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Lock down boredom


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So.... Being on this whole social isolation thing got me going a bit stir crazy and I ended up doing a thing.... I ripped apart my gauges and started playing with the LEDs and swapping over to white from the dated amber... I'm not sure if I want to go as far as flipping the polarized sticker to invert the colours similar to the 8th Gen.. But it is tempting. 

 

Hopefully get this all finished up tomorrow! 

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Nice job m8 the white looks so much better, hope it's not too bright on the eyes.

I agree with you regards the lockdown, stay at home stuff. I'm spending way too much time on this website!!

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21 minutes ago, KevCarver said:

Looking good! Never really liked the look of the stock 6th Gen gauge lighting anytime I've been on one.

Thanks! Yeah I really don't understand why they chose to go with the amber... Maybe it was cool back in 2001, but it's a shame they didn't decide to update it as the years went on. 

 

8 hours ago, Grum said:

Nice job m8. I agree with you regards the lockdown, stay at home stuff. I'm spending way too much time on this website!!

Netflix and reading VFRD has been my life for far too long. I need out! 🧟‍♂️

 

Maybe I can get some suggestions. Should I keep them as the white background with black text, or invert it like the 8th Gen... Have the black background with the white text? Once I try to invert the colours there is no going back lol

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Well, after hours of huffing flux fumes, a mild heart attack several more hours of troubleshooting and diagnosing. She's all done! 

 

I decided not to flip around the polarizing films after my brief panic attack. I didn't think it was worth the extra stress 

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A thing of beauty. The white looks great, job well done. The change to the Tacho face makes a big difference to. Or is the Tacho lighting different once engine is running? Just can't remember how the Tacho lighting was on my 6gens.

Ah yes looking at your PCB I can see two inner LEDs and three outer LEDs for the Tacho, assume the outer illuminates with engine running?

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3 hours ago, Grum said:

A thing of beauty. The white looks great, job well done. The change to the Tacho face makes a big difference to. Or is the Tacho lighting different once engine is running? Just can't remember how the Tacho lighting was on my 6gens.

Ah yes looking at your PCB I can see two inner LEDs and three outer LEDs for the Tacho, assume the outer illuminates with engine running?

Thanks! I'm pleased with the outcome. The tach face is still stock. So I changed the 3 outer LEDs from red to white and left the two inner LEDs red for the needle. Putting in the white LEDs started to turn the red lines this really faded out pink, so I took a red plastic file folder from the dollar store and cut out a ring to put behind the red lines to make the red more red again. 

 

The first picture is out in the daylight and the second is with the garage door closed to make it dark. 

 

It would have been neat if I could have got the silver ring to glow a bit as well but wasn't quite possible. 

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1 hour ago, TriumphTraitor said:

Thanks! I'm pleased with the outcome. The tach face is still stock. So I changed the 3 outer LEDs from red to white and left the two inner LEDs red for the needle. Putting in the white LEDs started to turn the red lines this really faded out pink, so I took a red plastic file folder from the dollar store and cut out a ring to put behind the red lines to make the red more red again. 

 

The first picture is out in the daylight and the second is with the garage door closed to make it dark. 

 

It would have been neat if I could have got the silver ring to glow a bit as well but wasn't quite possible. 

Looks great.  I'm curious how the LCD pods are mounted and connect to the circuit board.  Maybe with screws and the connection with the row of pins across the bottom?   Also, what LED's were used and where did you source them? 

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3 hours ago, TriumphTraitor said:

Thanks! I'm pleased with the outcome. The tach face is still stock. So I changed the 3 outer LEDs from red to white and left the two inner LEDs red for the needle. Putting in the white LEDs started to turn the red lines this really faded out pink, so I took a red plastic file folder from the dollar store and cut out a ring to put behind the red lines to make the red more red again. 

 

The first picture is out in the daylight and the second is with the garage door closed to make it dark. 

 

It would have been neat if I could have got the silver ring to glow a bit as well but wasn't quite possible. 

Glad you took the time and effort to getting the Tacho right, it looks Excellent. You're a brave man diving into the Instrument Panel, without having your skills and being very carefull, things could easily go pear shaped.

Nice lot of photos - before, during and after.

 

Amazing to see you've already done an 8,000k test run!!:fing02:

 

Cheers:beer:

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Very Nice Job!  I have a couple of negative display digital or analog/digital watches but I've always preferred the standard LCD colors (black on white background) and I would rather have those on my 8th gen too!

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Nice work there TT.

 

Your mention of the 8th Gen got me thinking so I popped out to the garage and took a pic of my 2018 Crossrunner dash.

 

The colours in the photo aren't the same as they are to the naked eye; the background is far darker for real and the figures and a bit more sandy-coloured rather than white-ish.

 

It will be interesting to see if you think your new dash is more visible in direct sunlight as the one thing I have noticed on the Crossie is you can read the dash in all conditions really well, something not true on the previous models of VFR800 I've owned.

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I must give credit where credit is due. @VFRUNNER did a nice write up on how he did his swap. I used this as guidance and to calm my nerves!

8 hours ago, Cogswell said:

Looks great.  I'm curious how the LCD pods are mounted and connect to the circuit board.  Maybe with screws and the connection with the row of pins across the bottom?   Also, what LED's were used and where did you source them? 

The LCD displays are soldered directly to the main PCB with a row of pins. Each LCD is secured into a clear light optic housing with one way snaps. That clear housing is then screwed to the PCB with four screws. Unsoldering all of the pins was beyond tedious, each gauge took me almost an hour to remove! I should have taken more detailed pictures but hindsight is always 20/20.... I bought a set of LCC-2 3528 1210 SMD LEDS from ebay they were relatively cheap. 30 LEDS cost me like $11CAD with shipping.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/ULTRA-BRIGHT-PLCC-2-3528-1210-SMD-LEDS-SURFACE-MOUNT-SMT-1-100-PCS-PLCC2/310314933505?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=610764087015&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

8 hours ago, Grum said:

You're a brave man diving into the Instrument Panel, without having your skills and being very carefull, things could easily go pear shaped.

When I installed the LCD panels back and did a quick test, the speedo display was missing most of the segments (no temp display no KM/h display) and I just about died when I saw that thinking "great, I just destroyed a very expensive part..."

Not having a schematic of the PCB layout I really started to panic and started tracing leads and troubleshooting. Luckily I found a solder trace that I missed re-soldering up that controlled one of the ground pins on the display - Only way to learn is by doing! even if there is a prospect of very expensive failure 😛

6 hours ago, Skids said:

It will be interesting to see if you think your new dash is more visible in direct sunlight as the one thing I have noticed on the Crossie is you can read the dash in all conditions really well, something not true on the previous models of VFR800 I've owned.

I really do like the look of the inverted colours. My street Triple had the Black text white background display and it was easy to read  in all conditions. So I'm pretty hopeful the same could be said with this upgrade too.

 Triumph Street Triple R 675 2013-> Gauge / Speedometer KMH Non ABS ...

Once the Snow and rain stops here I can't wait to get out for a ride and test it out.

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