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Project: Chinese gauge set on GSX1100G

  • Thread starter Thread starter GS1000G Shopper
  • Start date Start date
More good news. Using a GPS speedometer program called DigiHUD (free digital speedometer for Android with the phone on a bracket on the fairing frame) my first road test with 3 actual: 5 virtual magnets and a 1,921 mm circumference gave a uniform 2 MPH fast read error from 30-70 MPH (e.g. 28 actual was 30 displayed). My testing was cut short by rain, but I did try four other tire sizes:
Increased to stock 1,989 made it read way too fast, like another 5 MPH.
Reduced to 1,900 made no real difference.
Reduced to 1,850 was spot on @ 60 MPH, but 1-2 MPH slow @ 70.
Reduced to 1,870 was about 1 MPH fast @ 60 and spot on @ 70.

This was with the dash set as "Miles", I did not press the Miles/KM button while riding.

I think if I spring for an extra magnet & go 5:8 I should be able to achieve a 0 error rate.

I wasn't paying as much attention to RPM, but on the final run noted about 3,900 RPM @ 60 MPH, which seemed close via seat of the pants. This was with the 1 cylinder setting. I found an old review that cited a stock GSX1100G made 3,925 RPM @ 60, so this is close enough. I think the gauge is defaulting (good thing since I can't change it) to picking up a pulse every time one of the coils fires and dividing it by 2. As the other member here noted, this bike like the GS series uses two coils in a "wasted spark" configuration so it sparks on both intake and exhaust strokes for 1-4 for one coil and 2-3 for the other.

I also grounded the Blue/Black wire from the fuel sender to the Black/White dash ground wire and the gauge reading seems to be stabilized. I started with a nearly full tank, so I'll see if it drops as time goes by.

The gauge is permanently bolted on the bike now with wiring harnesses tucked away. The only drawback is that it could be tilted a little further up for my preference, but this would require extending the bracket. The LCD panel is very easy to read. The bar volt & fuel indicators will take some getting used to since I had numeric digital gauges for these functions before. I also would not mind the gauges being larger, but you don't get everything you want in life, and certainly not for $63 shipped from China.

In summary, I'd recommend this gauge panel for anyone wanting a more modern set of gauges for one of our bikes.

My next project for this bike will be a Microsquirt fuel injection system. I've been acquiring some small parts as I can get them on sale, and after what I've learned on the GS1000G project this one will be a lot easier, plus I have a parts bike to test-fit parts.

Here are some pics from outside today, the fairing is not on yet and the extra wires are for components that connect to the fairing.


 
a bit off topic, but i have a gsxr gauge cluster on my es. mech speedo, electronic tach, little fiddly figuring out wiring hookups, but fully functional and aesthetically appropriate.
 
Suzuki kept many functions and wire colors the same throughout the years. There are a number of modern clusters I looked at that for various reasons were not practical. I know there were/are companies that make converters to turn a mechanical speedometer drive into electronic and vice-versa. The latter is very costly.
 
UPDATE: Avoid these Revo Technica gauges. I had problems with the oil pressure gauge & the vendor while said they were not designed for bike use. As an alternative, if you can find the current clear lens Prosport waterproof gauges on Amazon, they would be a better choice, albeit slightly more expensive. I have linked these in a later post. I ended up being offered a credit for the oil pressure gauge but was stuck with the oil temperature gauge.

After shopping & reading some forum reviews, I bought a set of analog Revo Technica clear lens oil pressure & temperature gauges to replace the digital combo gauges I had since the new dash covers two of their 4 functions. The style of them is similar to the speedometer and tach, and they light up with a similar white light. They are a complete package, as they come with senders, a mounting band, and bracket that was ideal for my use. I don't really care for the silver satin bezel, so I may paint that satin black, especially if it causes glare in sunlight. I've fabbed a bracket to mount both of them to the windshield frame. It's difficult to find clear lens stepper motor gauges at a decent price. I had tried some tinted/smoke gauges on the GS1000 and you can't see them during the day.

I'll take some pics once these are installed.

Here is a pic from their website:
REV2-OT-WHT-NL.jpg
 
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They look nice, how much? Their website doesn't have a shopping cart, looks like they only sell through dealers/distributors?
 
