Cheap Gear Indicator & Voltmeter Install

The really good news is my bike is finally back together after this winters mods


Last year I decided to add a gear indicator to my bike, but didn't fancy the cost of the Digi unit, so looking on the bay I found this unit for 15GBP (USD23) & thought well I can afford to loose that as an experiment. So I ordered it, the first thing I've ordered direct from China & a couple of weeks later it turned up as advertised. I quickly rigged it up to a spare battery & tested it worked, then left it in the box for the winter upgrade period. I also bought a waterproof voltmeter to add as well, due to the RR going south last year,, I thought I'd keep an eye on the voltage from now on !

So yesterday I got to work. The side fairings were already off for other work, so I just had to drill a 4mm hole to feed the cable through the top of the dash inner surround, it was pulled free of the clock when doing this to get clearance for the drill below the screen. Then feed the cable down & round to the left side void behind the left indicator (blank plate in my case). For the voltmeter, I looked at where others had put theirs but decided that most were not visable when riding, so put mine as far forward on the left dash side piece as possible, so I can see it when riding.

Then I had to make a bracket to mount the gear change sensors on & one to attach the magnet to the gear lever. The pictures below do a better job than my words to describe the design & install. The rare earth magnet is supplied in the kit & is both superglued & crimped in my alloy gear lever bracket & then taped for good measure ! This may be overkill, but there ya go.





The indicator display was stuck in place with some double sided Radio Control servo tape & the wiring from the sensors run up to meet where the left front coil is mounted & joined using small chocolate block connectors, you need 6 connectors & I cut 2 x 3 off the strip & screwed them together back to back, so one row does the sensors & the other does power & neutral.

For power you need an ignition switched live circuit, I tapped into the old PAIR connector plug. I tried using the fan supply, but that causes the voltmeter & gear indicator to reset when the fan activates ! The PAIR connector does NOT have a constant earth (negative, its used to switch the PAIR solenoid by the ECU) so can only be used for +V input. I used the Fan -V connection for the earth side, this works fine.

For neutral connectivity, you can either use a cable tap down by the right footpeg & run a wire to the connector block, or do what I did.

Just behind the left frame rail below where the throttle cables connect to the throttle bodies, you will find a six way connector block with 5 wires in it the top left BLACK sheathed one is the neutral one. I popped this connector & there was just enough length to pass it between the engine mounts (may need the coolant expansion bottle dropped to get clearance to work, mines not there anymore) then use a very thin pick to release the locking tab for that wire & remove from the block & tap a wire onto the crimp area of the neutral wire. You can solder if you like, but I just used a thin copper wire wrap. Then reset the locking tab & pop back into the block & then reconnect the block halves that is the hardest part as there is not much room to work. Connect the other end to the block for neutral & its job done. I connnected the voltmeter to the same block for power.

Hope some of you find this interesting. These are on the bay today (March 2013) as item 330744833662

 

Mohawk- The gear inticator is just what I've been looking for! Thanks for the ebay link/# and the detailed write up- very helpful!

 

Nice work! Too bad you didn't make copies of those brackets!

 

I have an electric water pump, that bracket won't fit on a standard bike ! Also after testing I need to move the sensors further apart, otherwise it registers the other direction on rebound of the lever ! It's a rare earth magnet so doesn't need to be so close to do its job.

 

Moved the sensors further apart & now it works great.