I have been dreaming about having additional gauges since I saw pics of an instrument cluster on someone's boosted 14 back in 08. Never had a genuine need so it took lower priority but now, the time of the gauges has come. I've gotten accustomed with viewing gauges to channels not displayed in the stock instruments on my LCD. It works very well and all the vital channels are accessible. There is an input for one user defined channel (you get to use any 3~5 V sensor you can come up with and create a gauge for it on the LCD) but i have use for numerous channels all at the same time.
I liked the white faces on the Glowshift gauges because they they match the stock gauges. The numbers illuminate with a selection of ten colors. They also have a max indicated recall function and built in high/low warning light. I also purchased a Glow-Shift external warning light for each gauge because they are more likely to be seen than the built in light on the gauge face. Glow-Shift gauges have a shallower cup depth (about an inch and a half) than a lot of other gauges. There's not much room on a bike to cram gauges in so small is better. I find analogue gauges a ton better for viewing at a glance than digital gauges. Digital gauges that i have used on the LCD are next to useless if they are displaying a channel that has rapidly changing values. The disadvantage to analog gauges is that they respond to an analog signal which cannot be data logged. I plan to ad some small digital gauges in the future.
The downside to all gauges is that if you have a lot of them, they ad a pretty good chunk of weight to the bike. The shipping weight of the 4 gauges I bought was 6 lbs. One is an AFR gauge with Bosch sensor and a small controller box which makes that one a lot heavier than other Glow-Shift gauges. The gauges themselves weigh very little with the wiring and sensors making up the bulk of the weight. These gauges are made more for cars and trucks so I am sure they have a lot longer wires than will necessary on a bike. The AFR sensor wire is 13 feet long! I should be able to eliminate much weight by cutting and rejoining some of the wires to a reasonable length for a motorcycle.
It will be a while before I get into this project but as I work toward completing it, I'll update this thread.
This is what i envisioned initially but after a quick look at the bike in real life, it is obvious the forks will not clear the outer gauges. The inner gauges could be possible if they fit under the ignition. I'm planning to position the gauges under the top fairing to the outside of the tachometer and the speedo. It will take some cutting of the ram air covers. Also a pretty precisely shaped bracket on each side.
This is a gauge unboxed. We have the gauge with a sensor and wire and a power cable. It is possible to daisy chain 4 or perhaps even 5 Glow-Shift Elite Series gauges on one power wire which is another big selling point. There is also a mounting cup and some kind of mounting bracket (non of which I will be able to use) and gauge visor. I also have included the external warning light in the pic. It attaches with double sided tape wich is very cheesy but I have found light duty double sided tape to be very durable unless used in a high heat area.
This gives an idea of how small the gauges are. They're not too small to read easily but they are small enough to mount a few around the dash of a sportbike with a large cowl like the 14 has.
* Last updated by: Rook on 8/18/2017 @ 10:49 PM *