I bought them on eBay, $39 temperature and $42 pressure shipped.
 
Here are a couple of pics with them mounted to the windshield frame (illumination off and on). I don't think the inner fairing panel will clear as-is, so more thought is required. I may see if I can mount them to the top of the new gauge panel.


 
Usage report:
The oil gauges were extended away from the windshield by re-drilling the mounting plate and they fit well with no interference.

I bought a set of 5 magnets that were slightly taller (3.16 mm vs 2.94 or about .008 inch) and the same diameter. I apparently have a black hole in my garage, as when I put the first one on to see if it would clear the sensor by turning the wheel by hand, it disappeared. I pulled the caliper & sensor and looked all around the wheel and could not find it. I ended up using one of the shorter magnets as a 5th magnet. I say that to set up the following-

I ran with 5 magnets (used a design program to space them about 72 degrees apart) & a gauge setting of 8 with a calculated 1978 mm tire circumference. The speed was probably within 1 MPH, but the needle was bouncing 3-4 MPH at 60. The instructions say the gauge set works best with either 2 or 4 magnets:
The Instructions said:
Generally speaking for the speed sensor I send, 2 or 4 is the best number (pulse number the same with magnets number)

I tried 4 magnets 90 degrees apart with a gauge setting of 5 and the bounce was gone. After tweaking the tire setting to 1820, I was within 1-2 MPH from 30-80. I'll settle for that, as I'm sure it is now more accurate than the original gauge was- and it still has the entire needle. :)

I'm a little concerned with the Revo oil pressure gauge. Since the sender is slightly larger than the one it replaced, I had to relocate the sender to under the carbs from where the other one was below the ignition cover (it draws from the main gallery). I ran a -4 AN PTFE hose that is 9" long with one 90 degree hose end and adapted the other end to a 1/8 pipe thread fitting. I noticed at first it did not generate a reading, so I double checked the wiring and it was OK. It eventually worked properly. Today, I noticed it was not reading again when I began, and after about 4 miles of testing (I was not paying that much attention to this gauge due to speedometer testing) it began to work and worked fine after that.

I'll give it a few more runs and see if this continues. I figure there was likely some air in the hose, and maybe I aggravated this condition due to the sender install. The GSX unlike the 8V GS engine makes a lot of oil pressure, especially when cold.

The oil temperature gauge seems to be working fine.
 
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I'm a little concerned with the Revo oil pressure gauge. Since the sender is slightly larger than the one it replaced, I had to relocate the sender to under the carbs from where the other one was below the ignition cover (it draws from the main gallery). I ran a -4 AN PTFE hose that is 9" long with one 90 degree hose end and adapted the other end to a 1/8 pipe thread fitting. I noticed at first it did not generate a reading, so I double checked the wiring and it was OK. It eventually worked properly. Today, I noticed it was not reading again when I began, and after about 4 miles of testing (I was not paying that much attention to this gauge due to speedometer testing) it began to work and worked fine after that.

.

If it is a mechanical pressure gauge there is no sensor(just a fitting); since you used PTFE hose I assume it is a mechanical pressure gauge. Not sure why the "fitting" would be larger than the original sensor unless it is your 90 deg fitting that could not be fit under the ignition cover.

Pressure indications should not be affected by air in the line, probably something else. If the line was blocked, it could take a longer time to come up, but to take 4 minutes/miles it would have to be very blocked (less than 0.005" diameter)

IIRC, I use about a 0.60" diameter drill bit to obstruct the oil pressure port to reduce coil flow. I have done that for both a oil sprayer and gauge damper/accumulator.
 
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The sender is electric, one side goes to ground & the other to the gauge. It uses bullet connectors, which I do not care for.

This gauge replaced a combo electric pressure/volt gauge that ground the sender via the engine and used one wire (via a threaded stud terminal) to go to the gauge. My gauge ground lead is going to a clutch cover screw, so it is a good ground. The GSX engine has very limited room below (not under) the ignition pickup cover- the OEM warning light sender does in fact mount under this cover internally. If I used a 16mm x 1.5 (main gallery plug thread) to 1/8 pipe adapter the bullet terminals would stick out too far. I used a 90 degree fitting on the prior sender but the new one is a larger diameter and longer due to the bullet terminals, so it just would not fit there. The -4 hose was the best solution I could think up given the space limitations. I used PTFE hose since I found a good deal locally for the hose assembly.

