GlowShift 10 Color Elite Series Gauges
So far I have only used the GlowShift 10 Color Elite Series oil pressure and oil temperature gauges. I will ad commentary about other GlowShift Elite Series gauges in the near future.
I chose GlowShift gauges because the white faced analogs they sell match the Gen1 Zx-14’s tachometer and speedo faces quite well. GlowShift gauges are inexpensive compared to other gauges and they are also compact for an analog guage, most of which are designed more for automobiles than motorcycles.
GOOD
The GlowShift 7 color analog gauges are very affordable They have the same dimmer function plus 7 of the ten colors on the Elite series plus two color changing modes. Each 7 color gauge is designed to have a separate power harness which means multiple gauges would require a lot of wire on the bike. With a little electrical knowhow, you could rig up your own wiring to connect more than one 7 color GlowShift gauge in series like the 10 color gauges, however. The range of some of the 7 color gauges is more limited than the Elite Series gauges. The 10 Color Elite series is not much more expensive and you get a warning light on the face with high warning and low warning and audible warning signal settings plus peak recall. There is also a port to hook up an larger external warning light sold by GlowShift to any Elite Series gauge and they have a port for a daisy chain harness which permits you to connect up to five Elite Series gauges in series without doing any homemade electrical work. The Elite Series gauges seem to be very accurate as far as I am able to tell without using expensive test equipment. Lets say they are not way off if they are at all inaccurate. You will get a good idea of what your oil pressure and temperature are if not dead nuts on the money. The 10 color Elite series seems to be a good quality gauge far better than I expected considering their price. I would assume the 7 color gauges are as good in build quality and accuracy.
Compactness is very desirable no matter where you mount a gauge on a motorcycle. With a cup depth 1 and 15/16 inch, GlowShift gauges are about as shallow as you will find. I feel the two and a quarter inch diameter of the gauge face is just a bit bigger than I’d like to have it alongside the stock gauges but if you’re up for creating your own molding, you could install a ring that would reduce them a quarter inch or more without obstructing the scale on the faces. I haven’t weight comparisons to other brands of gauges but at just over a pound for two gauges with all electrical and mounting hardware (including a rather hefty stainless steel sensor adapter I chose to use) I’d say they were pretty lightweight. The two GlowShift gauges themselves weigh a bit over a quarter pound together so most of the weight comes from the wiring and other parts.
The gauges look and work every bit as cool as you see them in the GlowShift videos. In fact, they are more impressive in real life than pictures can capture as long as you are not in direct sunlight. There is a dim color sensation however even on a bright day with the gauges facing almost straight up out in the open sun. If mounted at the sides of the instrument cluster, the gauges will probably show their color in all conditions where the sun is not at a very low angle but out on the handlebars looking up, sun wins for the most part even though you can still read them just fine in the sun. You don’t really need a lighted gauge in daylight regardless of how cool it looks. The dimmer function works as described but a 33% reduction in light intensity is not really that much. In low light, these puppies are extremely brilliant even on dim. You turn the ignition on, the gauges light up and there is a quiet ratcheting noise as the needle sweeps. Start the engine and the needles indicate a reasonable value that is consistent with every start and the existing conditions such as engine temp and rpm. There is no clue whatsoever that the gauges might not be indicating perfectly accurate. The low warning light flashes and the audible alarm sounds. These days, simple miniature audio systems are capable of a lot more volume than it appears they would. The audible alarm is louder than I expected but I’m not sure I would hear it at any speed with a loud exhaust, helmet and earplugs. I think it would work fine for street riding. If the audible alarm on more than one gauge goes off at the same time, that makes it even louder.
The gauges fit securely with two small nuts but as you might expect, it’s up to you to figure out what they are going to attach to. I don’t see that as being GlowShift’s problem since they do not market their gauges specifically for the ZX-14.
The gauges are not waterproof and I doubt you could find many brands of analog gauges that are. I will have to be careful washing the bike and I simply cannot get caught in the rain ever again. Not a good touring mod. There are very small digital gauges that are high quality. https://www.dynotunenitrous.com/store/scripts/prodlist.asp?idcategory=44 They are waterproof and I am sure they are very accurate but they are more expensive and not nearly as easy to read as analog gauges.
NOT GOOD
Simple and direct, the harness connectors to the gauge ports on the 10 Color Elite Series gauges are garbage. They are extremely loose fitting, have no lock and they simply fall out under their own weight. GlowShift really needs to revise this because without the harnesses staying connected, the gauges are useless. This is not an occasional small issue. Every time I hit a bump the connectors shake loose and each gauge has at least two connectors. You either have intermittent power or sensor signal or both. This causes the needle to bounce back and forth between 0 and what it should read or one or both connectors looses contact completely which makes the gauge shut off or not indicate. It is very annoying. I had some luck zip tying the harnesses close to the ports but on anything but a freshly paved road, even this will allow intermittent connections. This is a real disappointment after going through the considerable amount of work it takes to install gauges. I know there are a lot more bumps and vibes on a motorcycle than a car but there could be no way these would work even on the smoothest riding car. I’m actually slightly pissed because GlowShift denies there is a problem with their connectors. I have not tried a 7 color gauge but it looks like the power harness does have a latch and probably would stay in better. Why not on the more expensive Elite Series? I have plans to make affix a plate with screws to the back of the gauges. This will be designed to hold the plugs tightly in the ports and I think it will work as well as make the gauges more water resistant. This will be many hours of work that should have been ironed out by the manufacturer.
