Hi Folks,
The talk about speedo repairs recently made me decide to open mine up do
some preventative maintenance and to also change the instrument cluster illumination
lamps from filament bulbs to LED’s using the kit from Drake Smith at http://smithduck3.home.comcast.net/~smithduck3/kbikeparts/ledupgrade.htm

As my speedo has intermittently suffered from mist
condensation on the inside of the glass I wanted to take a look at the reasons for that and
any possible cures.

I ordered the LED kit a week or so ago from Drake in the US and it turned up here
in New Zealand very promptly with excellent feedback from Drake about where we
were in the process of order and shipping. Payment was by PayPal so that was
all painless as well. As Drake also has a good selection of second hand spare parts for
K bikes it is worth taking a look at his site for those items alone.

Now to the instrument cluster. In the case of the K100 RS 4 Valve, getting the
instrument cluster off the bike is fairly easy, calling only for a 5 mm Allen
key for the removal of the unit and a 3 mm Allen key for releasing the
electrical connector. I have big hands and the removal of the cluster can be
done without taking any of the fairing off just by moving the bars from lock to
lock and reaching underneath. It helps if one also removes the screws fastening the “crash pad”
which surrounds the ignition switch lock barrel first and then pushing that away as that gives a little
more manoeuvring room and helps avoid accidentally scuffing the inside of the
fairing windscreen. The crash pad is held by two 5mm Allen headed screws which
are screwed into the top of the fork yoke close to the petrol tank.

The other thing that makes a HUGE difference to the ease of
carrying out this project is to use ball ended Allen keys because one then has
a wide range of angles one can work at, using fixed non ball ended keys would I
suspect be a real pain. Do yourself a favour and get a set for use on all Allen
head bolts on the bike, you will not regret it!

To remove the cluster put the bike on the centre stand and after releasing and shifting the crash pad put the bars onto full
lock and reach in to the fairing to undo the two 5 mm Allen head screws underneath
the cluster on that side. Putting the handlebars on opposite full lock facilitates removal of the last two 5mm fixing screws. These secure the instrument cluster into the top of the forks and
also seat the pod into a cast mounting plate which surrounds the rear of the
pod. Each 5mm Allen screw has a thin washer and the screws and washers are
really easy to drop into the fairing as I found out the hard way.

Having got the four screws out I then undid the 3mm Allen socket
in the cable loom. As one unscrews this it drives the plug and socket almost fully
apart as one undoes the screw, enabling one to then pull it off fairly easily.
One can then lift out the instrument cluster and take it to where one can sit
down at a table and work on it in clean conditions. It possibly would be easier to disconnect the
connector before taking out the 4 by 5mm Allen screws, I did not do that so
cannot say for sure which order would be best. One thing about the 3 mm
connector is that it does not look like an Allen head socket but it is.

Having carried the unit to somewhere one can sit and work, lay
the unit face down on something like an old towel to prevent scratches to the
face and then remove the 9 Phillips screws which hold the instrument pod closed,
that enables one to separate the back from the main body by pulling them apart.
Pull straight up not at an angle because the pins for the socket on the cable
loom all pass through the base.

I suggest it is worth having a replacement O-ring gasket to
hand as these are quite cheap and still available from BMW. This is because
when one separates the two units the O-ring is likely to move out of position
and replacing it in exactly the same place would be hard. On mine it is obvious
by the different amounts of squash which have become set in the O-ring that the
gap differs all the way around so a new gasket was imperative for mine.

Looking at the base of the instrument cluster to my mind reveals a number of design
faults with regard to water resistance. Firstly the O-ring is made of a type of
high density foam which in my experience can wick moisture through the body of
the O-ring seal and thereby into the inside of the pod. Secondly the base
fixings of the instrument pod are not sealed, as you will see when you open it
and look at the inside of the base where two metal plates form the support
which holds the cluster to the top of the forks. These two plates each have
areas where moisture can get in from the outside to the inside. I chose to seal
these using a neutral cure silicone gasket material and Loctite instant gasket
on the threads. Fortunately my cluster has the two Gore-Tex breathers on the
rear so I left those alone as they looked spotless.

