eBay special universal speedometer thread.. (again)

227 Views 13 Replies 3 Participants Last post by WestChannel27, 8 d ago

digishock

Discussion Starter · 12 d ago (Edited by Moderator)

Hey folks. I was wondering if someone here had already invented the wheel for it. Looking to turn the gas gauge on the universal speedometer into a "cold to hot" temp sensor. I've been doing some research but I've been sadly drawing blanks.

Ebay item# 402578955246

And a link to a thread for installation, wiring, and actually mentions a possibility of doing it:

Universal Digital Speedometer : "The Ebay Special"

I recently installed a universal digital speedometer on my EX500 streetfighter build. This speedometer came in a box of parts included with my bike when I bought it, but it seems to be identical to many of the same models found on ebay and aliexpress, see the following links for example...

www.ex-500.com

OP originally said he was going to be back if he figured it out (he never came back), some mentioning he could use a potentiometer to find the right resistance etc etc.. before going out of my way and learning the whole science myself I wanted to see if anyone else had done it or figured out something similar?

For what its worth if someone is willing to help make this work I will also have some input later on the analog to digital speedometer cable converter from DAYTONA instead of installing the hall sensor and magnets. Thanks!

Save

1 - 14 of 14 Posts

yorkie

· #2 · 12 d ago

hi, in theory it should be possible as both gauges work in a similar way and it shouldn't be too difficult to work out which wire is the sensor one, the problem as I see it is in the calibration of the gauge as the methods for Enabling a reading vary from unit to unit. so your or someone-else's solution for one gauge may not work on different one.
the chances of it been done on that gauge set and on to an EX may be slim.
but you may be lucky, otherwise it could be down to you to be the first to do it.

Save

Reactions: 1

digishock

Discussion Starter · #3 · 12 d ago

yorkie said:
hi, in theory it should be possible as both gauges work in a similar way and it shouldn't be too difficult to work out which wire is the sensor one, the problem as I see it is in the calibration of the gauge as the methods for Enabling a reading vary from unit to unit. so your or someone-else's solution for one gauge may not work on different one.
the chances of it been done on that gauge set and on to an EX may be slim.
but you may be lucky, otherwise it could be down to you to be the first to do it.

i’ll give a shot at throwing a potentiometer in the line and using a multimeter to check the resistance. i should have a pot laying around from guitars, hopefully it’s enough resistance.

Save

WestChannel27

· #4 · 10 d ago

yorkie said:
that is not the case at all. because once the temp range has been set for the light to come on at a predetermined level, as the temp lowers. the sender unit would have more resistance and therefore turn off the light.
at any point below the predetermined set level the light stays off when it reaches that temp the light comes on when the temp lowers it goes off again automatically.
guess how I know. well because I have one as a back up on the gen 1. it is set to come on at the time the fan kicks in about 3/4 on the gauge. when the required temp is reached the light comes on. then if the fan kicks in the light goes out but if the fan fails the light stays on and I know the fans not working and the temps too high.

here it is circled in yellow.
View attachment 54533

the one on the left is for the alarm system.

alternative?

Inline Coolant Tempature Gauge

As of this moment, I have no tach/dash what so ever. My paranoia sets in when I've been sitting at stop lights in the city and I can feel the asphalt shooting heat through the rubber beneath the soles of my shoes. I've seen this. 7/8ths diameter though. I am really into this and am having a...

www.ex-500.com

Save

Reactions: 1

digishock

Discussion Starter · #5 · 10 d ago

WestChannel27 said:
alternative?

Inline Coolant Tempature Gauge

As of this moment, I have no tach/dash what so ever. My paranoia sets in when I've been sitting at stop lights in the city and I can feel the asphalt shooting heat through the rubber beneath the soles of my shoes. I've seen this. 7/8ths diameter though. I am really into this and am having a...

www.ex-500.com

I do like this idea and it's definitely an option, but that gets me fired up to further the math equation even more and throw the tach I have in the mix.
So what it looks like I will need:

Temp of the bike when the fans kick on
Resistance of the thermostat sensor when fans kick on, idle, and cold
Resistance requirements to get that gauge meter to spin up
And the difference between the two, which would be resistors.

Reading through @yorkie's solution of a propane cooking pot and some boiling water is totally something I could do.
One thing I would like to mention, as I wish I had in the first place, is that I'm missing the original instrument cluster. Didn't come with the bike and quite frankly I don't want to spend the money on something that will sit on a shelf after testing, or have the trouble of trying to resell. But if I did, it might be a clue if a multimeter was thrown into the mix to find what ohm resistance the original gauge starts to climb at, idle, and when the fans kick on. I may have that wrong though, I'm no professional.

Also on a side note I did play with the potentiometer from one of my guitars, and as I was able to get a reading on the gauge when placed on a ground and not to the thermostat, the potentiometer of a guitar is far too large of a resistance. "0-1" is basically an on-off switch. I will try to find a smaller one and do further testing.

See less See more

Save

yorkie

· #6 · 10 d ago

yeah I've always been an investigator (of some some sorts) and want to know how everything works, to the point it seems I try to reinvent the wheel sometimes, Lol.
it does take a lot of time though and patience most don't have, my big failing is I never write anything down it's all in my head. the system I devised works quite well but from thinking about something to make it a reality, is a big leap.
the saving grace if you like is the thermostatic switch is basically a ground for the temp gauge and the unit it's self does all the work, it's just a way of reading those values and interpreting it into a circuit the rest is just experimentation to get the results required.
it's possibly just coincidence the light comes on just as the fan operates, I must have just hit the exact resistance value (temp wise) while testing.
anyway good luck in your efforts to duplicate something similar as there is no "how to" to explain it. sorry.

