Installing a speedometer from Mikes XS

[Tim-Omaha]

I have an '81 650 that I've hardtailed and dressed out- a nice old school bobber (see below for before and after pictures). My speedometer recently crapped out and I got a replacement from Mikes XS, however the instructions leave a lot to be desired. Has anyone got any tips on installing this? Pictures?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Tim

 

[summerman]

I am also interested in this. I want to get a mini speedo which has the oil, directional and neutral lights in it thus getting rid of the big speedo tach light cluster. is this plug and play?

has anybody done this?

thanks

 

[grepper]

I have the Mini LED Speedo from MikesXS on my bobber.
It's not plug and play, it's pretty generic, but with the same gear ratio as the stock.
There's just the wires coming out of it, no plugs. Two for each light, a wire the color of the light and another of the same color with a black stipe (ground).
Wire it as you choose...

 

[PetesPonies]

I have a mini speedo and mini tach from Mikes. All works well, all idiot light too. What are your specific questions? I believe my gallery has pictures of it.

 

[summerman]

just wondering how much work it is to get rid of the standard cluster, tack, speedo and put the mini on. I want the lights to work.. etc. I want to loose all that and make my bike cleaner looking and loose a little high up weight.. (i know only loose a pound or two if that.) if you got closeups of your front end that would be great. Also thinking of the triangle light from mikesxs.. Looks different... and is smaller..

first bike build so going slow and learning all the time.. I have 79 xs with big chopper seat and going to change seat, bars, lights, improve suspension... etc.... make it a lighter rider. More cafe style than anything but without the hump in the seat... street tracker sort of...

Thanks for the reply.

 

[PetesPonies]

Well I am used to working with wiring , harnesses and such. So this was no harder than other work I do. But if wiring is not your thing . . then I guess someone could see this as difficult. It was a few hours of just tracing wires, figuring where to hook things to get it right.

 

[summerman]

Gonna try it anyways. no fear no fear no fear no.

 

[Square Circle]

Thread hijack. Sort of. I'm trying to install the same speedo. Having some issues. How do you solve the high beam indicator. I'm using the stock wiring . Its continuous on bright and then a bit brighter when high beam switch is thrown. And is there an oil light /engine light? Can't figure out what the fuze looking deal is on the back of stock speedo?any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[Grinder]

squarecircle, the high beam indicator should have a blue and a blue/black wire. The blue would go to the yellow wire coming off of your headlight plug. Blue/black to ground. Didn't use the red oil light on mine. I think the thing on the back of the speedo is part of the self canceling circuit for the turn signals. It senses distance traveled. the signals would cancel in a certain distance or a certain time. Here's a pic of mine, just made a bracket out of 1/8" aluminum.

 

[Square Circle]

Thanks Grinder. I did hook up the high beam blue to the yellow wire from original indicator that was on the old tach. It always had a slight glow to it when off,then lit totally bright when switched. I'm guessing since LEDs dont need much voltage the new guage lights bright.. you can hardly see much off a difference when I hit the switch. Too bright for "idle" for me. I'm not sure if this is the norm or if I have a short somewhere. Frustrating.
I was thinking of using the oil light as the brake light indicator since its there from old.
Nice bracket BTW.

 

[Square Circle]

Reading your post again made me think you meant "plug"" as in right at the back of headlight. I guess I could pigtail off that ? Or is that too much amp? I want the hibeam light to come on only when switched on.

 

[Grinder]

I've got a simple wiring harness so I just tapped into the yellow coming from the headlight for the indicator. The LED's do glow a bit when you turn the lights on from the backlight but get much brighter when activated. Good idea for the red light. Check your grounds to make sure everything is good. Bad grounds can cause all kinds of weird problems. Run a temporary ground wire up directly from the battery to your indicator lights grounds and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Square Circle]

Thnx Grinder. Turns out my issue was nothing. I was checking connections and running the lights in the new speedo without the headlight plugged in.. I guess the circuit needed to be complete.. everything works fine now.. full high beam when switched and completely off when not . Its the little things that mess me up. Lol

 

[Brassneck]

Bringing up this old thread as I have a question on Mini LED Speedo (From Mikesxs) and properly connecting it to a stock wiring harness:

1) Turn signal indicator, I hope someone can steer me in the right direction:

I have a '79 Special with original wiring harness. The original wiring for the turn signal indicator is essentially two wires (Dark green & Brown).

The mini speedo's turn signal indicator has a yellow (+)/yellow black (-). Seems simple enough, but which wire do I connect to to get the indicator to work with both sides?

If I connect the mini speedo's positive to the green, the indicator only comes on when I signal left, and if I connect it to the brown, the indicator only comes on when I signal right....I can't seem to make the indicator come on with both sides...and I don't think I can bridge the green/brown as one acts as a negative when the other is positive, correct?

Or can I use a common ground and light up the indicator some other way?

Anyone have the solution?

2) Tail/brake warning, I was going to use the "oil" light as the tail/brake warning signal, but again, with stock wiring, the tail/brake signal has a brown & black/red wire...which is ground?

3) Headlamp Failure signal, I wasn't planning on using this light at all, but does anyone know if I need to in order to charge the battery, etc? I have a '69 VW and if the dash light isn't connected, it won't charge...so wanted to double check.

Thanks in Advance for the help.

 

[PetesPonies]

I don't have my XS any longer. And it's been a long time since I did this. But it is doable. I had a Kawasaki that I used Harley dash lights and used a diode to keep the current from going back on one side of the circuit.A diode can act as a "one way valve". However, I do not remember using one on the XS. If I am wrong, then just use a diode so the current does not use the other turn signal as well. OR . . maybe I used another light for one of the turns? I really just do not remember. How many light in the speedo ?

 

[Brassneck]

A diode, huh,? That may work. The stock indicator is one light...the mini speedo had one light. Seems like it should work the same, unless the LED requires two wires coming in to the positive side?

 

[PetesPonies]

if one light to one light, shouldn't need a diode. My Kaw was twovlights, but I went to one, thus the diode.

 

[Brassneck]

Ya, that's why I can't figure out why it won't work.

 

[Grinder]

I think the problem is that a regular bulb isn't polarity sensitive and a LED is. You may have to put a diode in each positive lead from the signals and and connect to yellow and ground yellow/black.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Hey, BrassNeck. This might help:

http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32623

A google search of "turn signal diode" will bring up more threads...