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Digital Speedo
A Badger - 3/9/03 at 04:01 PM

I've been considering the use of a bike speedo to keep costs down and have found this

Trail Tech Speedo.

It's not dirt cheap at £59.99 but is back lit which should ensure SVA compliance. Still £100 less than a normal electical speedo.

Andrew

A Badger - 3/9/03 at 04:04 PM

Sorry, the URL Link does not take you directly to the product. Click and Trail Tech either M/C or ATV and then look at the Trail Tech Endurance..

Andrew

James - 3/9/03 at 04:20 PM

quote:
Originally posted by A Badger
Sorry, the URL Link does not take you directly to the product. Click and Trail Tech either M/C or ATV and then look at the Trail Tech Endurance..

Andrew


I looked at this one in a cycle shop a few months back. It really looks the biz and I think it would do everything we'd want.

The only issue with the backlighting like that is you've got to switch the light on before you can see the speedo (if it's dark obviously!). Is that good enough for SVA or does the light have to be on constantly?

The only other thing is that it constantly tells you if you're going below your average speed- and I thing that could be dangerous!

Cheers,

James

A Badger - 3/9/03 at 05:43 PM

Good point! Anyone know if this would pass SVA?

Europa Sell some classic guage lights that are like small posts that stick out of the dash with a downward facing light. You could use one of those if the speedo was place behind the wheel to protect it from the inspectors spheres...

Andrew

DaveFJ - 4/9/03 at 07:29 AM

an interesting peice of kit -

I contacted the company to find out some more- reply attached:-

It is possible one of our existing kits could be used on such a car. We
have successfully installed one on an Acura, a motorhome, and several sand
buggies.

The computer only has a 4 second backlight; however, we are working on a
next generation computer that will have an optional connection the a
vehicle's 12V system. The top speed reading on the computer now is 199 mph.

Best Regards,

Kelly
TrailTech Inc.
23712 NE Canyon Loop
Battle Ground, WA 98604
TEL (360)-687-4530
FAX (360) 687-8164

Peteff - 4/9/03 at 03:55 PM

We did one with a bike speedo and a number plate light from the Sierra shining on it . It passed o.k. MPS do a datalogger type computer that goes up to 180 and records average speed and trip distance etc.

yours, Pete

ned - 4/9/03 at 04:24 PM

there's quite a nice digital speedo by SPA, though a tad expensive, check rallynuts.com and look under motorsport and gauges....

Ned.

ps it can do programmable 0-60 & 50-70 etc timing which is cool!

A Badger - 4/9/03 at 09:29 PM

The SPA one is a quality item, trouble is it's £200. By the time you've matched that too a decent rev counter, oil pressure, water temp, fuel and a clock......

Well it's no longer Locost.

Personally I'd love some SPA or maybe Stack guages they look the dogs doo-darrs.

Don't think I'd get financial concurrance from the present Mrs B.

Andrew

sgraber - 7/9/03 at 04:01 PM

The trail-tech speedo is the same speedo as is used on the bicycles, but in a nicer case.

I bought one of the bicycle computers - Panoram by TOPEAK - several months back.

http://www.cccyclery.com/panoram.html

$19.00 on eBay. I took it apart to see if I could figure out how to wire the backlight for a switch rather than the pushbutton 4 second timer. Not happening. The unit is very cleverly designed, not a wire in sight. The electronics are housed on a single pcb. The switches are the same style as found on most tv remotes (integrated onto the board and activated by pressing a graphite button that closes the contacts. Power for the LCD is pased from the PCB to the LCD/Backlight assy through several more little (miniature) graphite pucks. If you take it apart, the LCD panel simply falls apart and the little graphite pucks fall out of their slots...

I may try to modify it again, because the backlight is a cool blue, but most likely will leave it alone and use top lighting.

I wonder how much extra they will charge for that modification to 12v external power? I hope it doesn't bump the price up over $30 or so... (eBay is great)

One other bad thing about the unit for car use is that since it is designed to mount on handlebars, the vision for the LCD drops of significantly when you look at it straight on - as you tilt the unit away from you it becomes more readable until it is approx 30-45 degrees off axis. What this means is that when you mount it on your dashboard, you will most likely need to tilt the unit a bit flat in order to read the numbers.

If you can get past those small drwabacks, the unit is very light, very accurate, goes up to 199mph, has several odometers, maintenance reminders based on mileage and other niceties, plus it looks way cool. The dogs "underbits"!?

Later,

Graber

[Edited on 9/7/03 by sgraber]

Dale - 11/9/03 at 01:06 PM

I was thinking that a digital instrument pannel might look out of place- Just happens my doner has digital speedo in it so was not sure to use or not

Dale