Article [13] ST1300 - Gear Position Indicator (Do It Yourself)

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

At the risk of continually restating the obvious:
Cool.
I don't even have an ST and I had to download all of it just to admire it.
I was just having a similar think over my beemer's factory indicator failing.
The beemer has a mechanical speedo but it does have ABS sensors...
Anyway, top gear is the only helical one so it is obvious from the absence of whining and clunking that you're in 5th.

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

scoutdriver73 said:

I got a GPI installed (sorta, more like working) on my VFR. I haven't mounted anything permanently because I'm still trying to decide where to put the LED.

The hardware is the same as for the ST. The clutch and neutral signals can be found at the clutch diode, just like the ST (the wire colors are even the same). The diode is in the fuse panel just in front of the battery. The IPG and VSS signals can be found on the Grey plug for the ICM, which is on the back of the bike. All you need to take off to access these points is the seat.
The IPG is the yellow wire and the VSS is "one" of the two pink wires. See pictures for more info.

The program for the PIC had to be modified slightly to get it to work with the VFR. The VSS signal is a much lower frequency than on the ST. Below is the single change to the code. Find the code block in the original and replace with below.

Click to expand...

Beauty... That's awesome.
I'll incorporate your one-line code change into the code comments, for others to see, and upload it when I release the next version.

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

A few weeks back, I got a chance to see msi1259's cool adaptation of the GPI (for his VStrom). He used ExpressPCB to do a custom PCB.

ExpressPCB's work looked so good, I decided to give it a try. I whipped up the artwork for a double-sided PCB one night, uploaded & ordered it via the Internet, and voila... 3 days later I had 6 custom circuit boards on my door step.
All I can say is WOW. They sure do some really nice work. It's a little spendy (about $10 a board), but well worth it IMHO.

Here's a few pics of the new custom PCB. Anyone ordering a builders kit from me will get one of these going forward.

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

pdfruth said:

A few weeks back, I got a chance to see msi1259's cool adaptation of the GPI (for his VStrom). He used ExpressPCB to do a custom PCB.

ExpressPCB's work looked so good, I decided to give it a try. I whipped up the artwork for a double-sided PCB one night, uploaded & ordered it via the Internet, and voila... 3 days later I had 6 custom circuit boards on my door step.
All I can say is WOW. They sure do some really nice work. It's a little spendy (about $10 a board), but well worth it IMHO.

Here's a few pics of the new custom PCB. Anyone ordering a builders kit from me will get one of these going forward.

Click to expand...

Wow! Incredibly cool. I'm in for two! Do you want PayPal again?

Marshal

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

P.D.Fruth ...

OK, you've done everything fate has dictated .... except for offering a completed package to us mere mortals . :bow1:

I'd be happy to pay $$$ for the complete unit/with installation instructions for the ST. Thinking about going commercial? I'm sure you'd have a market big enough to make it worth while!

Old Vic

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

For you riders in the Puget Sound area who are interested in this project, I'd be happy to help with installation. Phil D (Curmudgeon) helped me knock mine off in about half a day. Thanks to Pat's excellent documentation, it's pretty straight forward.

John

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

squid101 said:

I am also glad to read that a lot of people out there try and up shift after they are already in top gear. Whenever I did that I felt like I was the only person who makes that mistake.

Click to expand...

I do that constantly on the ST1300, and I never did it on my 2001 ST1100. I think it's a byproduct of the "taller gearing" on the ST1100 that I mentioned in another thread. The ST1300 just sounds like it's revving higher than it should, at least until you get up enough speed that you can't hear the engine over the wind noise.

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

Old Vic said:

P.D.Fruth ...

OK, you've done everything fate has dictated .... except for offering a completed package to us mere mortals . :bow1:

I'd be happy to pay $$$ for the complete unit/with installation instructions for the ST. Thinking about going commercial? I'm sure you'd have a market big enough to make it worth while!

Old Vic

Click to expand...

Vic,
I'm getting this question more and more lately.
Believe me, I'd love nothing more than to make these things available to all my good friends here, and elsewhere.
My problem is time... I just don't have any. My job keeps me on the road (or on a plane) most of the time. At most, I'd maaaybeeee be able to crank out two a week (on Saturday mornings).

As for going commercial... I'm afraid it's probably not too likely. In order to do it right, achieve economy of scale and tool up for mass production, would require a significant up-front capital investment. The savvy business person (at least those I've talked to) realizes immediately that, because this has all been done in the open, and the code is GPL, there is considerable risk to that kind of investment. Anyone, who wants to, could/can do the same thing at any time. And that potential competition would render the investment worthless.

So, you see, it's a double-edged sword. By committing all of this to the public domain, I've made it possible, for anyone who wants, to make these things. And it's that risk that'll keep a mass producer from investing in mass production. For that reason, this will probably remain a DIY'rs project. For the DIY'rs (like me), this is a great way to learn something, and get a useful little gadget "on-the-cheap".

