LED bulbs for dashboard project (Success!) GS500F 2009

[hgodfrey]

I did the speedometer and tachometer bulb replacement with T10 bulbs. Very easy, link at bottom for the bulbs I used. However, I ran into a snag with the indicator bulbs, read on....

The indicator lights on the dash are so lame (high-beam, oil, neutral, turn signal indicator). I wanted to brighten them up. I purchased some T5 LED bulbs from Amazon. Watched some youtube videos on how to replace bulbs. Thought this was too easy and the results were that everything looked about three times brighter, very nice, until I tried the turn signal. Turns out only left turn would blink. Hmmm...I slid the bulb out and rotated it 180 in the socket and then only the right turn would blink. Based on this the GS500 turn signal circuit switches the polarity between left and right signaling. For a normal bulb this is no problem. After some googling, discovered that LED's are polarity sensitive. Some LED bulb replacements offer a non-polarity version of these bulbs. Sadly, the circuitry to accomplish this only exists on the T10 bulbs and larger. The circuit board on those T5's is just too small to fit anything else on there.

After months of cogitating on this problem I finally came up with a solution. I took two T5 LED's, and soldered them together, one of which i had rotated 180 degrees effectively reversing the polarity. Problem solved. Now I have a nice bright turn signal indicator and maybe I will have less instances of "the dummy riding down the freeway forgot to turn off his blinker!"

Pics below. The LED circuit board sits atop a cone shaped holder. The lead wires go from the circuit board straight down thru the cone, out two pinholes in the bottom and then are bent upwards to allow for a long contact surface area. I removed the cone from the LED's and lead wires. Did this procedure on two units. Next I bent each circuit board about 45 degrees. The bend is right where the circuit board meets the lead wires. One of them I snipped off about 6mm of length. Then soldered them together about half way down the leads. Note that I positioned one slightly over the other to make sure they could squeeze into the dashboard orifice which thankfully has a lot of extra length to accommodate this modified LED. Before you commit to solder, hook up a 12v power source to the lead wires to make sure you have the polarity correct. This is tedious work since it's so small, it took me about 20 minutes. Of course if I did a 2nd one it would take less than 10 minutes.

The LED's I purchased were $8 for a 10pk from Amazon. Here is the description:
Partsam 10Pack White Twist Socket T5 73 74 3528 SMD LED Gauge Cluster Bulbs Dashboard Light Lamp Instrument Panel Indicators
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KSUA6HY/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Speedometer and tachometer use the T10 bulb replacements. Also on Amazon for $10:
194 LED Light bulb, Yorkim 2015 Newest, 5th Generation, Interior Lights for W5W 194 168 2825 T10 Wedge 5-smd 5050, Replacement and Reverse T10 White Bulbs (Pack of 10)- White
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JRE38EA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here's a pic of the finished product.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8FR24Ir7hcEdkxCR2llNFY4bzg/view?usp=sharing


Showing it installed in the socket next to the unmodified T5 in the high-beam socket.
http://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8FR24Ir7hcETGllMUZHOWFSSlk/

[the_63]

The diode mod would have helped here

Chris

[1018cc]

Sounds sort of similar to what I did - stock indicator bulbs but I have just changed the bulb in the dash to LED (only one). To get my LED to work both ways I only cut two wires and soldered in a bridge rectifier: http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=60035.msg852982#msg852982

At least you got it working!

[hgodfrey]

Wow! That's a project. That is pretty damn tricky! Mine might be an easier solution with the downside of having to get out the soldering iron again next time it needs replacing. Your solution is a permanent fix.  I posted pics in the original post. I ended up having to put the links to the pics because I couldn't get google drive to display in this message board. Anyone know what I did wrong? or does google drive just not work for here?!?