After fitting the LED’s it is worth checking that all
connections are OK and that the lighting is working. This can be done by
temporarily fitting the instrument pod cover and pushing the cable loom and
connector down out of the fairing to a position above the front mudguard and then
screwing it onto the back of the pod where in that position it is easy to
reach. Having verified all is working correctly, it is easy to disconnect the
wiring loom and return to the table and fit the base permanently to the body of
the cluster using the 9 screws

When I re-assembled the unit I sealed each of the 9 screw
heads with a dab of Tef-Gel made by http://www.tef-gel.com/index.html
which permanently remains as a stiff grease, note I did not use their similar
sounding but different Tuf-Gel which is a self curing product. I used the Tef-Gel on the four mounting
screws as well to prevent condensation wicking up their threads.

I came across the Tef-Gel at my local marine engineering
supplies store near where I work, as the streets surrounding our offices are a
major area for the marine industry. It is intended to prevent differential
metal corrosion and water penetration of fasteners so it looked like just the
thing for my job, since buying it I have also used it on a lot of other screw
fastenings on the bike.

I chose to also seal the instrument case gasket seam with a
strip of 3M black adhesive tape right around the body covering the gasket with a good overlap so as
to seal that against the water wicking issue, once in place it is nigh on
invisible so it is well worth doing.

The internal instrument pod wiring system chosen by Moto
Meter, the manufacturers of the cluster, uses flexible printed circuit wiring
looms which are then folded over the edge of each light hole so the bulb holder
contacts can press directly against a tab of the printed circuit wiring. NOT a
very durable system but the replacement of bulbs is infrequent and with Drake’s
LED’s hopefully it will never be needed again. Each connection in the
instrument cluster was treated thoroughly with DeoxIT as were all accessible
plugs and sockets inside the housing including the main exterior one at the
rear which connects the instrument pod to the chassis loom.

The actual installation of the LED bulbs is well covered in
Drake’s instructions so I shall not repeat them here except to say he comments
that it is important to ensure when removing and replacing the bulb holders
that the contacts formed by the printed circuit wiring do not get flipped out
of position when pulling the bulb holders out. That happened on one of mine and
thanks to Drake I spotted it had happened before replacing the holder. The same warning would still apply even if one
were simply putting in new replacement filament lamps instead of LED’s.

As LED’s are polarity sensitive they will only work one way
round and Drake marks them with a spot of silver paint and notes which way
round to put them in his instructions. It is important to note that the LED’s
go one way round at the top of the instrument and the other way round at the
bottom. One needs to pay close attention to that as it could be easy to skim
read the instructions which are completely specific about which way round to
put them and then put the LED’s all in the same way round. All that will happen
is any LED’s the wrong way round will not light until they are removed and
replaced in the correct polarity direction.

So all in all a worthwhile job done plus the opportunity to
seal the housing and DeoxIT the connections inside to hopefully avoid the connection
gremlins. Drake’s kit makes the night lighting slightly brighter than standard
but I found that is not a problem even in country areas without street lights and
the very pure green colour is excellent. Drake comments he experimented with
different colours before settling on staying with the standard BMW green
colour, it is an excellent kit and I found Drake was a great guy to do business
with.

Once assembled I found I still got condensation and then realised the only place
I had not sealed was the odometer reset shaft so I opened up the cluster again
and gave that shaft a good dose of Tef-Gel and sealed it up. Result all misting cured


K-BIKE January 2009

Gee that is fairly dear for a set of Globes that are less than $1 each. You might like to look at these globes here
http://www.superbrightleds.com/specs/bulb_specs.htm

The WLED-x come in a number of colours (white,red,amber,green,blue,ultraviolet)and have a light spread of 90/120 degrees and can be used in the instrument cluster. When I got mine they were polarity sensitive so had to work out which side was the positive side on the circuit board but they are now not so go in either way and are really expensive too - $0.79 each
Just to show the light dispersion you can seen the angle of light on the deflector wall beside these globes in the pic I took of my instrument unit while repairing the odometer. I originally made a couple of home made globes which I had to put 2 globes on just so I could angle them to deflect up the walls. You can see that one in bottom left corner

I notice that the green globes generate more luminescence (350) to the blue ones I am using (270) but I am quite happy with the blue at night which is more than bright enough

Hi, No question you can save some money by going the DIY route. What Drake has done is source a kit which does what it says it will and back that with instructions and support if you need to phone him up.