I've personally put easily hundreds of $$ into tools/supplies/packaging/postage/etc. just to make builders kits available to those interested & capable DIY'rs. Not to mention the countless (~hundreds) hours of R&D. And have yet to come anywhere close to breaking-even. So far this has been a fun little hobby. I've enjoyed sharing (and have others share) ideas along the way. I fear that's as far as it'll go... but I could be wrong.

Edit: Besides, I've heard that - when the new ST1600 comes out, it's gonna have a built-in gear indicator

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

P.D.Fruth ...


Thanks for all your generousity and thought and effort that has gone into your project .... as well as making it available to others. Of all the thousands of posts I have seen regarding bike improvements, yours seems to be especially innovative and useful for what the ST lacks ... a gear indicator. I totally appreciate what you have done to make your idea available to all.

Someday I hope there will be a gear indicator kit available as an aftermarket farkle specifically made for the ST .... a necessity for electronically challenged consumers.

Regards, Old Vic

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

Great job you did there, they are some brand who produce one, and they claim that it will work on any bike, the beauty with yours is that you know the inside out and can explain how it work, my hat down.
The speedo healer you are working on is nice to, other than my St1300 i have a home made mini rail with a 955i Daytona ( Triumph) and a device to adjust the speedo is not existing yet, they have some "pre-calibrated" but nothing to what you are working on, the all the builder of mini rail this could be an solution.

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

So... got to do an in-dash install today. Freddie (Keith) came down to my place today at 11a sharp. We finished at 6:30p. It was a cool (borderline freezing) day. Pace was slowed due to shivering, fumbling, numb fingers. 4:

Taking into account a 30 minute lunch break, combined with a quick run to Radio Shack (for a push button switch), and I figure it took us about 7 hours start-to-finish. Add to that, the 30 minutes I spent building the GPI unit itself, last night. With some more experience, applying lessons learned, I'm thinking this job can be done in 6 hours.

We mounted the "Learn" button inside the left-side fairing pocket, near the top-front. Keith said he'd post a picture of the button mounting location later.

Since we had to run wire to the back of the bike anyway (for IPG, clutch, and neutral), we ran a drop to the vehicle speed sensor connector, for power, ground, and VSS signals.

All-in-all... not terribly complicated. Just alot of putzy stuff
Geeezzzzz, I can't believe how may scews hold the instrument cluster halves together. There must have been 20 screws

But it does look very nice. Looks like Factory, now that it's all done.

Keith, I hope you got home alright, buddy... it started snowing pretty good, right after you left. Thanks for your time, patience, and agreeing to be a guinea pig. And thanks for lunch! :eat1:

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

Thanks for the update, Pat. Lookin' forward to Keith's pictures. This was the type of installation Curmudgeon was thinking of, so I'm sure he'll be interested as well. My GPI is running like a champ! A nice, fun, practical little farkle.

John

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

Quick reply here..... wow never knew there were so many screws holding the dash face together!!!!! as Pat said..... it was a great day learning and getting the install completed!!

Thanks again for all the help from Pat and his invaluable knowledge and patience....wow did we do alot of soldering!!! But the install looks factory and I extremely pleased!!! Give me a day or so to post pictures....

Pat it did snow on my way home but no problems.....

It was great to see both Scott and Pat again they are truly a great group to know!!

Keith

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

with this techno luke could of beat darth easily

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

Ok here are a few pictures sorry about the button being blurry will try and get a better shot tomorrow...

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

Wow!! Very nicely done.

John

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

I?ve got my GPI installed and working and I couldn?t be more pleased.

I really want to thank Pat Fruth for his generosity in developing and sharing this circuit. I made a point to get some electronics text books and read/understand what the circuit was doing as I went along. It was a great learning experience.

I also want to thank Phil (Curmudgen) for supplying me with a Kingbright .5? LED free of charge. He had an extra and shipped it to me and didn?t want to be paid?. Thanks Phil.

I chose to install my GPI in the instrument cluster. I thought I?d post a few pictures and notes about what I learned along the way. I didn't get pictures of every step.... sorry. What follows is for those people that are considering an in-dash install and are wondering what that entails. It?s by no means a complete set of instructions, but combined with some basic common sense it might be helpful.

First, you?ll want a smaller display than the .8" display that came in Pat?s Kit . The Kingbright .5? part # SA05-11SRWA seems about perfect for in dash use.

Accessing the instrument cluster was easier than I expected. Remove the windshield and plastic mirror covers. There are six screws holding the dash in place. Four of them are in plain sight on the upper right and left of the dash (while sitting on the bike). One screw on each side is exposed by the removed mirror covers. There are about eight plastic rivets that hold on the upper front cowling that are accessible after removing the windshield. Remove upper cowling and the big electrical connector that supplies the dash and the instrument cluster is free.

