install tach and volt meter (digital)

[DEcosse]

Ken - off tack - What do you use to draw your circuits?

Tack (sic) - no pun intended right?

I use a program called paint.net (no not the crappy program that comes std in Win-doze)- it's free-ware (well, voluntary donation) for that little drawing above

But for Electronic circuits and PCB layouts I use another free-ware program from Express PCB which is actually two CAD programs - once for schematics and one for PCB layout
I actually use those guys to print my pcb's for me - could do it myself, but they're reasonably priced and I don't have to mess with the chemicals.
But their Freebie CAD program does not require ANY purchase.

Here's example - this is an integrated LED Array Driver for Running/Stop/Turn light that I designed
(this is a working circuit if anyone wants to build one)
You get lower intensity from it in Running (Tail) mode (courtesy of the PWM cct on the left half), then Full Bright for Stop;
then the 'turn' input will cycle that side only 'off' regardless of whichever intensity it otherwise would be.

Then I used the PCB program to lay it out on Prototype Strip Board

Note that this layout is purely for a Strip Board - NOT an actual PRINTED circuit where there would be grater economy of interconnects
The horizontal green lines represent the copper strips on the underside of the board while the red vertical lines are jumper links on the top side along with the components.

This next part shows the 'strip' side of the board with the 'breaks' cut in the horizontal traces where appropriate (represented by the purple lines)

In operation (just single little 5mm LED for illustration - obviously a full LED array to appropriate specs would be much brighter - but this shows the functionality)

Anyway - sorry for distraction - long-winded answer for a short question!!

 

[Gregger]

Tack (sic) - no pun intended right?

I use a program called paint.net (no not the crappy program that comes std in Win-doze)- it's free-ware (well, voluntary donation) for that little drawing above

But for Electronic circuits and PCB layouts I use another free-ware program from Express PCB which is actually two CAD programs - once for schematics and one for PCB layout
I actually use those guys to print my pcb's for me - could do it myself, but they're reasonably priced and I don't have to mess with the chemicals.
But their Freebie CAD program does not require ANY purchase.

Here's example - this is an integrated LED Array Driver for Running/Stop/Turn light that I designed
(this is a working circuit if anyone wants to build one)
You get lower intensity from it in Running (Tail) mode (courtesy of the PWM cct on the left half), then Full Bright for Stop;
then the 'turn' input will cycle that side only 'off' regardless of whichever intensity it otherwise would be.

Then I used the PCB program to lay it out on Prototype Strip Board

Note that this layout is purely for a Strip Board - NOT an actual PRINTED circuit where there would be grater economy of interconnects
The horizontal green lines represent the copper strips on the underside of the board while the red vertical lines are jumper links on the top side along with the components.

This next part shows the 'strip' side of the board with the 'breaks' cut in the horizontal traces where appropriate (represented by the purple lines)

In operation (just single little 5mm LED for illustration - obviously a full LED array to appropriate specs would be much brighter - but this shows the functionality)

Anyway - sorry for distraction - long-winded answer for a short question!!

Ken,

You can be as long winded as you want, any time of the day. Appreciate your input. Often your "distractions" become someone else's solutions. Keep up the good work.

 

[barbagris]

Anyway - sorry for distraction - long-winded answer for a short question!!

Seen "Fritzing"?

 

[Corey]

the two coils on the right are the easiest to get to I would try the front of the two going to number 2 cylinder

This is a classic but I bet yours is close

do not pay any attention to the aluminum pipe it is the intake charge tube from the inter cooler. It should be pretty close to the same spot on the R3T

it is almost identical, I took the green wire and looked for a signal from both the green and red wires from the back side of the blade connectors,where it is ever so slightly exposed, and the tach still read 0. do you think it matters that i am using an external 12v power source (a 2a bench supply)? the volt meter works fine and reads 13.4 , or should i wire the tach into the bike power?
or should i be sliding the blade connectors back and wrapping the green wire around the male plug coming from the coil?

