/6-On Light and Circuit Board Replacement Options

I thought I'd give some props to a member who has developed a replacement for the delicate light bar that is in the instrument pods of the /6-on models. There is a flexible circuit board in there which can break over time, especially with handling. This can happen when it's necessary to go inside the pod to replace a burned out light. I read about this in the December 2016 Airmail magazine. As I understand it, these parts are no longer available. It's nice to have an option for replacement.

The website is http://katdash.com/. The picture shows the OEM carrier for a '79 model on the left...the replacement is on the right.

I have no interest in this...just read about it in the magazine.

Really GREAT Kurt.............THANKS FOR THIS and I guess it will be a sticky?????

Probably not, Dennis. But consider the tag search words at the bottom of the page to find this in the future. And I suppose the member in question might want to consider putting up a post in the Member Opportunities section of the forum.

+1 I'll add my approval on this revised light panel. I have no association with KatDash but I am a Beta tester of her /6 katdash light panel. It's been in my 1974 R60/6 since May 2016 and has run flawlessly for 6,000 miles. The /6 Beta version fit inside the cluster just like the original panel. The LED lights are bright. I can see my high beam indicator even in daylight. From the article in Airmail it appears they had issues with getting their production run underway but they may be clear of that by now.

Hi Guys- That's my replacement light board!

Thanks for starting this thread Kurt, and thanks for the review Mike.

I would be happy to answer any questions people have about the new light boards. Basically this whole project started about a year ago, when I was trying to fix my decrepit light board on my R75/6 yet again. I'm pretty sure my husband was sick of me getting him to fix all my electrical gremlins (he's an EE)- so he suggested we design a new flex light board with all leds and no more bulbs. He did the electrical design, and I did everything else. It's been a long year and a real learning experience. But definitely worth it! I love the new light board in my /6- of course I would- since I designed it! It's great to be able to see the neutral light and the turn signals is full sun. Heck- for me, it's great just to have a neutral light! That's one of the ones that I couldn't get to work on my oem board.

We have had some problems with the production run vendor for the KATDASH /6. Many delays, and poor coordination with the component assembly house. However, they have promised me that I will definitely have the first batch of parts next week. As soon as I do, the website "Order Parts" page will have the buy it now buttons go active.
Meanwhile, we are halfway thru the production run of version 2 lightboards: KATDASH 7880, and I've just ordered version 3; KATDASH 8195. Both of those have gone to a different vendor who seems to be much more on the ball. I'm expecting to have the 7880 boards in early February, and the 8195 boards in early April.

I'll check back here more often, and answer questions that pop up. Otherwise, there's more info on my website: www.katdash.com

Just to let everyone know- we got the /6 flex, and units are available and ready to ship!

Thanks-

/6 circuit board fix

katcon85 said:

Just to let everyone know- we got the /6 flex, and units are available and ready to ship!

Thanks-

Click to expand...

To the OP......there's your perfect fix in a box to better than new standards.

Friedle

USPS says my order is scheduled to be delivered today. I'm looking forward to having this item and installing in one of my R90/6. Thanks, Kat!

katcon85 said:

Just to let everyone know- we got the /6 flex, and units are available and ready to ship!

Thanks-

Click to expand...

Is there a plan to produce the 1993 GS style LED unit?

My '84 R100RS that I purchased new in December 1983 basically came from the factory with a defect in the printed circuit--broken at the bend into one of the bulb sockets.

Had a friend at the time who was a tech working in rocket telemetry and he fixed this by soldering a wire (about the thickness of a human hair) to the circuit.

So, they are repairable by specialists.

Circuit Board replacements

lkchris said:

My '84 R100RS that I purchased new in December 1983 basically came from the factory with a defect in the printed circuit--broken at the bend into one of the bulb sockets.

Had a friend at the time who was a tech working in rocket telemetry and he fixed this by soldering a wire (about the thickness of a human hair) to the circuit.

So, they are repairable by specialists.

Click to expand...

So what you are saying is that a successful repair basically IS rocket science ! Katherine's product is better and brighter than the original. Just what you would expect from a New York Airhead.

Friedle

Yep- a New York Airhead, and proud of it.

Bummer on the brand new '83 defective light board- why didn't you just take it back to the dealer at the time and get a new one? I'll have a new one for you in a couple more months!

There was actually a "brand new old stock" slash 6 original flex on ebay a couple of weeks ago. He wanted stupid money for it- $175, but I figured- it's a business expense- right? The one that came in my '74 is a disaster- which is how I got into this whole project- and I would really like to have an original oem one that's good, just because. Just because I save all the original parts that I replace with something better and more modern. Anyhow- I got it, and it was obviously new, the bulb tabs were un-bent and it was lovely. It was also broken at one of the speedo light traces. So I told the guy I would keep it if he refunded half the price, or send it back for a full refund. He refunded me the whole price and I sent it back.

I would have never installed it anyway- my led board is SO MUCH BETTER. Every time I ride my bike, I admire it and thank my lucky stars that Paul loves me enough to humor me, and develop and manufacture a whole bunch of light boards for a bunch of 40 year old bikes!

And now that we've gone through the whole process: holey ****! it is rocket science! And it's way more complex than I realized! It's pretty neat though, to be able to offer it to other Airheads who are as desperate as I was to keep their instrument pod working.

Mike C- let me know what you think of it when you get it installed! and thanks for your support!

I got mine installed last week on my R90s and it works better than oem.

Great idea.

Once again, good old American ingenuity (and Capitalism) come to the rescue.