I tested the ground wire and got a solid ground. I tested the sender between the terminals with wires disconnected and got .4 ohms with the engine off, and then started the warm engine and ran it on fast idle at around 2500 RPM, which should give close to 100 PSI on the old sender. I got a reading of 23.58 megaohms. I looked up some common 0-100 PSI senders and the ones I saw listed were 240 ohms @ 0 PSI and 33 ohms @ 100 PSI. I tested the old sender and got 235 ohms (0 PSI). I suspect the sender is defective but will confirm the Revo numbers with the seller. If it uses a regular 240-33 ohm sender, I can use a spare unit I have here.
 
The sender is electric, one side goes to ground & the other to the gauge. It uses bullet connectors, which I do not care for.

This gauge replaced a combo electric pressure/volt gauge that ground the sender via the engine and used one wire (via a threaded stud terminal) to go to the gauge. My gauge ground lead is going to a clutch cover screw, so it is a good ground. The GSX engine has very limited room below (not under) the ignition pickup cover- the OEM warning light sender does in fact mount under this cover internally. If I used a 16mm x 1.5 (main gallery plug thread) to 1/8 pipe adapter the bullet terminals would stick out too far. I used a 90 degree fitting on the prior sender but the new one is a larger diameter and longer due to the bullet terminals, so it just would not fit there. The -4 hose was the best solution I could think up given the space limitations. I used PTFE hose since I found a good deal locally for the hose assembly.

I tested the ground wire and got a solid ground. I tested the sender between the terminals with wires disconnected and got .4 ohms with the engine off, and then started the warm engine and ran it on fast idle at around 2500 RPM, which should give close to 100 PSI on the old sender. I got a reading of 23.58 megaohms. I looked up some common 0-100 PSI senders and the ones I saw listed were 240 ohms @ 0 PSI and 33 ohms @ 100 PSI. I tested the old sender and got 235 ohms (0 PSI). I suspect the sender is defective but will confirm the Revo numbers with the seller. If it uses a regular 240-33 ohm sender, I can use a spare unit I have here.

OK I see it is an broken electric sensor, with no idea why you needed PTFE hose, run the wires inside?
 
OK I see it is an broken electric sensor, with no idea why you needed PTFE hose, run the wires inside?
No, I'm running oil inside. :D

The oil gallery opening is 16mm x 1.5 threaded. I used an adapter to size that down to a -4 AN male. The PTFE hose has a 90 degree end that connects to the adapter, and then goes around the ignition cover where it terminates in a -4 AN straight hose end. Connected to that is a -4 AN male to 1/8 male pipe adapter. The sender is connected to that via a 1/8 pipe union. I used a 2" insulated clamp via an aluminum bracket to hold the sender in place.

As the saying goes, a picture is worth 1,000 words.
Overall view:


Sender feed at main gallery:


Sender mount:
 
That is a huge transducer :p ; but now I see what you are talking about.

I bought a cheap boost gauge to convert to oil pressure. The transducer is smaller hands since I already have an oil line running to my handlebars, I'm going to connect it there. It might even fit inside of my gauge housing but that remains to be seen.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-52mm-Blac...ter-/261876163942?hash=item3cf9092566&vxp=mtr

I was able to extricate the LED display from the housing and it will be mounted in by idiot light dash. (not for the faint of heart).

My oil pressure doesn't get much over 15 psi, but will hit that easily when cold.
 
I was able to extricate the LED display from the housing and it will be mounted in by idiot light dash. (not for the faint of heart).

That's the best thing you can do with a tinted/smoked gauge IMO. The ones I tried were completely useless during the day, which is when I do most of my riding. I did something similar with the LCD gear indicator from a H***a CB700- took the gauge apart & placed it in the add-on dash I made for the GSX behind a clear acrylic window. It's much nicer to have it all built-in on the China dash.
 
