Hercolor Digital Dashboard

[lcallison]

That would be interesting. I haven't had mine out since I cut the film. I'm installing the cruise control. I hope to have it back on the road tomorrow. I have resisters now to do some testing on the fuel gauge also. I think adding about 400 ohms or so to that circuit should give it enough to at least give an indication. Supposedly it's looking for 510 ohms at empty. I should know for sure by the time the weekend is over.

[lcallison]

Cutting a hole in the film did help some. Mine is at a different angle than yours and I can see the diode in both holes. It's still not great, but it is better than it was.

I finished up installing the Rostra today. Without the stock speedometer, I don't have the speed signal that most use for the cruise. So, I tried using the magnet sensor I have on the Hercolor. It does work, just not very well. It doesn't provide enough signal pulses for the Rostra. It wants a minimum of 2000 per mile, while this only provides just under 500. So, I just ordered a tach filter that I will try next. One thing I discovered. If you have a brake light flasher, hook the tail light sensor after the flasher unit and the cruise will still work. I will be modifying the 76 the same way shortly.

[Sidecar Bob]

Your front tire is a 110/90-19 so the approx. circumference should be 84.2" or 7.014'.

5280' (1 mile) divided by 7.014' = 753 revolutions per mile = 753 pulses per mile. Well over 500 but still not enough.

You could put 3 or 4 magnets and a second sensor on the other rotor.

What is the Rostra made for anyway? 2000 pulses per mile would require a tire no larger than 10" outside diameter!!!

Re tach filter: Am I interpreting you right that you want to trigger the speed input of the cruise control from the ignition pulses? Somehow that just doesn't sound right to me....

[lcallison]

Usually if you use the magnets with the Rostra, there are at least 2 up to as many as 5 or 6. Normally, the unit uses vss for speed signal. You can use the tach if you clean up the signal, or at least it's figured that you can. Also, I computed my 120/90/18 to be 130.xxx inches, which gives 478 revolutions per mile. The speedometer is less than 5% off, so I must have been pretty close. I am going to try a tach filter. I figure that will be simpler than putting magnets and another sensor on the rear wheel. Also less to get in the way when working on the rear. With the Audiovox Cruise unit, you had the option of using the tach or vss. Rostra doesn't recommend using the tach unless you clean the signal up.

[Sidecar Bob]

Your signature says its an '82 and they didn't change to the 18" front wheel until '83 so I assumed that was what you had. but there is not much difference in diameter between a 110/90-19 and a 120/90-18.

How did you get 130"?

The height of a 120/90 is (in theory) 90% 0f 120mm = 108mm = 4.25"
4.25 + 4.25 + 18" = 26.5" = tire diameter
3.1415 x 26.5 = 83.24"
And that comes to 761 revs per mile

BTW: I noticed a small error in my math from last night and corrected it above)

I always record the circumference, width & tread depth of tires when I first mount them and circumference & tread depth again when they are worn out. The last 120/90-18 I mounted (on the 650's narrow rear rim) was a bit over 84" so my calculations are in the right ballpark.

Anyway, my point was (& your mention of "at least 2 up to as many as 5 or 6" seems to back this up) that you could use several magnets on the other brake disc with a second sensor. I think these might work http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2-x-Cylindrical- ... 257b78af91

[lcallison]

Well, either way, it doesn't work well like that. I'm beginning to wonder what they did use. I really messed sending the circumference in. I was thinking pi * r squared. But, I did send in the dimensions of the tire. Shows how much math I remember. Both of my 82's had 18 inch front wheels and 16 inch rear wheels. I thought the 81 was the last year with 19".

I worked on the gas gauge last night. I had switched to reserve about 15 miles from here, so it was the perfect time. A 470 ohm resister in series brought the reading down to 1 solid and 1 flashing bar. But, when I filled it up the reading only went to 2 solid bars. So, basically the gas gauge isn't going to work unless we can replace the sender with one that reads 0 to about 550 ohms. I might mount the gas gauge somewhere on the bike. Probably not though. If I had a round gauge that would fit where my analog clock is, I might consider replacing it.

[Sidecar Bob]

We all have those days. A couple of years ago I bought a 19" tire for the front of my '83 and realized it was wrong after I had it home and removed the wrapping. Fortunately, the parts guy at the Honda dealer was willing to let me return it for an 18" one. What is really dumb about that is that I hadn't owned anything with a 19" wheel for about 4 years at the time. D'oh!

You may be right about when the wheel sizes changed. I thought it was '83 when they changed the brakes and a bunch of other stuff.

