting?
Unless the LED state they are dimmable a dimmer won't work. You'll have full brightness until the voltage goes low enough and the LED's just turn off.
OP
OP
This is my first try with the LED’s. The blue looks excellent! They are not too bright at all. I bought some white ones too, but haven’t tried them yet. I didn’t change the bulbs in the idiot lights or turn signals because I didn’t see a need; just changed the back lights for the gauges.
CYYJ
Michael
Do come back and let us know what you think of the brightness level after you have done a long night ride out in rural (unlit) areas.
My big concern about replacing dash lights with LED bulbs on the ST 1100 is excessive brightness - I think Honda got the night light levels of the instruments "perfect" with the OEM incandescent bulbs, hence I don't think there is much to be gained by replacing them with LEDs. FWIW, I've only had one original bulb burn our in 20 years and 150,000+ miles.
Michael
OP
OP
I’ll let you know how they are at night on a longer trip. I rode to work last night, only for about 15 minutes and they looked great. The blue didn’t seem too bright to me so far. White might be too bright; I don’t know… The blue looks good and gives a modern look in my opinion. Of course it’s a personal preference.
I had 3 incandescent bulbs out, so my gauges were pretty dim before I put the LED’s in. I’m at about 119,000+ miles now.
Looks sharp. The even light distribution from LED bulbs is impressive particularly since the 1100 wasn't designed to use LED bulbs.
OP
OP
I think so too. The light comes around the back of the instruments nicely and evenly I think.
ST1100Y
Site Supporter
Not only this, LED's have a narrow, focused beam, so like with using those in taillights, you'll end up with a narrow bright spot surrounded by a vast dim area...
And for night vision I'd rather go with red or green anyway...
Concur on the lifespan of the 1,7W incandescent bulbs (can't recall that I'd ever needed to replaced one of the indicator lamps BTW), and if one really goes I just replace all 4 while already in there, peace of mind for another decade...
I think the indicator bulbs are rated at 14v.