entoptic Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Hello everyone, Recently I noticed that at night my LCD screen which is on the right side of the instrument panel doesn't light up. If memory serves me correct it used to glow blueish/green at night. The functionaility of the LCD screen is fine. The display works and the buttons do as well but it stopped glowing at night. What could the cause be? I don't want to go pulling apart my bike unless I am certain I know what the cause is. I am worried that the entire LCD will have to be replaced at a steep cost to me. Any advice is appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer KevCarver Posted January 15, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted January 15, 2014 There are bulbs behind it. It's a bit of a pita, but they are replaceable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
entoptic Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 There are bulbs behind it. It's a bit of a pita, but they are replaceable. Thank you so much. I don't have a manual in front of me and I was fearing that I wouldn't be able to get to whatever was lighting up the LCD. I also just saw another thread about changing the bulbs to LED which I may do since I am going to be in there anyway. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer KevCarver Posted January 15, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted January 15, 2014 Yep, I did full LED's in mine. Used to be a thread on it, but it long ago disappeared. I'm sure there are others out there that list the bulb sizes. Personally, I like the white light for the dials, and blue behind the LCD. The only thing that didn't seem to work was the FI light. It was at half power at all times, unless it was fully lit- like when the kill switch is off or at start up. I guess there is enough juice going through it to light up the LED, but not enough for an incandescent? From what I've read, anything behind a colored lens should be color matched. So, amber for the turn signal indicators, blue for high beam, green for neutral, and red for oil pressure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer mello dude Posted January 15, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted January 15, 2014 Adding a photo for some help... once you strip it down, here's the back of the panel and the bulbs are easy to get at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer zoomzoom Posted January 16, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted January 16, 2014 Thanks again! Just in case you don't have the manual, here is a link to a How To I wrote for removing the upper cowl on the 5th gen. Lots of pictures to make it easier. I replaced all the bulbs in my dash when I did this write up and used Red LED's for the gauges and the LCD screen. The red looked nice and was easy to see at night and not very hard on the eyes either. I did notice, and a few others have as well, that the red LED's don't seem to shine through the face of the tach and speedo gauge very well. I eventually changed out all the bulbs for the tach, speedo and LCD display with blue and LED's and they work really well and are easily visible. I left the incandescent bulbs in place for the idiot lights, though I did replace all the bulbs with new ones. The cost, at least for me, of changing out the idiot lights for LED's was a little too much to be worthwhile. Also, I believe the idiot lights use the mini wedge bulbs and they are a different size than the gauge lights. http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/76765-how-to-upper-cowl-removal-on-5th-gen/?hl=%2Bremoval+%2Bof+%2Bthe+%2Bupper+%2Bcowl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AB-Oz Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 I'd go cool blue LED's, cost next to nothing from fleabay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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