Orange spot on odometer panel.

[Duporth]

I posted last year re an orange blemish on the RHS instrument panel (odometer etc panel) of my friend’s 2004 ST1300 but no action was taken then and the spot remains.

I have read the detailed and fantastic post by SupraSabre, and looked at the accompanying photos and notes. While I have some ST tech abilities I think repairing the orange LED would be stretching my skills outside my safety zone.

Maybe if I just remove the whole meter assembly (the instrument panel - speedo, tach, gauges etc) it could be sent for repair, but who would repair it I wonder? Maybe it would have to go overseas.

Are there any thoughts out there in ST land thanks? I would be grateful.

Cheers, D

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Contact http://bluegauges.com/index2.htm and ask them about it.

 

[Duporth]

Contact http://bluegauges.com/index2.htm and ask them about it.

Thanks Andrew

 

[STRider]

Contact http://bluegauges.com/index2.htm and ask them about it.

An orange blemish is likely a failure of the LCD panel as opposed to the LEDs which backlight it. I would trust that Scott Woodruff at BlueGauges can affect most repairs on our instrument panels, however, other than offering a reversal of the LCD panel's appearance - light digits on dark background or vice versa - he doesn't explicitly list LCD repairs as a service.

I think what's entailed in repairing your friend's bike is shown in this YouTube video. Perhaps BlueGauges can do this, but you'll have to ask.

Good luck!

 

[Duporth]

An orange blemish is likely a failure of the LCD panel as opposed to the LEDs which backlight it. I would trust that Scott Woodruff at BlueGauges can affect most repairs on our instrument panels, however, other than offering a reversal of the LCD panel's appearance - light digits on dark background or vice versa - he doesn't explicitly list LCD repairs as a service.

I think what's entailed in repairing your friends bike is shown in this YouTube video. Perhaps BlueGauges can do this, but you'll have to ask.

Good luck!

Thank you STRider for your helpful advice. I now have a few contacts to follow up with.
D

 

[SMSW]

You might also consider looking online (ebay? do you have ebay in Australia?) for a used instrument panel. I've posted two recycling yards below. I know they are a few furlongs from you (both in Ohio, not too far from me) but there must be some down under.
Greentown Motorcycle Salvage, 2365 State Street, Uniontown, OH 44685
330 499-9768
Pinwall Cycle Parts, 635 3rd Street NW, Massillon, OH 44647
330 879-9910

 

[STRider]

I was thinking ebay too, @SMSW . The repair done in the YT video would be much cheaper than most any instrument panel I found on ebay US last night. But based on @Duporth 's original message, it might go beyond his comfort level for the repair.

I've had mine apart and wouldn't hesitate to give it a try faced with a much more costly alternative. At worst, if my own attempt failed I could still fall back to cannibalizing a donor instrument panel with a functional LCD. I don't know what Australian vehicle laws require, but in the US you would either need to keep the original odometer OR set a new instrument panel to the same mileage as the original. That's another service that BlueGauges.com offers should it come to that.

"Can you copy the mileage out of a broken or damaged cluster?​

​

In most cases we can extract the mileage from your gauges even if they don't power up or if the display is broken or damaged. Simply send in the gauges you would like to have copied along with the gauges you would like to have corrected. No paperwork or documentation is required for this service."​

Bluegauges.com - Mileage Correction

www.bluegauges.com

 

[SupraSabre]

And there WAS a used gauge on eBay for $23 plus shipping. But since I already have a collection of used gauges, I didn't bother buying it. Someone did.

If you have a donor panel, swapping out the LCD so you can maintain your mileage would make the most sense.

 

[Duporth]

Thanks everyone.
Just to help me understand more clearly; what is it that has actually failed or is damaged that produces the orange spot/blemish? Is it a film, a lense, or an electronic element?
D

 

[STRider]

Thanks everyone.
Just to help me understand more clearly; what is it that has actually failed or is damaged that produces the orange spot/blemish? Is it a film, a lense, or an electronic element?
D

The repair shown in the YT video I shared solves the problem by replacing the polarizing film over the LCD panel of your information display of the instrument panel.

Why it fails, I'm unsure. Exposure to excessive heat, sunlight, moisture... all possible contributors.

Polarizing material act like venetian blinds for light. The polarizing film and the LCD panel are at right angles to one another and block light from LED backlights from passing through. The display is dark. When a segment of a digit or other graphic has a voltage applied to it, it changes its orientation to match that of the polarizing film and allows light to pass through in that area and with the right collection of segments activated you see a number or other information displayed.



But if the polarizing film is damaged then it can't block the backlight into the pattern of the digits made by the LCD, and all the light comes through in the form of the the orange splotch.

Here's a test. Find some polarized sunglasses and look through them at the display. Rotate them at least ninety degrees one way or the other and see if the digits appear on the display. If they do then it's the polarizing film that's bad and needs replacement. If they don't appear, or the display doesn’t change in appearance, then it's possibly the LCD panel that failed.

No lenses involved. The LCD panel is an electronic element that connects to the circuit board of the instrument panel. The polarizing film is just that, a thin film which you can apply yourself after the old one is removed as shown in that video.

If you see orange light in that area without any local dark spots, then your LEDs are fine and don't need replacement to correct this problem. You might want to do that to change their brightness or color, but not to fix this.

 

[Duporth]

The repair shown in the YT video I shared solves the problem by replacing the polarizing film over the LCD panel of your information display of the instrument panel.

Why it fails, I'm unsure. Exposure to excessive heat, sunlight, moisture... all possible contributors.

Polarizing material act like venetian blinds for light. The polarizing film and the LCD panel are at right angles to one another and block light from LED backlights from passing through. The display is dark. When a segment of a digit or other graphic has a voltage applied to it, it changes its orientation to match that of the polarizing film and allows light to pass through in that area and with the right collection of segments activated you see a number or other information displayed.



But if the polarizing film is damaged then it can't block the backlight into the pattern of the digits made by the LCD, and all the light comes through in the form of the the orange splotch.

Here's a test. Find some polarized sunglasses and look through them at the display. Rotate them at least ninety degrees one way or the other and see if the digits appear on the display. If they do then it's the polarizing film that's bad and needs replacement. If they don't appear, or the display doesn’t change in appearance, then it's possibly the LCD panel that failed.

No lenses involved. The LCD panel is an electronic element that connects to the circuit board of the instrument panel. The polarizing film is just that, a thin film which you can apply yourself after the old one is removed as shown in that video.

If you see orange light in that area without any local dark spots, then your LEDs are fine and don't need replacement to correct this problem. You might want to do that to change their brightness or color, but not to fix this.

STRider, thank you very much for this information. It gives a terrific explanation of the problem. I did view the YT video thanks. Having read your additional info I will view the video again.
At this stage I think fixing the problem is beyond my tech abilities though and it would take much more time for me to learn how to carry out the repair confidently for my friend, if I could.
I wrote to Scott at Bluegauges today to see if he can make the repair.
Thank you STRider for helping me. I now have a clearer understanding of the cause and what is needed.
D

 

[STRider]

You're quite welcome @Duporth

Good luck with the repair.