Tachometer illumination bulb removal

[wilcom]

I took the bulb out of the tach to change to LED and make it brighter. My problem is removing the bulb from the holder. I have wiggled and pulled, coaxed and said bad words , but still the bulb is fast in it's holder.

In the days b4 the internet I already would have broken the bulb and removed what was left with a walnut pick. I do not want to mes up those lil copper thingies that make contact with the board!

Isn't it a bayonet type that should just pull out? What course of action should I take? Hammer at the ready...………...

[georgesgiralt]

Hello,
These bulbs just pull out. But because of corrosion, they may have the wires welded on the socket leads.
If I were you, I'll use a rag to hold the bulb ant pull it out. (if it breaks you may be injured, so the rag could be useful)
Have a nice play with it.
DO NOT DESTROY THE BULB HOLDER ! If I'm not mistaken they are not made anymore.

[Kelvin]

The other 4 bulb holders are identical. If you remove one of them and take the bulb out you will get a better idea of where to stick a tiny screwdriver to free up the stuck bulb. With too much force I find it easy to imagine separating the brass and plastic parts of the holder, which would be unfortunate.

[wilcom]

which would be unfortunate.

Thanks Kelvin. I was trying to steer clear of anything unfortunate. I broke the bulb and pulled out as much as I could with small long nosed pliers. The next step is put the holder under a magnifier and light ring and probe around. It looks like a solid mass in there to my naked eye.

It will have to wait as I got a call to go to work. Seems that looters have trashed a store  of one of my clients and they need to get back on line.

I guess this is the silver lining of the unrest. I get to go back to work!

As I hear it, opportunistic looters picked up an 800 lb(362kg) safe that was bolted to the floor and made off with it. Will be interesting to see the damage when I get there this  morning.

[jp9094]

I too would like to change out the tachometer bulb for an LED. However my problem is removing the back of the tacho.

Seems the head of one of the long screws that holds the back on has had the slot destroyed. Can anyone suggest a method of removing the screw which is mashed flat?

Any and all suggestions appreciated!

TIA,

[georgesgiralt]

Ah !
Tough question. It the screw had been fluch, I would have suggested to make a slot using a Dremel and use a flat screwdriver.
But as you want to save the tacho cover, it is difficult.
If you have steady hands, you can drill the head using a drill and increasing drill bit sizes until the head falls off then, once the cover removed, you can use pliers to remove the screw.
All in all, an afternoon work and new curses to learn...
Sorry.

[wilcom]

you can drill the head using a drill and increasing drill bit sizes until the head falls off then, once the cover removed, you can use pliers to remove the screw.

That's a great idea Georgsgiralt

[jp9094]

Many thanks ! Will give it a go.

TIA,

[wilcom]

which would be unfortunate. 

Thanks Kelvin. I was trying to steer clear of anything unfortunate. I broke the bulb and pulled out as much as I could with small long nosed pliers. The next step is put the holder under a magnifier and light ring and probe around. It looks like a solid mass in there to my naked eye.

Kelvin...………. I took one of the other bulb holders out and the bulb popped out easily and installed the new bulb. I went over to the bike ( no glasses) and was going to temp hook it up and see what it looked like with the new bulb.

I hooked it up remembering the connector was keyed so I couldn't screw it up and turned on the ignition. only the hi beam light came on???  The high beam was not on??? Then I smelled the expensive smell of burning electronics. Turned the key off and pulled the tach off the bike and checked it out.  With out my glasses I did not notice that the key way was in the back cover that I had off so there was no keyway and I had it on wrong and fried it.  Arrrrrgh!!!


As Kelvin would say, "most unfortunate" 

I think I will walk away from this project for awhile....

[BPT]

Do you mean that you had it in backwards, Wilcom?
There was a thing someone posted here (maybe Bob Roller?) About some LEDs having the connector wire that folded over the end of the bulb, and that had to be fixed or it could short. It wasn't that, was it?

[wilcom]

Do you mean that you had it in backwards, Wilcom?

No BPT, the lamps themselves gave me no problem. It was how I hurriedly tested the lamp when I had it back in the gauge.

I wasn't really working on the bike, I was doing other things around the house and walking past the bike there in the garage. I thought about Kelvins remark about using any of the other bulb holders because they were all the same.

With that I grabbed the gauge and twisted out one of the other holders and changed the bulb to my new LED and popped it in the hole for the illumination bulb. It clicked right in and I thought, " lets test it" so I'll know if it is as bright as I was hoping.

Then I walked over to the bike and looked at the cylindrical, multipinned plug and thought no problem, it's a keyed plug, I can't get it wrong. I spun the plug around on the back of the gauge and it felt aligned and pushed it home, reached for the key and turned on the ignition. I didn't see any light, as a matter of fact there was no lights at all other than the high beam lamp that was glowing. My mind was whirling and thinking that the neutral, gen & oil pressure should have came on? That's when I whiffed the smell of burning electrical components and switched off the ignition....!

The key way that keeps you from inserting the plug the wrong way is on the black plastic cover that was removed to access the bulb, NOT on the female portion of the connector. So when I had connected the plug I had about 1 chance in 8 of having it correctly oriented.

Take your time, put on your glasses, don't work on something with just 1/2 your attention.  I DID NONE OF THOSE!!

I think I will let the project rest for awhile and continue on another day after the shame and stupidity has been washed away with a little time Thanks for all your input on this LED project.

[BPT]

Oohhhh, ok, you're talking about the plug to the tach. Got it now, sorry, I misunderstood and thought you meant it was something to do with how you put the light bulb socket in.
I understand now. Damn, sorry to hear about that.  Don't feel too shamed, I can see doing the same thing if I had everything apart.

It's a good thing to know to pay attention to, thank you for your sacrifice.

[georgesgiralt]

Hello,
The tachs are very very strong. So you can find a bunch of them second hand and be about 100 % sure they work.
Also, as they are not scarce, they are quite cheap...
Do do not abandon your bike ! She needs to be out riding.

[wilcom]

Hello,

Do do not abandon your bike !

I won't Georges and yes,  the tachs are reasonable and plentiful. I'm just going to step back from it for a few days.

[Kelvin]

G'day Joe,

I empathise, I've lost count of the number of times I've been in a similar situation.

I really enjoy working on my bikes, but I find I need to set myself up with no company, no interruptions, and no deadline. You and I both maintain identical LSs, so we can ride the other one while we work.

Both texts that have influenced me on this theme are American: Richard Bach's "Nothing by Chance" and Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" (the bit on "gumption"). I find this curious given that I'm in the antipodes and most of the traffic on this forum is North American. 

More practically, my notes on the tacho wiring are:

Wiring on back of Tacho: numbering is 1 -> 8, starting at the 7:30 position and going anti clockwise, so 2 is south, 6 is north, 8 is west. The bulbs get their power from pins 8 and 6:
      A      High Beam      1      8
      B      Dial            2      8
      C      Charge      4      6
      D      Neutral      3      6
      E      Oil            7      6
      X      RPM Signal      5      Coil primary winding.
In the Haynes manual the circle of pins is presented as it appears holding the tacho in front of you.
There is a diode in the diagram, I don’t know where this is but I assume that it is in the tacho.

Good luck!