Re gas gauge:
- My 650 has a 500 tank with no sender so I couldn't try the fuel gauge.
- I don't like toggling between trip odometer and main odometer with my gloves on. I don't imagine toggling between temp and fuel will be any better.
- On the 'Wing, even though the original fuel gauge is very consistent, I tend to go by the trip odometer anyway. so even if I get the fuel gauge to read perfectly I will probably leave it set to temp gauge most of the time and continue to go by the trip odo.

I haven't been working very swiftly this spring. I just put the timing belt covers back on yesterday evening and I want to do the tires & forks before I start on the instrument panel so it will be at least another week. (After several days of 20c+ weather it snowed last night so I'm glad I am still on the winter outfit today). After all the trouble you are having I think I might remove the fuel gauge sender from the tank so that I can experiment without depending on the fuel level in the tank.

Cutting a hole in the film did help some. Mine is at a different angle than yours and I can see the diode in both holes. It's still not great, but it is better than it was.

If mine is at a better angle it isn't much better. As I said, I may just get energetic and switch to "long stemmed" LEDs so that I don't have to look down those tubes at them. I have some nice 5mm flat top (wide dispersion) ones that would probably be just about perfect.

[lcallison]

The long stem led's would probably be great. However, with my soldering skills, I'll keep what I have. I remember our soldering class in the Telephone/Teletype Repair Course in 1968. It wasn't a very comprehensive course. You watched the instructor solder 2 wires together. That was the extent of our soldering class. I've learned a good bit since then, but I'm still not a good solder man. I still have the wires running back to the cruise control for my magnet sensor. Since I've hooked that up, I've seen my speedometer jump to as high as 328 mph. When I first started the bike after connecting everything, my speedometer was reading 150-250 mph just sitting there. I had reversed the polarity of the magnet sensor when I connected to the cruise. It was that way maybe 5 minutes, but when I got it all straightened out, my trip meter said I had gone 112 miles. Tonight the fairing comes off and that section of wiring is coming out. It's startling the first time you look down when running 80 and the speedo says you're doing over 300!

[lcallison]

I got the tach filter and will try it on the cruise tomorrow.

[lcallison]

Don't do a tach filter if you try the Rostra. Mine doesn't work at all now. It powers up, but won't go into diagnostics. I called tech support, but got no call back yet. Not looking good. The Hercolor is working fine yet. Once I got all the wiring disconnected to the cruise, it's working better than before. No jumping on the speedo and the tach jumps less than before.

[Sidecar Bob]

Have you tried hooking it back up the way that didn't work right before, just to make sure you haven't done it any harm?

BTW: The turn signal LEDs seemed more visible after I punched the holes but it was still early spring and the sun was not as bright at the times of day when I was driving. Now that the sun is brighter I don't see them as well. In fact, when the sun is shining over my shoulder I can barely read the numbers, let alone see those dim LEDs. I will definitely look into other options before I mount the new one on the 'Wing. I am still contemplating some sort of shade or visor but that won't do a bit of good if the sun is behind me. I don't recall having as much trouble seeing the numbers last year so it could be that the lens is just that much more scuffed & scratched and glares more or something like that.

[lcallison]

Mine is pretty good except when I'm heading into a setting or rising sun. But that's how it is with any of them. I do have a shade on mine. While I agree the turn signal indicators need to be brighter, they are better than they were. I'm pretty sure the unit is messed up. It won't go into diagnostics at all. Actually, when you go into diagnostics, the on led should turn off and the diagnostics led should turn off. Both are solid on now. I haven't tried hooking it up as I had it before. I'm going to call tech support early Tuesday morning and hope I get a call back. I'll have the fairing and such off when I do so I can get to everything.

[Jack the Dwarf]

G'mornin evrone... Concerning the tempgauge, did u compare the resistance values? I had that prob with my aftermarket tempgauge. Had to buy a new sensor, had tge gauge "resoldered" to a new resistance value, and then had a "noncontinuous" temp cable..... Ask the manufacturers for the resistance values of the gauge.... That can be the failure. If u need sensors, i do have a site where u can ask exactly for ur specs..... Greetz

[lcallison]

The temp gauge works fine. When you first start, it acts like it's not hooked up, but after a couple minutes it shows 0 bars then starts inching up. When it shows one bar, it's time to take the choke completely off. I've learned where the fan turns on and where normal running is. The gas gauge uses values I haven't been able to find in a gas gauge sensor. It's around 550 ohms for empty. The most I can find on a replacement is 240 ohms.

[lcallison]

So much for tech support and Rostra. As soon as he realized I was talking about installation on a motorcycle, he refused to discuss it any more. He said I would have to talk to distributor as they do not support installations on motorcycles.