 

[DEcosse]

The tach should work tapping off the coil drive signal (any of the three) - you want the Green/xxxx wire, not the Brown/Pink

But not knowing what protection is on the front end of the gauge, you can add some protection with couple of inexpensive components
It should work with a 5V zener - if not, try a 12V

No need for a board or anything - just solder your components right in line with the wires and heat-shrink over.

You really should include this Corey - as barbagris indicated above there could potentially be large spikes on that coil negative and this simple addition will protect your tach

Back to the original question again

For the Red wires, on the Touring your best bet looks to be to connect to the Green Wire into the instruments; unless you use a relay, the voltage at the new meter is always going to be a bit less than actual battery voltage (due to voltage drops along the way) - depending on where it is connected this could be more significant at some sources than others; that looks to be a reasonable point on a fairly low current line (although it feeds the Ignition circuit further down-stream); you can only try it & see. I would at least expect that voltage to be closer to battery than the park light for example.

 

[DEcosse]

I took the green wire and looked for a signal from both the green and red wires from the back side of the blade connectors,where it is ever so slightly exposed, and the tach still read 0. do you think it matters that i am using an external 12v power source (a 2a bench supply)?

Just a sanity check here - are you saying you have the power and ground connected to an external supply and only the tach signal coming from the bike's coil?
That won't work - there is no reference between the bike's voltage system and the power supply
Connect it to the bike and try again
Are you using the resistor and the zener diode? It may work without - but could also damage your meter.

 

[Corey]

Back to the original question again

For the Red wires, on the Touring your best bet looks to be to connect to the Green Wire into the instruments; unless you use a relay, the voltage at the new meter is always going to be a bit less than actual battery voltage (due to voltage drops along the way) - depending on where it is connected this could be more significant at some sources than others; that looks to be a reasonable point on a fairly low current line (although it feeds the Ignition circuit further down-stream); you can only try it & see. I would at least expect that voltage to be closer to battery than the park light for example.

ok I will go givve it a shot. so you are saying just to be clear it doesnt matter that the actual tach power is being supplied to it by a bench supply (i just dont want to go thru all of the wiring unless this tach option is going to actually work out) and that I should try the green wire from the tach to the red from the ignition coil. right?

 

[Corey]

ok I will go givve it a shot. so you are saying just to be clear it doesnt matter that the actual tach power is being supplied to it by a bench supply (i just dont want to go thru all of the wiring unless this tach option is going to actually work out) and that I should try the green wire from the tach to the red from the ignition coil. right?

ok sorry i just got that last one. ill go run it from the bike suply and try again. sorry for the misunderstanding. and no I am not using a zener diode, i dont have one and honestly the tach cost me less than $20 so im not terribly worried

 

[DEcosse]

ok I will go givve it a shot. so you are saying just to be clear it doesnt matter that the actual tach power is being supplied to it by a bench supply (i just dont want to go thru all of the wiring unless this tach option is going to actually work out) and that I should try the green wire from the tach to the red from the ignition coil. right?

No - that post you quoted was simply giving you what I expect is a fairly optimal point to connect the RED wire, more for the benefit of the Voltmeter than the tach

For the Tach you need to connect to the coil negative - the Green/xxxx (whichever one you picked) - but you CANNOT connect the power and ground to an external supply and the tach signal to the bike - that simply will not work. For purposes of test without permanent wiring, just connect your red & black directly to your battery.

 

[Corey]

No - that post you quoted was simply giving you what I expect is a fairly optimal point to connect the RED wire, more for the benefit of the Voltmeter than the tach

For the Tach you need to connect to the coil negative - the Green/xxxx (whichever one you picked) - but you CANNOT connect the power and ground to an external supply and the tach signal to the bike - that simply will not work. For purposes of test without permanent wiring, just connect your red & black directly to your battery.

Hey everyone that gave their inputs on how to install my tach and volt meter I would like to say thank you and share this picture