Hi there,
I'm quite new here. Till now, I've been only reading your topics and found many interesting ideas.
One of those ideas was regarding a gear switch indicator,. Unfortunately, but it never seemed to turn into a final solution.
I would like to share with you what I have done :
1) The idea
After seeking for a turnkey solution on the net, I have come to the conclusion that the Acumen, Datatool or Starlane products don't fit my needs.
Of course, they have the advantage of being quite easy to install, but beside they have a few drawbacks :
They are
- expensive : £80 for a simple display is too much IMHO
- laggy : 1/2s response time in general
- imprecise at low engine revs
- ugly : who want à 1" cube on his instrument cluster.
- expensive : oups already in the list
Why not try to use what already exixts on R1150RT ou GS?
I have chosen this way.
a)First thing to find is a R1150RT or GS gear switch.
It is referenced as 23142333154 and you can find it on the Bay. The price may vary.
It is totally compatible with the R1100S gearbox. It just has more wires.
b)You'll need a few electronic components :
- 1x BCD decoder type CD4511
- 1x DIP16 support (not mandatory)
- 1x 7 segment display with common cathod (I recommend displays from kingbright type SC39 or SC52)
- 3x 47k Ohm 1/2W resistors
- 7x 470 Ohm 1/2W resistors
- 1,5 in² of electronic test board or better a specific circuit board
- wires, solder, solder tin, ...
As you can see, the budget won't go very high. All in all, much lower than the Acumen's £80...
2) Theory and practice
Next thing to sort out is how to wire the gear switch to the display.
The solution is partly here :
BMWBMW • View topic - Rider Information Display Pin Out
The gear switch is a simple 3 bits binary encoder.
The only trick is that the binary code is negative.
In consequence, we will use the following theoretical circuit :
Which translates into the following assembly :
And here is the circuit board layout I have chosen :
Finally, if you have very basic soldering skills, you should be able to get this
You'll need to find a power source for the module. For this pourpose, you can use the power supply to the tachometer.
Next steps to come.