As previously mentioned, the gauges themselves are good. They seem to be doing what they should perfectly well as long as you can keep the harnesses from falling out. The sensors and sensor install recommendations may be another story. First, the oil temperature is not reliable when sampled from an external location or remote oil line. These adapters do not permit the the oil to flow through them so it cannot reflect the current oil temperature as well as a sensor in the engine. Also, external adapters stay a LOT cooler than the actual engine oil or so it seems. With my GlowShift oil temperature sensor installed to an adapter at the oil pressure switch port in the oil pan, I have seen nothing over 140° on the scale which starts at 130°. The needle barely moves. I do not believe this engine runs as cool as the gauge indicates but the external adapter probably DOES! This is not GlowShift’s fault but they should not suggest the sensor be installed to a T fitting (another external adapter) for a simpler alternative to installing to a port in the engine. As far as I can tell, the temperature sensor works great but any external adapter (with the possible exception off a sandwich adapter) will make it all but useless.
The ad says:
This oil temperature gauge reads from 100° to 280° Fahrenheit with the included electronic temperature sensor that reads and displays your vehicle’s oil temperature with unrivaled precision…..can be installed to your oil gallery, an oil gallery test port, or for an easier installation, you can purchase one of GlowShift’s T-fittings or Oil Filter Sandwich Adapters.
I’m not sure where they get the 100° to 280° from. The Elite Series gauge starts at 130°. The 7 color oil temp gauge starts at 100° and probably uses the same sensor so if you can live without the peak recall and high/low alarms and you don’t mind not being able to easily connect additional gauges in series, the 7 color might be a better gauge to use with an external adapter. You will see more happening even if it is not representing the actual temperature of the oil in the engine. The fix for either is to install the sensor to the engine and GlowShift really oughta tell you that.
Another thing that is weird about the Elite Series oil pressure gauge is that there is a sticker on the back that says, “OIL PRESSURE 270° F”. What does that mean? The oil has to be 270 to be perfectly accurate? I don’t think I want my oil to ever get to 270°. Maybe I will get more info on that later.
The oil pressure sensor, I have a big problem with.
The ad says:
This oil pressure gauge reads from 0 to 150 PSI with the included electronic oil pressure sensor that reads and displays your vehicle’s oil pressure with unparalleled accuracy.
Something is wrong here, the gauge or the sensor. My gauge seems to indicate as would be expected at all speeds up to about 6000 or 7000 rpm where it abruptly stops at a paltry 92 psi. The pressure runs at 60 psi at cold start and then drops down to 40 after a brief warmup. After the bike is run and thoroughly warmed up, the oil pressure is 14-16 psi at idle. At 4000 rpm and three bars water temp on the stock gauge (I presume that is approximately 90 C oil temp), the indicated pressure was 62 psi. My 2008 zx-14 service manual says 4000 rpm, 36~60 psi @ 90 C oil temp so it appears the GlowShift oil pressure gauge is very accurate and also shows a very reasonable indication at idle during various engine temps. I have no reason to think the oil pressure gauge is inaccurate but the max oil pressure should indicate way over 92 psi. Since the gauge seems to be accurate and pegs at 150 psi, I can only assume the sensor is limited to 92 psi. Either that or my pressure relief valve is wore out after 50k miles and opening way too easy but I have never heard of such a thing. The oil pressure relief valve should open at a certain psi preventing the oil pressure from rising any farther. It should be more like 200 psi, not 92. The fix is to try an oil pressure sensor sold by some other manufacturer. If we’re lucky, the sensor is a direct fit to the GlowShift sensor harness and can be plugged right into the gauge. If not and it has three wires like the GlowShift sensor does, it should be possible to solder it to the GlowShift oil pressure sensor harness.
Conclusion
The gauges are GOOD! but they take a good deal of fussing with to get them to work. The sensors—-I’m reserving judgement for now but seems to me at least the oil pressure sensor is not up to the demands of the Elite Series gauge.
If you like the gauges, buy them and be prepared to buy and fit parts designed for some other system. Be prepared to figure out some way to keep the wires from falling out of the back of the gauges. It can be done but if you want plug and play this is certainly not …and that’s just the stuff that comes with the kit. There’s plenty of other fussing with OEM ZX-14 stuff to get gauges operating.
OIL PRESSURE AND OIL TEMP GAUGE INSTALL
I will post a full demo video when I get it done.
Here’s what I have for now:
