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How-to: Install a Acumen DG8 Gear Indicator

51K views 36 replies 22 participants last post by  molsen81 
#1 · (Edited)
Just moving this thread over from the mods section.

Got my DG8 installed today and took some pics to do a How To. I bought it from www.riderstation.com and I also bought the harness for an easier install. Everything was straight forward and the hardest part was running the wires. Shipping was very fast. I got the red one just because the back light on the OEM guages is red. I looked at the blueguages site but I didn't like the way the blue one looked so I'm gonna stick with the red.

What you need to do to prepare the install is take off the seat and prop up the tank with some sort of rod. I used a long flat head screw drive because theres a perfect spot for the head to go under the tank and my Scotts damper mounting kit gives you a nice spot for the handle to sit. You'll also have to take off at least the right upper fairing and I took of the side insert to make things easier routing the wires. To do this you'll also need to take off the right ram air cover and the black plastic peice thats held on by pop rivets. I also took off the nose just so I could make sure I ran the wires the way the other wires were already so it looks nice and clean. And of course the windscreen needs to come off.

The harness helped out a lot because all you had to do was plug in the speedo sensor, guage harness, and then the indicator itself; no cutting or sodering.

Heres a pic of what one end of the harness looks like. The cool thing about this is that it has the harness for both the gear indicator and the shift light, but since the 03-04 already has a shift light just wrap it up in electrical tape and put it aside.


This is a pic of the DG8 itself, it just plugs right into the harness.


You need to unplug the harness thats going into the guages and install the new harness. Then plug the original guage harness into the new one.


This is when I took off the nose to run the wires the same route as the current wires. I ran mine out the right, under the part of the headlight where you change the bulb, and followed the current wires underneath the frame.


This is where I used a bent up coat hanger to get the wires from underneath the frame to in front of the air box. From there I routed it under some hoses to the spot the side insert covers, then back to the speed sensor harness.


Heres a pic of the harness that intercepts the speedo harness.


All you have to do here is unplug the speedo harness and plug each part of it into the DG8 harness. And then you can put the tank back down.


I mounted it on the left part of the fairing stay. They give you some really heavy duty velcro so you don't need to worry about it falling off. As you can see its not blocking any of the other guages.


I just routed the wire behind the guage cluster and through the hole that the harness for the guages goes through.


Heres another pic of what everything looks like connected. You can see why I decided to paint the lower part of the windscreen.


Before you velcro the indicator to the fairing stay you might want to program it first. Again, the directions were very easy and straight forward but you need to use this little pin they give you to push a button in the back of the unit to tell it how many gears etc. so it works correctly.

I took it out for a spin and everything works the way its supposed to. I was a little nervous the speedo would act up since I have a speedo healer but it looks the the harness didn't interrupt anything.

If anyone has any questions post em up.

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#6 ·
Since I had a stand I just used that but its pretty easy. It tells you how to do it in the directions but off the top of my head I think it goes like this: Theres a little pin you use to push a button in on the back of the display, you push and hold that in until it starts blinking. Then push it in 6 times to tell it you have 6 gears. (Do that with the key on and the engine off) Now start the bike. If you don't have a stand make sure you have an empty road to ride on so you can pay attention to the display; you'll need to use all 6 gears to program it.

Put it in first gear and you can either let it idle or slowly give it some gas. I think you want to change your rev's but the directions say its ok to let it idle. All you're doing here is teaching the indicator your gear ratios. After a few seconds a 2 will start blinking. Shift into neutral, let the clutch out and then shift into 2nd. Slowly give it some gas until a 3 blinks. Then shift into 3rd gear etc. until you get into 6th.

You can also change how you want the indicator to display neutral but just pressing the button in when your not in programing mode. You can make it a large 'n' a small 'n' or a 0.

Its pretty easy once you start doing it and a great mod IMO.
 
#9 ·
the group buy on a part that cheap will most likely not get off the ground. The plug and play if for the 03-04 only and there is a hard wire version for the 99-02. I have the digi on my 03 and I like the larger read out better and it is a little quicker. I have the acumen on my 02 (though mine is hard wire) acumen is the only brand with plug and play right now.
 
#12 ·
aptd said:
Written up there. You can use both and it should be ok.

-D
Sorry about that. I guess it's time to change my contacts. 2 weeks disposables, going on 5 months of not taking them out.
 
#13 ·
alright i did this mod last night...
used these instructions...nice write up btw...

i set the gear ratios... but i dont like the lag...and it clitches on me...like it takes like a second or2 into every gear for it to switch numbers...
and if i down shift from like 5th to 3rd to slow down it says im in 6th... any ideas>?

yes when i callibrated it i stayed between 2 and 4k and going 1 -> n -> 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> 6
 
#14 ·
You set everything up alright, thats just the way it is. It runs off of ratios and speed so it takes it a second to determine what gear you're in.

You'll get used to it. When I'm on the track I use that thing a lot and its pretty useful on the street too. You'll learn to look at it before you switch gears that way you don't have to figure out if what its telling you is true.
 
#15 ·
blueblur said:
You set everything up alright, thats just the way it is. It runs off of ratios and speed so it takes it a second to determine what gear you're in.

You'll get used to it. When I'm on the track I use that thing a lot and its pretty useful on the street too. You'll learn to look at it before you switch gears that way you don't have to figure out if what its telling you is true.

alright..thanx for the response :hattip
 
#24 ·
dayum im having problems installing it on a 05 R6 i installed on on my both of my zx10r w/ no problems. on the R6 i installed everything like it should but for some reason i cant get the indicator to light up. i was thinking maybe its the unit so i unplugged it and plugged it on my zx10 and it lighted up. but when installed on the R6 it wont light up. i got the plug and play kit so its a no brainer. what is the problem? i mean there is only on plug under the fuel tank that will fit onto the harness and im sure its for the speedo cause when i unplug it the speedo dont work so i plugged in the harness in between it. like i said i sure it can only be plugged in one place. any ways anyone know what could be my problem????
 
#26 ·
Hey biker_larry1000 did you sort out the problem?

I've just tried to install a DG8 to my '00 model with a plug in and play kit and have got the same problem you have.
Everything else works fine speedo,tacho etc but there is no neutral light on the DG8 so i figured (like you did) it must be either a faulty DG8 or possibly loom,but if everything else works fine it must be the DG8 right?
 
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