Dash backlight mod for kawasakis

[Joker]

if you have a dash thats an 03/04/05/06 636 or same year Z750/1000 you can do this mod....... not sure on other years, but if you have a similar dash with LEDs for tacho/speedo you will be able to do it

basically i am sick of the glare from the orange light in my dash when riding at night. so i read on a US kwaka forum a "how-to" on changing the colour of your dash.

pull the dash apart, remove the leds circled and replace with whatever colour you want...... its that easy.



excuse the shitty camera phone pics, but its late and i cant be fucked finding the proper camera... and before anyone says you cant read the speedo as well, its crap.... its the pics. you can read it as easily as before.... its just late and i cbf taking a decent pic

original yellowy/orange dash



my dash now, in red



i chose red cause its easier on my eyes for the night riding..... however you can do it in kwaka green, white, or bright yellow (LED colours to choose from at RS components) i wanted a blue, but they dont stock them and cant order them in (cunts)

enjoy

Joker

[Dubs]

nice write up

thanks

Dubs

[Joker]

by the way..... if you a complete retard at soldering, dont even bother...... its surface mount stuff (small as fuck)

the LEDs are 3.5mm x 2.8mm....... a tweezer job to hold em in there

Joker

edit:- all up it took less than 20 mins, but i am a electronics tech

[Bunyack]

Nice one!!

[Barfridge]

I was about to ask how trickey are those surface mount LEDs?

Definitely sounds like a case of paying your local electronic tech a carton/bottle to do it for you. I hate to think how much a new circuit board costs (if you can get one, might have to but the whole cluster)

[Joker]

fuck fridgy, gimme your dash, the LEDs and a carton i will do it

[Barfridge]

my dash has light globes in it (got an RGV now).

But cheers for the offer

[Crootie]

sounds like joker could be drunk for a long time with all the work he will end up getting

[Pobbler]

VERY nice...

i'm picturing blue!!!

[TORQ]

i wanted a blue, but they dont stock them and cant order them in

Try Farnell ? They have 'em. I fall back to Farnell if RS don't stock.

[TORQ]

my dash has light globes in it (got an RGV now).

But cheers for the offer

Doesn't really matter, can retrofit/mod it up for LEDs. Ooooh, bling.

[Arwon]

Nice work mate... I do like the blue also..

[Joker]

heres a blue one that one of the US blokes did

[Scoundrel]

heres a blue one that one of the US blokes did

That's it, I'm gettin' it done. Thanks Joker :drums:

[DaveR6]

red is soooo much better. dunno what drugs ppl are on when decide on any colour other than red. so much easier on the eyes at night.

my new car has red for the tacho/speedo etc. if they ever wanted a useful ADR, it would be to enforce red!

[vbroom]

PM sent

i'm sick of the ugly orange light already.

[Joker]

PM sent

i'm sick of the ugly orange light already.

PM replied

[Desmo]

Might have to do this on the 748.
Mmmmm, blue lighting!

[Scoundrel]

Joker - one of the Seppos on Kawiforums claimed that doing light mods to the gauge cluster did something to the odometer reading. Is this true or is it hot air?

[Joker]

Joker - one of the Seppos on Kawiforums claimed that doing light mods to the gauge cluster did something to the odometer reading. Is this true or is it hot air?

load of crap mate.... my bet is he didnt line the dash's front plate up properly when he re-assembled it. if its not lined up right, the LED readout is dodgy. i did the same thing, till i realised i had mis-aligned one tab. its a simple mistake and an even simpler fix.

just checked my odo readout, hasnt changed and its fine

edit:- also, unless you fucked up the LEDs behind where the odo readout is, there is no chance changing a light source will screw up a readout. if you have the colour change working, the LED readout will work... i checked mine as i went, about every 3 LEDs i soldered in, i plugged it back in the make sure it was all working.... just take your time and it will be fine