I heard from the vendor and they are sending a replacement sending unit. If it is a 240-33 ohm unit, I may spring $20 and buy one with screw terminals. I checked the sender with the gauge disconnected a few hours after riding today and saw it was very low when off, under 2 ohms, and the resistance raised as the pressure (RPMs) increased. I saw a peak reading of around 170 ohms @ 4K RPM. When I connected it, the gauge was not responding accurately during this time, so I need to check it immediately after riding as the gauge today again after a few miles seemed to be accurate.

I had the chance to ride about 50 miles today, and in so doing I discovered an unintended yet logical consequence. I used Interstate mileposts to check the odometer (in miles setting) and found it was way off (too low). When I switched to KM, it was accurate. The speedometer reading remained the same in both modes. In adjusting the speed sensor output to calibrate the speedometer, the KMs now read as miles, and the miles are of no value.

If I knew more about programming, it would be nice to make the KM/Miles function work for both the odometer and speedometer.
 
Next update-
The second sender gave the same result as the first one, so I tried a known good 240-33 0-100 PSI sender and got an immediate reading, albeit far too low. It returned 40-50 PSI where I should have been close to 100 PSI with cold oil, and then it decreased as I revved the engine. I then tested both with the gauge disconnected & engine running and both gave a varying range of resistance (ohms) as they should. I noted the new sender's resistance increased up to about 140 ohms at 4K RPM whereas the 240-33 unit decreased as pressure increased. I have contacted the seller & advised them of my findings, and that I suspect the gauge must be defective. I've asked for an exchange so we'll see what happens.
 
Next update-
I shipped the oil pressure gauge & one of the two senders they had shipped to me back to the vendor. I am temporarily using some old Prosport gauges that use the same sensor values, but can't be properly illuminated with my photocell setup (the gauge light once turned on does not turn off with the photocell).

The vendor advised the oil pressure gauge was OK, but that it was not designed for use on a motorcycle and offered a refund. I'm going to try & return both since I want matched gauges. UPDATE: I'm getting a credit for the oil pressure gauge & was then stuck with the temperature gauge. One more reason to avoid this brand & vendor.

The next set I will try are the newer clear lens all black Prosport models that are waterproof. They cost a little more, but should hold up better on this application. Another benefit is they use a white LED for light that can be wired to only come on with illumination. They are complete with senders and are sold on Prosport's website and Amazon:
Oil pressure gauge $55. This gauge is 0-150 PSI, which works well for me since the GSX-G puts out over 100 PSI with cold oil.

Oil temperature gauge $41. It has a range of 120-300 degrees. They make a water temperature gauge that has a range of 100-280 that would be a better fit for my application, but I didn't want a gauge that said water temp on an air & oil cooled bike. :)

I think shipping adds like $12 for both.

I now have about 200 miles on the setup. Here are some observations in no order:
1. The fuel gauge hits reserve (flashes) well before the bike does. This is due to the difference in ohms for the sender vs the gauge. I'm not aware of any easy way to fix this.
2. The clock gains time way more than it should. It gained like 4 minutes in a week. It's not an easy process to reset it, and I didn't want the feature anyway. It's a waste of space IMO and I'd rather see the space used for a larger voltmeter or a temperature readout.
3. The voltmeter is way too small to read while riding. You just need to know if several bars are present it is OK. I was spoiled by larger meters on the prior version and on both GS bikes.
4. The GPI is really easy to read while riding.
5. The 4 magnet speedometer setup continues to work very well.
6. The turn signal indicators are really too dim for daytime use. I may get ambitious and see if they use LED bulbs and if so if they can be replaced with brighter ones.
7. You have to be careful with button presses. Since there are only two buttons, each performs multiple functions. I accidentally reset the trip odometer while trying to change the display from KM to MPH.

I'm sure there are people that can reverse-engineer things like the LCD display. I'm not one of them, but it would be great if someone did so and revised it to eliminate the clock and address the other issues.
 
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Final update, the Prosport gauges are great. I bought a dual pod and made a plate to mount them that attaches to the windshield bolts. It was a little tricky getting them wired and the large nuts tightened, but the end result came out OK. The China dash continues to work well with no issues.
CAM00573.jpg
 
Thanks for the updates and comprehensive analysis, I will be referring to this when I'm ready to do something similar!
 
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