I'll add I got my led board last Saturday and installed it. On my test ride Sunday it was apparent the improvement was significant. My indicator lights are much brighter and attention getting than the OE system that was still working. Now in bight daylight I see the turn and neutral lights activate with peripheral vision. Before I had to look directly at the lights to see them operate.

I consider this a safety upgrade in addition to just looking better. I don't have to look down to see if I left the turn signals on or if the oil or brake light suddenly indicates an issue while riding.

Night time illumination of the speedo and tach is also improved.

Great product that was easy to install.

Wow gr8ridn2- great review! Thanks!

I had a customer email me via the website, and he commented that he didn't like the dash at night. So I wanted to address that. I don't ride at night unless forced to, and apparently none of my Beta testers do either, because I didn't hear about this until this past fall when we were already in production. And coincidentally, the days were shorter.

So my body/ light frames are molded plastic. The oem frames are black (probably abs) with the bulb sockets painted white for reflectivity. Since I was trying to skip an extra step of painting- not to mention material compatabilities, I went with solid white colorant for my molded parts. Obviously, the white is more translucent than black would be. So apparently at night, due to my zeal with lighting the mechanical tach- there is some light transmittance through the white plastic, into the bulb compartments, which will then show a faint glow on all the dash lights when riding at night.
So if you ride a lot at night, and this is going to bother you- here's the fix: put a piece of black electrical tape on the side of the body/light compartments on the tach side, under the extra white light on the tach side. I suspect this is the light that is causing the glow- since it's right next to the body.

Please let me know if anyone has any other concerns!

Kudos to Kat Connell and her new /6 light board! She shipped mine promptly and it was received in two days. Packing was excellent as were the instructions she included. It is an easy plug in. There was a bit of trouble with my installation but I'm taking full responsibility for it. These are forty year old machines and as a result one can expect contacts to be dirty, corroded, or both. Initially I didn't pay enough attention to that. I sent an email to Kat with some questions and she responded promptly with a few suggestions, and also followed up with a diagram of the plug numbers. Some electrical cleaner, a q-tip or two, and burnishing the brass ferrules in the female plug holes took care of the dirt. She also included a new screw with cup to attach the plug to the case. This response solved my problem. Proof once again that coffee, divorce, and electrical connections all begin with good grounds!

To paraphrase the World's Most Interesting Man, "I may not always ride at night, but when I do I like to see my dash lights." Thanks to Kat (and Mr. Kat) I can now clearly see my bright dash lights. Thanks Kat!

For many years my turn signal indicator light has been intermittent. It works maybe 10% of the time, at best. Comes and goes for no reason or pattern. And sometimes the high beam indicator light is reversed. (Lights up when hi beam is off, goes off when high beam is on.) Neutral light always works, as does the alternator light. I thought it was a faulty ground to the instrument cluster, so I sanded/cleaned that contact on the plug and back of the cluster. Didn't help. So I thought the ground circuit might be faulty on the flexible board.

Kat (or others) - I had already saved your info when it appeared in Airmail. Do you think your product would fix that? Bike is a R75/6. Thanks !

Hi Howard,
Kind of hard to diagnose without having a look at your instrument pod plug and/or the existing light board.

Turn signals can do funny things, depending on the relay that's installed and the bulbs at the actual turn signal lights. Remember the oem flasher relay has a "bulb out" feature- so if one of your bulbs is out the turn signal indicator will flash once, then stay dark. This is supposed to tell you to check your bulbs. It will also often do this if you have a bad ground at the actual turn signal bulb- this is quite common! I have a '74 which originally came with no ground wire to the front turn signals. What a PIA- one side was always having a ground issue. I finally got the ground wire kit from Tom Cutter and installed it when I had the front end apart. No problems since then.

Turn signal relays also get old and do strange things- there are 2 different relays, and we are starting to get reports of an internal short in the early Hella 2479 relay that was in most of the /6s. Over decades- it builds up a metallic particulate dust inside, which eventually builds up enough to short between the 49 terminal and the C (dash) terminal. It can be cleaned with complete disassembly- I'm going to get a write up on this on my website- probably next week. OR, you can replace the relay. I also sell a replacement relay on my website. Whether or not your turn signal issue is in the actual dash light unit, is hard to determine- because of these other factors in the turn signal circuit.

With regards to your high beam- I would guess that that might be the handle bar switch. Mine was acting weird last summer, and I took it apart, cleaned all the contacts, lubed it and put it back together- now it works fine. I don't know how any shorts or breaks inside the dash light board would cause the high beam indicator to "Lights up when hi beam is off, goes off when high beam is on."- that sounds like a hinky switch. The dash light boards are pretty simple electrically- basically it's 12volts in, and ground out, on 2 different pins- so there is no way to reverse that. The dash unit just does what it's signaled to do by the plug in the back of the instrument pod.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, Kat! I appreciate it. Much to consider. Knock on wood - the turn signals themselves always work. Even though the indicator light on the instrument cluster does not. And the high beam always works correctly, even when the indicator light on the cluster is "backwards". I've lived with it for years. The bike is semi-retired now. But I keep on it, because I don't want to start letting it go.

We got the flex in for version 2 this week ; 1978- 1980 bikes with a green turn signal and the high beam light in the tach face. Paul and I got a bunch assembled and they're now available on the web site.

Also- I'm thinking about getting 2ml tubes of de-oxit and offering them with a couple of dental brushes so you can get the stuff you need to clean your plug while you're getting any other parts your instrument pod needs. What do you guys think of that? Would you be interested in getting a little pack of plug and contact cleaning stuff? I trying to have everything you might need to fix up your instrument pod in a one stop shop.