Dummy indicator/ finally

likembikem · Mar 1, 2012

Here is my almost completed 'dummy blank indicator' mod. I removed the red lens from another panel that had crazed tach and temp lens. It has a red LED in it which is not connected yet. It is rated at above 12v. It was going to be a low voltage indicator...but to simplify things I think I'm going to connect it to the vboost. As little as 5v will lite it up and it should go to full brightness at full vboost. I've got to look at some wiring diagrams first. But I think I will just wire it parallel to the servo motor. In the piture it is lit with jumpers and aligator clips. Now that I know how to post pics, I'll send more when finished. Still have some carb work to do...

PDWeyand · Mar 1, 2012

cool ideal but I would think that after a while it could numb you to looking at the lights when they come on. I know when the High beam light or turn signal light is on it drives me nuts. I do not like either of them I can see that the turns are on and do not like dash light for it. And the high beam is on in the day time I normally do not see it.

likembikem · Mar 1, 2012

I hear ya, I may not be in the boost as often. Maybe it will let me know when I'm really sucking the gas. Or maybe it will drive me nuts too and I'll find another use for it!

PDWeyand · Mar 1, 2012

lol I am not sure if I will do anything with the 'blank' spot or not but. As far as knowing when I am in boost mode. I can tell when I'm smiling ear to ear lol

likembikem · Mar 1, 2012

I know, for some reason the 'blank spot' has always bugged me. WTF is it there for, why did they do that? also, some people (not many) know a lot about details of bikes and if they looked over to see how many miles I had on mine they might think" hey that looks factory, but never seen that before". I've got it; but don't know what I'm gonna do with it yet! On the other hand I have a carb cleaning to do and am pondering the COPS!

one2dmax · Mar 1, 2012

Here's what we did with it.

http://www.vmaxforum.net/showpost.php?p=207009&postcount=8

Lew L · Mar 2, 2012

Can't get photo pucket to take the photos???

likembikem · Mar 9, 2012

O.K. this project is finished. I now have a low voltage (11.95) indicator. It is not on unless voltage gets down that low. I got the schematic from online about low voltage indicator for solar panel battery bank. It is a 741 op amp chip,zener diode and several resistors. I used a pot and power supply to make the light come on at the 11.95 volts, could have been what ever I wanted. The little amp compares battery and the preset. When they are the same, a signal goes to the LED. Once I set the pot where I wanted it I measured the resistance and then mounted fixed resistors. I left the pot in because it was epoxed. I then epoxed the whole mess, wraped in foam and installed in the headlight housing. It works like it is supposed to. Ready for the next project!

06VMAXIMUS · Mar 11, 2012

Looks like it worked out great! You could probably make some money here by making a kit and selling them. I'd be interested depending on the price...

likembikem · Mar 11, 2012

06V Yes I though about that. I was able to keep the factory indicator look since I removed one of the red lens from my old scratched tach/temp panel. By the way I removed the red lens from dipping the panel in boiling water and tapping it out with a flat tip screwdriver. Someone could dremel out a lens from an old tail light I suppose. Mine is epoxed in, so there's no water leak. Or a seperate LED could be mounted anywhere else, even just a round LED in a round hole inside the dummy indicator place. But the circuit board, epoxed up and ready to install with 4 leads sticking out ( 2 for the end users already mounted LED and a pos and neg) is pretty cheap, around $10. It is a little time consuming, components vary so each one has to be adjusted to the desired voltage (mine is 11.95) then measure the pot, and put in fixed resistors. I really feel like most people probably would not be too interested, I was just glad to have a use for the 'blank' indicator that I thought was a Yamaha shortcoming. thanks for liking it!