K11 Owners Group

Flying Duck · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:33 pm Post subject: More on VDO Gauges

Bought the gauges this summer. Finally got around to installing them last week.

I had a Kuryakyn LED voltmeter hidden in the fairing but I wanted something that would give me actual voltage. I also wanted an ambient temperature gauge so I know when the temperature is at/near freezing in the winter so I know if there's a potential for frost/ice on the road. I figured I'd also replace the fuel and temp gauges with VDOs so that all of the gauges would match.

Step 1: Wire them up. I used some connectors I got from FleaBay for $1 each and instead of using blade terminals I soldered the wires to the terminals and covered them in heat shrink tubing. Instead of having separate wires for the gauge power and backlighting I just used the green/black wire to power both.

Step 2: Make a wiring harness. Using the other halves of the connectors,for the two I put up in the dash(fuel and ambient temperature,) I replaced the factory wiring harness(above) with one that I made. (below) The side ones each have their own wiring.

Step 3: Drill holes for the ones in the knee panels. I used a 2" hole saw for this. When drilling the second one I put the two knee panels together so the gauges would be symmetrically positioned.

I'll skip the details on the fuel and temp gauges since that's been covered before.

Voltmeter: This has a calibration screw so I put my multimeter on the battery terminals and calibrated it to that so it should read pretty close to the actual voltage at the battery.

Ambient temperature gauge: This baby is $pendy. MSRP is about $135 or something. I got it at egauges for a bit under $90. It does include the sensor though. It's got a marking right at 32 which is perfect for my purposes.

Snice I have a Stebel Nautilus air horn where the right horn used to be, I mounted the temp sensor where the left horn used to be and used it's wiring to ground the temp sensor.

So, everything was ready to go, right? Wrong. Even though the ambient temp gauge and it's sensor come together as a pair in the same box that gauge was reading about 8 degrees high. It doesn't seem to have any way to calibrate it so I was a bit miffed about that. Fortunately it was reading high though, not low, so by adding a $3 adjustable micro potentiometer from Radio Shack I was able to add my own way to calibrate it by slightly increasing the resistance from the sensor. Now it's perfectly calibrated. (But it's BS that I had to do this IMO.)

And of course they are all backlit with red LEDs to match the instrument cluster.

That is all.
_________________
93 LT (x2)
94 RS
86-97 K75F(K75/100/1100 Frankenbrick)
86 K75C w/paralever, hi perf cams,TURBO!
91 & 92 K75Ss
91 K1
86 custom K100
14 WR250R
IBA #17739 (SS1K, BBG, 50CC)
Buy parts HERE

Stoked Steve · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:39 pm Post subject:

Sweet!
_________________
Steve
Virginia Beach, VA
93 K1100RS Mystic Red SOLD
12 Suzuki DL650A VStrom

Scott_Anderson · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:39 pm Post subject:

Duck, sure it wasn't reading high just because it was inside the fairing?

I realize that mounting any temp sensor on a bike is questionable at best.
Inside the fairing and it's protected from the wind, yet will pickup engine heat.
It's not easy to find a spot on the outside that won't be affected by the "wind chill" effect when the bike is moving.
_________________
Ride safe.

1997 K1100LT 0302488
2017 FLHTK Ultra Limited
Garmin StreetPilot 2820
Garmin Zumo 550
Garmin Zumo XT
"One who does not ask questions is ashamed to learn" Danish proverb
1995 K1100LT 0302044(R.I.P.)
1997 R1100RT ZC62149(sold)

Flying Duck · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:44 pm Post subject:

Ernie-NH · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:04 pm Post subject:

Hi Duck...

NICE looking and functional gauge setup !! I've got just a quickie question.. Since you've been re-routing wires, I've got a burned out "neutral" lamp in the instrument pod... HOW do I get to it without removing the faring ?? Or must one remove the fairing to do anything back there ??

Best regards, and thanks in advance for any advice you can offer !

ernie-NH
_________________
AMA,, American Deaf Bikers
Airhead Beemers Club
'11 G650gs
'95 K1100LT
'76 R100/7

Scott_Anderson · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:32 pm Post subject:

Ernie,
the isnt pod on the LT isn't that hard to get out.
It is easier to remove if you remove the windscreen assy out of the way.
After that there's just 4 mounting screws for the pod and 1 screw in the center of the wiring plug.
_________________
Ride safe.

1997 K1100LT 0302488
2017 FLHTK Ultra Limited
Garmin StreetPilot 2820
Garmin Zumo 550
Garmin Zumo XT
"One who does not ask questions is ashamed to learn" Danish proverb
1995 K1100LT 0302044(R.I.P.)
1997 R1100RT ZC62149(sold)

Ernie-NH · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:41 pm Post subject:

Hi Scott..

OK... Thanks for the tip.! I can feel the pod mounting screws but can neither see them or get my tools on them without better access and now that you tell me to remove the screen panel etc... thats what I'll try... will let you know in a PM !

Thanks again............// Ernie-NH
_________________
AMA,, American Deaf Bikers
Airhead Beemers Club
'11 G650gs
'95 K1100LT
'76 R100/7

Scott_Anderson · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:57 pm Post subject:

You will have 6 screws to remove from the inner panel, 2 on each side with 2 under the map light area, and 6 on the front side.

Once you have it loose there will be a quick connect wire connector to take apart and that's all there is to remove the screen assy.

You do it a few times and you can have it out in less than 5 minutes.
_________________
Ride safe.

1997 K1100LT 0302488
2017 FLHTK Ultra Limited
Garmin StreetPilot 2820
Garmin Zumo 550
Garmin Zumo XT
"One who does not ask questions is ashamed to learn" Danish proverb
1995 K1100LT 0302044(R.I.P.)
1997 R1100RT ZC62149(sold)

SugarHillCTD · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:13 pm Post subject:

Duck,

Really nice install.

Looks great.
_________________
John & Cathy

'92 K100RS4V Pearl White SOLD
'04 K1200GT
IBA Several-SS1k, BBG, 50CC NYC to S.F.

Mystic Red · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:43 pm Post subject:

Flying Duck · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:55 pm Post subject:

Saltcreek · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 10:05 pm Post subject:

I also am interested in an ambient temperature gauge but not at that price. Has anyone found anything inexpensive that works well?
_________________
Jim

1994 K1100LT Mystic Red, bfd, 37000 miles, sold Sad

2009 Wilderness Systems Zephyr 155 ST
2002 Litespeed titanium

Mystic Red · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 10:31 pm Post subject:

2xcelr8 · Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:33 pm Post subject: Fuel Sending Unit

What is the resistance for the fuel sending unit. I am looking at replacing the gauges in my '94 LT
_________________
Doug
'96 K1100RS, '94 K1100LT, '84 Honda VF700F Interceptor (4 sale)

Flying Duck · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:05 am Post subject:

Flying Duck · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:07 am Post subject: Re: Fuel Sending Unit

Mystic Red · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 7:29 am Post subject: