Hercolor Digital Dashboard

[lcallison]

Found out something more about the Hercolor yesterday. In a measured 20 miles, it shows 18.5 miles traveled. I thought maybe that was the case. I have always gotten 42 or better gas mileage on it, and it's been trending lower lately. With the correction figured in, my gas mileage is back to normal. 42.9 for the last 240 miles running 75 or so. On the rostra, I have the magnet reader here and have some magnetic bolts coming, should be here Tue. I'll try it sometime next week.

[Sidecar Bob]

I wonder if they could have sent you one for a 19" wheel by mistake?

For that matter, how was the distance measured? If it was by a different odometer was it confirmed by several other vehicles?

The one on my 650 seems to be accurate. Over several regularly traveled routes it matches the original odometer as well as those of the 'Wing and a couple of other bikes I had over the years.

[lcallison]

This was measured with the 50 to 70 mile markers on hwy 75 in Kansas. I'll be double checking it with some others, but it should be reasonably close. The speedo is more accurate than the most of the 4 speedos I had on it before, but the odo isn't as accurate as the others. They were generally off less than 3% based on similar checks.

[lcallison]

Well, the magnets and sensor were installed and it still isn't working. Rostra support still won't talk to me about it, so not sure what I'm going to do with it. I probably won't do anything more with it until I get back from S Dakota the 14th. I'll probably call Rostra and tell them it's on an old car that doesn't have vss. I don't have time to take everything apart and go through everything step by step before the trip now.

[ericheath]

Any tips on how to get an accurate tach reading? I have mine on the yellow wire from my Dyna. I moved it away from the coils today but it still bounces and as soon as get above 3-4 k it seems to double the reading. Hooked the speedo up today. Haven't had a chance to check it yet. Also, I get nothing for temperature readings. I have a 1200 engine and a 77 harness and frame. I am guessing I need to supply a voltage to the sensor first. Anyone know if the 1200 temp sensor was supposed to get 12 v or 7 v?

[Sidecar Bob]

Unless the 1200 temp sensor is a lot different from the ones on the 500, 650, 1000 and 1100 it has only 1 contact and uses ground as the return path. It is a resistance that varies depending on the temperature so it doesn't care what the voltage is.

If my 650 is any indication you should be able to just connect the temp sensor wire from the instrument panel to the sensor (I used the wire in the harness)(can't remember the colour off hand) and, as long as you have the temp gauge selected (push the right hand button to toggle between temp & fuel) it should work.

[ericheath]

That's what I tried. I will check my connections. Thanks. Any suggestions for the tach?

[Sidecar Bob]

Larry says his works OK on his 'Wing so it must be possible to get a steady reading.

The one on my 650 behaves basically like yours. It was worse (jumping between the actual RPM and about double at anything over idle) until we re-routed the wire so that it is next to the coil it is connected to instead of the other coil. The improvement was enough that I want to try shielding the wire to see if that fixes it. I will probably use shielded wire when I put the one on the 'Wing.

[ericheath]

Mine is doing just what yours is. I'm running off the yellow wire as Larry did. I guess I can look for some shielded wire as well.

[lcallison]

My tach worked pretty well. It would occasionally jump at idle, but it did read lower than the mechanical tach. My worst problem was the speedo. On my trip to SD, in one 40 mile stretch of road, it registered over 1100 miles. In the approximately 3000 miles we traveled, it showed a little over 10,000 miles. One minute, it would be working normally, the next it would be saying I was doing over 200 mph or 0. It's going back for repair. I currently have a regular speedo and tach on it now. My cruise control is now working fine using the vss lead off the speedo. Turns out I had one switch setting wrong for the magnets. If I put the Hercolor back on when I get it back, I'll try again on the cruise. They are supposed to change the resistance it's looking for on the gas gauge while they have it so maybe I'll have a gas gauge again. Shielding the tach wire might be all you need to fix the tach. If I put it back on, I plan on trying that also. I don't think I did anything special hooking up the temp gauge. It always flashed when I first started up, but once the bike warmed up, it worked fine.

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with this. I wasn't getting any notifications. I have a new email now and maybe I'll get notified in the future.

[Sidecar Bob]

I am combining several (mostly electrical) upgrades as a vacation project:

- The handlebar mounted 2" speakers that came with the radio have no bass and are not loud enough so a major part of the project is a box big enough for a pair of 4" speakers that will also have some controls & indicator lights that are not on the eBay instrument panel and also house some of the wiring that normally resides in the headlight. The radio is mounted in the sidecar so at least I don't need to find room for that.

