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Ok, odometer play time.

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regularman

regularman

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I was just messing about on the net and ended up buying a bike speedo odometer. For those the have hooked one of these up, where did you mount the sensor for the magnetic pickup? If it would work, I would think the drive shaft would be an excellent place to mount it if the switch will work that fast.
 
I ordered two from Bike Nashbar.
I expect them to arrive tomorrow, so I'm also interested to know where to hook it up. Sounds like a fun little gizmo. :wink:
 
Yeah, Rick. I looked through some on ebay and bought a german one called sigma. They said to remember the info when you change battery (will write it down some where)but the battery lasts 3 years, so not a big worry. Mine said it will register speed up to 199 kmh or equivalent in MPH so that should be fast enough (123 mph).
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]should be fast enough (123 mph)[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that's even fast enough for me. :devilgrin:
 
Kim and Rick, if you buy the Sigma BC-1600... you wouldn't have to worry about writing things down when you change the battery.

The Sigma units are limited to a max input pulse rate of 30 Hz. I received this info from my contact at Sigma and I confirmed it with bench testing. What this means for you is that the driveshaft will turn too fast.

Jim from the other thread is the guy you need to contact. I believe he mounted the magnet on a brake drum and put the reed switch on the brake backplate.
 
The Sigma bicycle computers are great secondary speedometers for cars and motorcycles. In my case, the stock speedo is in KPH and I don't want to replace it with one calibrated in MPH. The Sigma gives me an inexpensive, accurate, speedometer that also logs things like drive time, trip odometer, and peak speed.
 
dklawson said:
Kim and Rick, if you buy the Sigma BC-1600... you wouldn't have to worry about writing things down when you change the battery.

The Sigma units are limited to a max input pulse rate of 30 Hz. I received this info from my contact at Sigma and I confirmed it with bench testing. What this means for you is that the driveshaft will turn too fast.

Jim from the other thread is the guy you need to contact. I believe he mounted the magnet on a brake drum and put the reed switch on the brake backplate.
Click to expand...
I know but I can handle a reprogramming of the numbers every 3 years as long as it works. Ah, brake drum. Now that sounds interesting and easier to figure the runout than the driveshaft.
 
Jim (was it Gruber?) and I discussed the driveshaft issue in a previous Spridget thread about bike speedos. The problem is that the speed of the driveshaft will put out too many pulses per second for the Sigma at any decent speed. By comparison, the brake drum will be within the range the computer can count.

The cool thing about the Sigma is that you can also program the odometer to match what your car's odometer says. It's easy to write the scale factor down so you can reprogram it later. However, if you're not keeping close tabs on your odometer reading, it will be easy to loose that setting when the battery runs out. Since your Smiths odometer doesn't accurately reflect your mileage this may be important to you. Not to worry. If 3 years from now you decide you want one with the eeprom, you'll probably find like I did that the new Sigma units fit the old mounting bracket... so all you need to do is buy a new computer, program it, and screw it onto the mount.
 
Hi Kim, I've sent you a message about this.
 
Ok

I got mine today, pretty easy to program.
Do you have a plan as to attaching the magnet and sensor?
 
I've never done it, but I would be tempted is try JBWeld or some type of epoxy if attaching to the brake drum.
 
...or some 3M VHB double sided tape (I saw a video promoting that stuff the other day thanks to the spridget list)
 
I got to wait until I get mine and wee where to mount. I have some absolute killer two sided tape that they were throwing out at my work. Has foam in it and a box of 12 rolls was over $1000. I will send y'all some if I can fin a way to use it and make it work.
 
That may be the stuff.
 
A word of reminder here. Brake drums = hot. For the magnet go for the slow curing epoxy/JB-Weld. (Not the 5 minute stuff).

For mounting the pickup, make the mounting point as rigid as you can. If the mount can vibrate you'll generate false signals that can "lock up" the Sigma until you slow down enough for the vibrations to go away.

You may have to get a little creative on how and where you mount the display. The Mini has a curved top dash rail. I attached mine to that curved surface since the Sigma mounting bracket is also curved (to fit handle bars). Of course, you could probably trim off the curved part of the mounting bracket so you could attach the display to a flat surface.
 
Donn, that must have been some kind of long bracket!
Or am I not "seeing" it right?
 
Maybe a bracket coming off of the bump stop pedestal?
 
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