Shift light bulbs and headlight

[Gorminrider]

Here's where I used to go for odd stuff.

http://www.mainelectronics.com/lamps.htm

added later:but I see the amperage is lower in these (35ma) and the 60ma ones are maybe the ones to gofor...

[Mankow]

Im new to the forum so sorry if this is in the wrong place. I just got a 1985 gs550l that had all but the first and sixth indicator bulbs burned out. So instead of trying to find new bulbs I just replaced them with LEDs so I will hopefully not have to do it again. any way this is how I did it.

Wired in one resistor to keep the LEDs from burning out, sorry I dont really know what rating it is i just had a bag of them


trimmed the old boots and inserted the LEDs the same way the old bulbs were


here is all the bulbs installed


and an advantage to this is that i can have specific colors for each gear, so


second through fifth are red

[Missile99]

Cool Mankow. That's a neat little project and I like the idea of different colors for the gear indicators.

[Steve]

Wired in one resistor to keep the LEDs from burning out, sorry I dont really know what rating it is i just had a bag of them.

The picture is a bit fuzzy. What are the colors on the four bands on the resistor?

.

[Bueller]

Those would be the bulbs.

You have the part number for them?

.

X2? I figured radioshack would have them...part number would be awesome for this dummy, and the ones behind the counter ;-) thanks for all the replies, by the way!

Frank

[Grimly]

For the headlight bulbs you should purchase a motorcycle bulb. Apparently the automotive bulbs are not made the same. I recently read somewhere that they are not made to withstand the vibration and shock that a motorcycle endures. I guess you pay for what you get.

Can't say I've had a problem with that in the past, except when the headlamp mounting rubbers needed replaced and vibes were being viciously transmitted to the headlamp shell. Apart from that, all my H4 halogen bulbs have been car sourced, and have lasted well.
Otoh, I tend to look askance at many of the really cheap H4 bulbs available now and wonder how long they'd last anyway - I think it's fair to say that in real terms I was paying much more per bulb back then than many people will be spending now.
So, I'm kind of agreeing with you - pay more and get a decent one that will last.