It is a pain to get the cluster off and open it up, doing it once & do it right was the option I chose and I absolutley see your point of view. I have dealt with Superbright LEDs for many years and have found the quality a little variable. For example of the LED festoon lamps I have bought from them over the years, an unaceptable number have failed due to poor manufacturing quality, I no longer purchase from them, YMMV.
Regards,
K-BIKE

Just found a new source of higher quality LED's. Will let you know how it works out when I get them...


http://www.autolumination.com/74.htm

OG

Also found these folks who sell bulbs made in US.

http://www.dav-electronics.com/led-194-1.htm

OG

Now that I have my instrument cluster completely torn down (that sounds worse than it is!) I'm all hot 'n' bothered about getting LEDs to light up gauges on the darkest of nights, just because. The K bike bloke in Seattle, www.kbikeparts.com/ledupgrade.htm , has the simplest fix, there are heaps on eBay but of dubious quality, and I'm disappointed that Jaycar don't have much in their inch thick catalogue. I'm not rubbing my hands together at the selection. Maybe K bike parts Seattle it is!

hey twb ...i think og is onto something .....take a look at his resto page, he has received a couple of different types of led "light projection" globe replacements ...im thinking the usually high intensity (but sadly verry directional ) may not be the best option ....im thinking the type he has which gives a wider luminescence diffraction may work well

in the past i have also installed leds from our friends at jaycar ...but the "light bounce" from highly directional leds is not all good for intensity from behind the meters ....i had thought of painting the "hot zones" of the directional leds to promote more light bounce/fill ....but if there is a easier option for diffraction ...it would be worth investigating huh ?

its really hard to replicate the old "filament" type globe for light fill .

I spotted his link, yeah, and will have to have a better read of the available information. Every single one of the 'normal' globes in there now work just fine and produce the requisite light for stealthy moto night vision. I'm just dreaming since the pod's open and ready. You know how it is.

lol i got you ....even just replacing the globes for new ones ....really does make a difference ....but mate, can i warn you in advance dont use "narva" globes ......they suck ....not only do they have low quality connections they dont last anywhere near what i would expect ....im pretty confident that the low grade inert gasses in the envelope sure do quicken up the failure rate

besides that i think they run the fillaments at 110 % ....not like our own home grown "auslux" globes ....designed to last

Hi K-Bike, I have installed this kit in K75C too.
I agree, it is a huge improvement and it the end of the fogging.
Question, as we are both in NZ, where did you get Deoxit from?
Cheers
Stephen

I'll be interested in the answer to this as well k75c

From the jaycar.com.au website:

for k75c-nz:
Jaycar Electronics
409 Colombo Street
Corner of Wordsworth Street 8023
Ph: 03 379 1662

for geordnz:
try Boonen Electronics
Gate PA Shopping Centre
Cameron Road
Phone:07 579 4861

Deoxit is your friend...repeat after me. I just used both the cleaner and the Gold sealant (first time) on the instrument cluster multi pins and they came up shiny and like new. Tomorrow arvo I'm gunna walk round the bike cleaning every single connector on it just for sumpin to do. Deoxit is your friend.

Have a read of K Bike's above excellent tutorial on adding LEDS to his instruments and consider what he did to keep the moisture out. I used a bit of sticky-sealy product on the exposed threads at the back of the mount, and under the mount, replaced the sealing ring with the proper O-ring shaped one (they flatten over time) and taped up round the entire housing where the seam of the two main instrument cluster halves is. It's hidden under the mounting bracket on early Ks and perhaps on later models too. My bike doesn't have the factory's Goretex panty liner upgrade, so keeping moisture out, rather than wicking up what water might get in seemed more important at the time.

Drake's full LED kit arrived this morning. It took three weeks (not due to anything he did) from the US to OZ. I have a theory that with the Aussie dollar pushing well above parity with the Greenback and the subsequent mass amount of overseas purchases that OZ customs can't keep up scanning and investigating the large amount of parcels coming in. Anyway, here it is, with a clear, well-written instruction sheet (as K Bike previously stated) and the LEDs marked for colour, location and relatively easy installation in their appropriate slots. If it wasn't bucketing with rain and high winds out there I'd whiz the cluster off and have a go at it tonight, nothing worth watching on the tele, as usual.

nice stuff twb ....thanks for the pics .. looks the real deal

I purchased Drake's kit earlier this year and never received those instructions. He must have improved his delivery package recently; They look very complete.

Charlie was over yesterday and we spent some time having a good look at the K1100 TBs, cleaning them with carby cleaner and a small toothbrush, and we've worked out the difference between TPS mounts. The switch contact area is the same between them but the K100 TPS mount has a narrower spread than the later, Motronic TPS of the K1100 series. It is a matter of unscrewing and then swapping the steel TPS mount from the K100 TBs to the K1100 mounting frame after removing a small amount of aluminium from the later TB's frame. I'll take pictures as I go. But onto the subject at hand...

I've ripped into the gauges and finally found the time to get the LEDs into my instrument cluster last night whilst simultaneously watching MotoGP on the tele. The kit from K-Bike Parts Seattle goes in very easily with the provided instructions. Their light output in the dark of my front porch with the light off seems soft and more muted but somehow clearer too. It reminded of watching an old timey chick flick when the focus on the female subject is blurred to make her somehow more dreamy and desirable...and man he do get lonely at the kitchen table on a Sunday night with a pile of motorbike parts strewn round the place...I look forward to giving them a go some dark and stormy night on a backroad ride. The fuel and water temp gauges with the new LEDs definitely come up brighter than when using 'ordinary' bulbs.

One of the light openings in the centre housing of the main gauges must somehow have been melted and widened slightly because I cannot get the bulb holder for the high beam to fit solidly without it wriggling about once it's pressed in. I had to take the back cover off a second time to have a good squiz at the culprit. I've bent the metal contact tabs out with no luck and tried other holders in the same slot with the same result. The poor fit leads to lack of 12v contact and an irregular (or none at all) high beam indicator. I'm going to procure some thin, double sided tape and cut small pieces to sit under the plastic-coated foil wiring contacts against the white plastic holder which should 'take up' the space and provide a nice fit.

The quality and colours of these LEDs, the fact that they're marked for polarity which eases installation, definitely make it a quality kit which I'd highly recommend to anyone considering making the switch from incandescent bulbs to LED. Now, If only it would stop bucketing down outside long enough to make a run for the shed.

Yep, some thin, double-sided tape cut and stuck to the back of the triangle-shaped copper contact worked, the instruments are back together and on the bike, and we're laughing!

Drawbacks: The BMU warning light flickers intermittently at any time and Drake mentions this in his instruction sheet. Also, the charging light, which is a vital part of the actual alternator's ability to charge, does not go out unless you give the throttle a mighty twist or just move on down the road and eventually it goes out. LEDs don't draw enough current and all it takes is rpms to make the LED go out. I checked the output at the battery and for sure it isn't charging until that light goes out then it returns to normal. I can live with that, but I don't like the bloody red warning light flickering randomly as I motor down the road. In the daytime it's be a minor nuisance but at night it'd be dangerously distracting. I can go ten minutes with nothing then without using the brakes, as Drake suggest is the problem, the light flickers again.

This is from the instruction sheet.

"At night, you might notice a very slight flicker of the bulb monitor (a.k.a. triangle) light when releasing the brakes. This is because the BMU is constantly monitoring your braking circuitry and sends a quick voltage spike through the system when the brake switches are used. With old filament bulbs this voltage spike was too fast to illuminate the bulb. Since LEDs require very little current and light faster than filament bulbs, a slight flicker occurs. This is normal."