Save

Reactions: 1

digishock

Discussion Starter · #7 · 10 d ago

yorkie said:
yeah I've always been an investigator (of some some sorts) and want to know how everything works, to the point it seems I try to reinvent the wheel sometimes, Lol.
it does take a lot of time though and patience most don't have, my big failing is I never write anything down it's all in my head. the system I devised works quite well but from thinking about something to make it a reality, is a big leap.
the saving grace if you like is the thermostatic switch is basically a ground for the temp gauge and the unit it's self does all the work, it's just a way of reading those values and interpreting it into a circuit the rest is just experimentation to get the results required.
it's possibly just coincidence the light comes on just as the fan operates, I must have just hit the exact resistance value (temp wise) while testing.
anyway good luck in your efforts to duplicate something similar as there is no "how to" to explain it. sorry.

thank you for the luck! any info is good info right now, especially if someone had made a system before that works for them. it's quite possible i'll be able to work out something myself and be able to share my findings online so others may piggyback off of my ideas onto their own if it works.

Save

yorkie

· #8 · 10 d ago

yes I really hope you can, in my case it's like solving a puzzle you can remember the final solution to it but rarely remember all the different missteps it took to get to it.

Save

Reactions: 1

yorkie

· #9 · 10 d ago

hi again, one thing I do remember is on the stock gauge (when fitted) if you pull off the (yellow) wire and put on somewhere to earth it out the gauge pegs out to hot, that means the less resistance the hotter the gauge reads so in other words the highest resistance is when the coolant is cold. the least is when the coolant is hot.
this may help somewhat choosing a resistor to find the sweet spot,

Save

Reactions: 1

digishock

Discussion Starter · #10 · 10 d ago (Edited)

Work in Progress

I am currently working on a 2000 ex-500 that I bought cheap off Craigslist as my first bike. I bought it with large chunks of the plastics missing, the turn signals non-functioning, bald tires, broken clutch lever, and the list goes on and on. I decided to give it a street fighter look (I know...

www.ex-500.com

found this while searching. guys done a lot of footwork, gonna dig in this a good bit later.

on another note, while fooling around with my overly heavy potentiometer (250k ohm) i was able to sort of find what the middle of the gauges (mid gas level) resistance was in the ball park, which was roughly 1800 ohms. i cannot confirm this, but have ordered a set of potentiometers in different ranges to hopefully help me find a more stable number.

EDIT: Radiator Fan Switch

Lots of numbers in this thread while he was troubleshooting. Leaving these here as reference for myself and others in the future

Save

Reactions: 1

digishock

Discussion Starter · #11 · 8 d ago

So… I ended up finding out there was a setting on the tachometer that I had bought. It’s very obvious if you scroll through a couple of YouTube videos that each one of these universal cluster gauges are unique, and the programming in mine is exactly the case.
There was a setting in the only options menu that would change the reading of resistance on the gas gauge. I found that out when adjusting and tweaking the speed sensor (that came in today, will make a separate post below).

For the temperature gauge to read the sensor coming from the thermostat temp, I changed the number from “1” to “5” on the right side. I am not terribly sure how accurate it is yet, but at idle temps it was sitting smack in the middle when I got it switched. Letting it sit it fell to E, and when it was warm and switched off it would jump a speck higher. I had not tested if the fans would kick on yet, no long rides until I could figure that out. I want to find out the temps that those are sitting at so I will use a thermometer in line tomorrow when I have the bike actually running. I would also like to get a reading of the resistance between slightly warm and warm at idle, plus temps for both for record sake. I said I’d do it after all, and someone may need that info some day anyways.

See less See more

Save

digishock

Discussion Starter · #12 · 8 d ago

Now for the speedometer situation, I had bought a DAYTONA Analog to Electronic pulse converter instead of dealing with the electromagnetic hall sensor and magnets. Call me stubborn but it was a jump since it was $60 and the instructions came in Japanese.

for the wiring (DISCLAIMER: MAY BE DIFFERENT WITH EACH CLUSTER GAUGE) I had wired the ground to the ground wire (for me it was black to green), and had to flip the power and the pulse sensor from the original guide to how it is now. It’s only three wires and as long as you don’t plug the ground lead into a powered lead you shouldn’t fry anything. The DAYTONA converter fits nice and snug in the original speedometer cable and will actually plug into the original instrument cluster as well so you can adjust the numbers as you fine tune it. I don’t have my original and have yet to clarify, but so far the ball park of setting it to “F05.0” seems to be close to accurate. Will get a GPS speed to try to compare how close it is.

but holy crap. I can’t believe I got two birds with one stone today and by just chance. I initially went in with both ideas thinking they wouldn’t come out working but both seem to be incredibly possible now, if not close to accurate. needless to say I’m thrilled.

See less See more

Save

yorkie

· #13 · 8 d ago

good job.

Save

WestChannel27

· #14 · 8 d ago

Nice !

There was some mad lad that had some weird diagram at one point , put it on Craigslist and some guy ended making some typa thing that halved the voltage to remove the readout of the wasted spark readout to get it to work; he made a little box for it ; connected it to his eBay speedo and it worked.
I spent about5 minutes looking for it but couldn’t find it.
In case your fix doesn’t pan out ; that may be another lead for ya

Save

1 - 14 of 14 Posts

Top Contributors this Month