- I am changing the handlebar switches too http://www.ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 51#p517451

- I am replacing the headlight housing (the old one cracked) at the same time - half day trip to Cycle Salvage (found a Suzuki one that is almost deep enough for the HID), join the 2 big wire holes to clear the end of the HID bulb, sandblast & paint the housing and then buff the scratches out of the rim.

- I have been wanting a slightly larger windshield for a while. I found a "used" (never installed) Memphis Shades Alley Cat on eBay this week that should work with the hardware from my old SlipStreamer.

The first thing I dealt with was re-wiring the instrument panel connector. Most of the wires are different colours than on the one I have on the 650 but they are the same as Larry's (mostly matching Honda's color code). I removed all of the pins & wires from the connector and replaced the ones for temp & fuel gauges, instrument panel lights and ground to match the one on the bike and replaced the bullet connector on the parking brake light wire with a new .110" connector pin (available from easternbeaver.com) and plugged it into the place for the oil pressure light. I put the unswitched power and switched power wires into a 2 pin connector and the wires for the turn signals & the high beam indicator into a 3 pin connector.

Then I plugged it in and started the engine. I was able to test everything but the speedo and it all works.

After that I unplugged everything at the front end of the wiring harness and fished the harness around so that it will reach the speaker box.

I spent yesterday & today working on the speaker box. I started by cutting down an old tool box, adding aluminum angle around the opening and cutting the face plate from 3mm ABS sheet. I covered the back of the sheet with masking tape, laid out the holes and started drilling. The speakers will be at each end with the LEDs and controls between them and the new instrument panel will be mounted on the top edge, about where the original temp & fuel gauges were.

[lcallison]

Pics of that would be nice. It sounds pretty neat.

I just finished another trip with the 82. The cruise is working pretty nicely now. It doesn't hold as well as the older one on my 76, but it does pretty well. Just got to find the right combination of settings for it. I don't know if I'll use the hercolor when it comes back or not. I like the OEM speedo and the cruise works nice with it. It's also nice to have a working gas gage.

[Sidecar Bob]

I am closer to the end of vacation than I wanted to be at this point in the project. I absolutely have to have it back together and running by Monday so I can drive it to work on Tuesday.

- My new windshield came. It looks like it should work but the hardware might need more modification than anticipates so I might have to put the old one back on until I get back to work and have access to a lathe.

- After I last posted I decided I needed more room for the wires if I was going to make all of the front harness connections inside of it without having wires get against the backs of the speakers. I dug around and found an old electronic project box (6.375" x 3.375" x2") that would fit between the speaker box (toolbox part) and the headlight with room to spare and make a nice "wiring well". I cut a hole in the bottom of the speaker box, drilled wire entry holes in the project box and mounted it under the hole with 0.5" x 0.75" aluminum angle that was left over from attaching the front panel. I had about an inch left over. Sometimes things just work out.

- Next came reinforcing the speaker box (more flex than I wanted) and fabbing brackets. I happened to have some 0.5" square aluminum stock on hand and it would fit between the angle that attaches the wiring well on the side that attaches to the triple clamp so I used that. I drilled holes in it to clear 5/16" bolts in line with the attachment points on the triple clamp and then bolted through it into a pair of 5/15" coupling nuts (it will be attached to the triple clamp with more 5/16" bolts into the coupling nuts from below).

I cut another length of the square stock and "milled" it to clear some other parts using angle grinders with a cutoff disc and then a wire brush to smooth the new surfaces. Pieces of 0.125" x 0.75" aluminum made the reinforcements for the ends with the whole frame attached together and to the box with 1/4" bolts in holes drilled & tapped in the square stock.


After that was done the rest of the support brackets became obvious: 0.125" x 0.75" straps from the bolts below the triple clamp, across the bottom of the wiring well and up the front with the ends under more 1/4" bolts in threaded holes in the square stock.


I took the day off yesterday and my wife & I took her Mom to Huntsville to ride the Portage Flyer http://www.portageflyer.org/

- I am just about to start soldering after I post this, first hooking up the LEDs &c on the front panel and then the handlebar switches.

Edit: Pics hosted on Photobucket replaced

[Sidecar Bob]

I spent about half of the time since my last post working on the switches and the rest mounting the parts on the speaker box's front panel and replacing wires that no longer reached where they needed to & testing everything as I went along. There are a lot of new connectors in the speaker box/wiring well because I want to be able to remove the front panel and take things apart for servicing without cutting any wires.

[lcallison]

Looking good.