This random flicker shouldn't be normal. Before I consider whacking the normal bulb back into that slot I'm posing the question to my electronic trickery mates about how to put a diode inline or some such to fix this problem. What might I have done? Does any one have a good idea about how to remedy this?

yeah shouldnt be a problem twb ...whats needed is a little more current draw .....basically the leds only draw about 20 -30 milli amps and what we have replaced draws somewhere about 5 watts (12 volts / 5 watts = around 250- 400 milli amps (depending on voltage ))



so maybe we can put some more load on that part of the circuit ...especially the "charge" circuitry...now heres the tricky bit ...resistors ...or for want of a better word in context here "load " we need to draw about 3 watts or so more power ... so a 33 ohm resistor (common value ) would draw about 2.7 watts (just as a suggestion, lower would be better =27 ohms = more current = about 3.3 watts )



but honestly putting a 3 - 5watt resistor in the housing aint gunna look good ....they are about 15 mm long x 8mm x 8mm ....hmm ok heres the solution ,...it realy doesnt matter where the load sits ..sooo lets go back down the feed cables to where it will be un-noticed maybe under the tank ? sounds good to me ...



now the next problem ...those types of resistors are solid tinned copper ...these things break with age and vibration ...but ...there are solid body resistors made for frame mounting (massivly over ratted for this application but anyhow ....convienient ) what we do is buy a 20 watt aluminium cased resistor to which we solder wires and place them in parallel with the circuit (bit of heatshrink and wire ...no biggie ) and this in fact will solve the issue ....(maybe we can install the diode as recomended in some tech bulletins for the charge indicator )



BUT ...the best advice to remove any of these issues is to reinstall the original globes by far is the easyiest solution .....



but the other solution is easy for a bloke with "the knowledge "

your call !!!



btw... did the "clock" at night illumination improve ?

OK, I can digest some of that. The charging circuitry I'm not fussed about at all since I know it's charging once she revs a bit, it's just switching off the light at a higher rpm, just like an old Airhead, with which I'm totally familiar. It's the BMU warning light that's giving me the shits. Also, the clock is not as bright as the 4watt white LED I fitted a few months ago. That one's going back in soon. As with any 'upgrade' one has to take the sour with the sweet, but I really like the muted green back-lighting of the LEDs at night.

ok thats good ....to smooth out the spikes to the bmu ....erm led we need to slow up the rate of change arriving at the bulb ...erm led ...what we could use here is a mini voltage storage device ...what we call a capacitor ...just like a battery but way smaller .



we dont want to stop all change ...just some, so i guess a 100uF 25 volt (dont wanna under rate it ) "cap " would do ...this would asborb the changes and release voltage as required by the led to sort of smooth out the change in voltages .....im most cases ...this will raise the average voltage applied to the led (but not ever higher than the applied voltage in the whole deal ) ....so that the led dont light up on transients ....sound good ?

You testing me? Ha ha. Yeah, sounds good. Steer me to where I can find this capacitor, or do you have some spares in your bag of tricks, Felix?

lol always ....pick a number ...giggles ...about 20 cents from any good jaycar store...... i got a truckload in my bag of tricks ... which i hope to make mobile ...on the bike when i can get those "city panieers" up here ..

I worked out the on/off pulsing of the BMU warning light whilst riding today. That little parking globe out front above the headlight is flashing intermittently. The connector or the globe is corroded or loose. The BMU is doing its job. Pity it first occurred the same time as fitting the new-to-me (used) BMU! It threw me until I sorted it. I've gotten used to the charge indicator light staying on until I rev above about 2000 RPM too. A quick stab of the throttle and she's dimmed.

That's weird!
Everywhere I've read about the BMU says that it only senses the headlight, tail light and stop light and not the front park light.

I'll have to have a squiz at the wiring diagrams again.

Wait, you've forgotten that these little black secret boxes run on FM....

F*ck#ng Mag*c.

It does not sense the headlight I think you are supposed to notice if that is out but it does sense the park light.

The tail and park is feed from the same fuse, but the park is connected to that circuit before it enters the BMU.

Inge K.

For the last 6 years, I was trying to get the fog out of the instrument cluster. I had tried many times but without success. The other problem was that once in a while I had to give a gentle tap to the speedo in order to have it working.

This winter, I replaced the bulbs with LEDs, cleaned every internal contact with Deoxit, AND followed K-Bike recommendation to seal the odometer reset shaft. I also sealed every cluster's mounting screws with dum dum strip caulk.
Today I left for the first ride of the season when the temperature was only 1 degree, and after a 6 hours ride, I couldn't see any trace of condensation.
I consider it a success, and I mostly attribute it to the sealing of the reset button. Not having Tef-Gel on hand(recommended by K-BIKE), I coated the whole reset mechanism with Dialectric grease which is a water repellent (there is not any electrical contact there. This is only mechanical). My Dialectric grease is very thick and sticky.