From this point forward, keep track of the screws as you remove them, there are a couple of different sizes. I laid them out on a clean spot on the bench in the order that I removed them.

Remove the six screws that hold the dash and instrument cluster together.
Remove the headlight adjustment knob from the front of the dash. Mine came off quite hard due to a little rust on the inside of the knob. It pulls straight off, but you may have to get it started by prying with a screwdriver. Be sure to put a thin sheet of cardboard or something between the screwdriver and the dash, so as not to leave marks.

Remove the eleven screws that hold the two halves of the instrument cluster together. You should now be able to gently separate the instrument cluster to access all the good stuff inside.

To allow me to place the GPI display as close to the ?ST-1300? label as possible without actually interfering with the illumination of the label, I reduced the length of the LED unit by grinding the excess material off of the end of the display with a belt sander (you could do the same with sandpaper on a block of wood). Just stop before you grind all the way through to the pins. The entire LED is a block of epoxy; this adjustment won?t hurt it in the least.

I?m fortunate enough to have a milling machine in my basement, so I used it to cut the opening in the white injection molded part that will house the LED. A Dremel tool could be used satisfactorily as well. Refer to the pictures to see what the opening will look like.

I used an X-Acto knife to cut the opening in my prototype lens?.if you can avoid this, do. The plastic lens material is extremely tough and abrasive. I went through a couple of blades trying to cut through it and got a jagged opening for my trouble. I found that a sharp wood chisel and mallet with a hard wood board underneath (I suppose soft wood would work also) gave a clean hassle free cut. If you screw it up, the replacement lens is only about $3.50.

The white injection molded lens carrier sits ALMOST in contact with the printed circuit board (PCB) beneath it. That doesn?t leave enough room to allow the pins on the back of the LED to stick straight out in their normal position. I bent all the pins horizontally inward, toward each other before soldering. They are very pliable and bend easily. Small bits of shrink tubing slid over each wire (before soldering) and then shrunk onto the exposed pins (after soldering) ensures there is no unwanted contact between pins. You end up with a very neat low profile package that fits nicely between the PCB and the white lens holder.

My bike is non-ABS, so I had a convenient blank indicator location for the photo resistor. I measured the diameter of the resistor and drilled a hole precisely that size is the lens material, again using a hardwood backer board to prevent burrs. I pressed the long legged resistor disk into the lens material (the hole fit nicely so it stayed in place) and then filled the socket for the unused ABS light full of silicone sealant. I then laid a small square of wax paper over the fresh silicone (so it wouldn?t stick to the lens) and pushed the resistor legs through the paper, through the silicone and out the back of the white lens holder. I aligned the lens and white lens holder using the plastic pins that are there for that purpose. Let the whole thing sit overnight. The next day, lift off the lens, peel off the wax paper and you?ve got a photo resistor that is in perfect alignment with the hole in your lens and is very securely embedded in silicone. The legs of the resistor are sticking out the back side of the assembly waiting to be soldered into the circuit. The same process will work with an ABS equipped bike; you?ll just have to choose a different spot on the white lens holder to secure your photo resistor.

The ten wires that feed the LED and photo resistor are arranged between the PCB and lens holder so that none interfere with the tiny LEDs that light up the rest of the indicator lights. All the wires meet and the cable exits just below the main connector for this board.

The cable makes gentle bend and exits the instrument cluster through a hole drilled for that purpose. I used silicone to seal around cable where it exits the instrument cluster.

Make sure you clean off any dust and stray particles then reassemble in reverse order.

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

Good stuff! Hopefully Pat will be able to use some of your material to add to the excellent documentation he's already produced for the external installation.

John

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

pdfruth said:

....I'm REALLY looking forward to trying this thing on my RC51, at the track, next season.

Click to expand...

The day has finally come. Scooted the RC51 around the east half of Miller all day today. Oh what a day it was. Absolutely gorgeous. The track at Miller is like glass.... smooooottttth. And talk about grip. Holy crap. But I digress.

I looked at the GPI maybe once. That was after I discovered that I basically run around the entire east circuit in 2nd gear, with only 2 short bursts to 3rd. Infact the track is so tight, there's never time to even look down at the instrument cluster. I looked down maybe once... to see that I was quickly passing thru 100pmh in 3rd. But then I had to get back to the business of concentrating on setting up for the next turn. Oh boy this is fun. But, alas, no GPI required.

Re: My home-built DIY gear position indicator - includes plans

I would so like to get this modification done to my bike ... but since any project that involves picking up a screw driver is too complex for me, I think I'm going to have to wait until I can buy a kit and find some one to install it for me.

If any one knows of a way of getting this done, please let me know!

Very impressive ...