My next option was to install a computer fan as Sidecar Paul did (very professional looking job) but I don't think this is needed anymore.

By the way, I use the dum dum strip caulk for a other applications:
As an exemple, I have a strip between the fairing and the glove boxes to absorb the vibrations.
My brother' s mirror was a bit loose, and always moved on it's own. A small piece of Dum Dum fixed the problem.

Here is the type of LEDs lights that I installed (It was only $11 with shipping for 10 of them and I have 5 spare ones). I have not tried it at night time yet.

Bulbs in picture is White but did you use green ones CF?

88KE wrote:Bulbs in picture is White but did you use green ones CF?

Nop! They are white but if needed I will put a green condom on them.

Oh, by the way I am looking outside and it's snowing now. I came back on time
The first ride when you get re-acquainted with your bike is always a joy.

Hello, there is very simple way to cure mist (humidity) in instruments. Just drill a little hole at the lowest part of instrument box. I did it two years ago. Succesfully 100 percent

---

I'm adding a before/after post to this thread so people can see a little better what difference LED's make. (Camera: I-phone 4.0)

The bulbs behind the tachometer and clock on my '85 RT were out, so maintenance was needed. Ordered a set of LED's from Drake and installed per instructions.

Some observations:

1) The 12-pin connectors (clear and green) on the back of the cluster are difficult to remove, but there's a small detent on the inner side of each connector where a long thin-bladed screw driver can be inserted to wedge the connector away from its base.

2) Only necessary to remove seven (7) screws around the edge as the two (2) screws in the center are what hold the base plate screw mounts. Upon removing all nine screws I was surprised to find the screw mounts laying in the instrument cluster.

3) As each bulb was pulled I swabbed out the lenses using Isopropyl Alchol, removing dust and debris that accumulated over the years. Nothing worse than puting in LED's only to reveal junk on the lens.

4) Before assembling, cleaned the back plate with Isopropyl Alcohol, then used dust-off to blow out the instrument cluster from the back to remove assembly dust and particles. Some fine particles remained on the instrument glass, but nothing that necessitated further disassembly.

5) Perhaps by accident my kit contained an extra Amber LED. After reading a prior post about the bulb monitoring unit I decided to replace the Red LED with Amber. Now bulb monitoring indicator appears more orange than red, which is a bit less alarming.

6) Evidently the original owner had dealer work on this instrument cluster following the service advisories on fogging. I found it sealed around the edges with electric tape and a small hole drilled in the bottom. The only other thing I did was to cover gaps in the trip odometer wheel with dielectric grease.

As one can see the green LED's make a noticeable difference, as well the various indicators are much brighter.

-end

talk about "bright as", you should have warned us before posting, near blinded me.
just wondering if you really need them that bright, especially at night?
Didn't take you long to do it ,excellent effort.
by the way , what earth time is that ?

lol grover ...that might be 6 minutes after repowering ?\

nice job aj ....

groverK wrote:. . . just wondering if you really need them that bright, especially at night?
Didn't take you long to do it . . .
by the way , what earth time is that ?

Can't answer the first question as the bike is still in its winter shed, but the reason I upgraded to LEDs is because my eyes are getting older and last year had difficulty reading the speedometer at night.

Total working time was about 8 hours (half that time searching for dropped screws around our 18th century wooden slat flooring). I chose to go down through the canopy and remove glove boxes on either side.

The LCD clock is very old and the first digit at left has ghosted. But, if you really want to know what time it is: TIME TO RIDE!!

I sympathize with your dilemma AJ , the old soul wearing out , if only we could undergo renos on ourselves.you may be best to use drop sheets or other coverings on the floor, it will help with the recovery time , give you more time for the important things.. .
good effort , hope it proves successful for you.

Hello, goog morning (here). There is very simple way to solve condensation without changing anything (bulbs etc). Just drill a little hole (2-3 mm) on the underside of instruments cluster at the lowest section. That easily solved my problem with humidity inside, few years ago.
Regards