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DIY Gizmo - Honda ATV Programmable Fan Control Unit

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This is a problem solving Honda replacement cooling fan control unit that @wheelsquad and I schemed up, then built and installed on our Ranchers last year while frequenting a failing forum. I think its safe to say that we both feel like they are pretty cool gizmos!

 

These custom gizmos monitor and digitally display the oil temperature in the sump in realtime and provide the operator with automated controls for fan kick on/kick off temps independently. This fully automated, programmable DIY FCU replaces the stock oil temp sensor and fan control unit on any Honda Utility air/oil cooled ATV without any major modifications. The bike remains functionally stock throughout, so can be returned to stock by removing this custom solution, reinstalling the stock oil temp sensor and plugging the stock parts back in.

 

We set out last year to put our heads together to build a better FCU. Honda FCUs come with many faults that we felt we might correct if we only tried... these are the biggest problems that we have solved with our gizmo:

  • As Honda oil temp sensors age the resistance gradually rises until the FCU no longer responds and the motor overheats. Sometimes the OEM sensor resistance may fail low (shorted) as well, or the sensor wire itself may get shorted out somewhere. This gizmo solves those problems in three ways. Additionally, the operator is alerted of a fault condition immediately.
  • In the event the oil temp sensor ever becomes disconnected or the sensor wire gets broken, this gizmo alerts the operator of the fault immediately.
  • The OEM FCU does not turn the overheat light on until the motor oil is scalded and the motor is being damaged. Sometimes the overheat light never comes on. This gizmo features a programmable over-temp alarm that alerts the operator way before the oil overheats and it also keeps the fan running while in overheating condition until the oil temp drops below a safe temp threshold chosen by the operator.
  • With an OEM FCU we have no idea whether the fan is kicking on and off at proper (sane) oil temperatures or not. This gizmo provides the actual oil temperature in realtime on its digital display and features a Red LED that lights up while the fan motor is running, so the operator is always aware of its functions.
  • This gizmo is very fast and is extremely accurate. The oil temp sensor thermie is rated for operation up to 150 degrees C, its published resistance curve is precise and it is rated to within 0.1 degree C tolerance. The display accuracy is rated to 0.1 C as well.

 

I am currently building one of these units for one of @Fishfiles 450 Foremans, which is intended to fully automate the operation of two cooling fans. Before we get started on this project though, lets take some time to explain a bit more about this gizmo and how it works. I am including links to part numbers that I use to build these for those who wish to build their own toys. Please feel free to offer your own ideas on how we may improve on these fun lil' gizmos. 🙂

 

Alright, lets get started with a bit of show and tell. This is the display & control unit of the gizmo that I built for my Creamsicle. The fan was set to kick on at 100 C oil temp and kick back off at 85 C oil temp at the time these photos were taken on this ravine top last summer:

 

woodsride1.png

 

woodsride3.png

 

Each gizmo consists of a custom oil temp sensor made by embedding a 10k ohms precision thermistor into gutted out OEM sensor brass. The fan control relays and a custom made regulated DC power supply (for the display) are contained inside a sealed, submersible project box. The gizmo is 100% sealed to be fully submersible and can be shot directly with a pressure washer as often as ya wish. And you can mount the two main components anywhere on the ATV that ya wish, using any mounting methods that ya wish!

 

preship2.png

 

Lets go over the display parts, functions and control features in the next post eh.

 

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WOW , I am on the production line !!! 

 

This is the atv the " Gizmo "  is going on , 2000 TRX450SS , it has a relocated double stacked cooler with an automotive slim 10" fan on the front rack , it also has a automotive slim 10' fan with no cooler in the original fan/cooler location blowing air on the engine , there is  a lot of cooling going on as this 450 as it is sleeved with a  500 sleeve and custom J+E piston ( similar to the old Highlifter Big Bore Kit ) and riding down here in the Dirty South we see lots of 90-100F degree days 

 

Retro sent me a empty Gizmo box to locate the best mounting position and wire lengths , and the pic below is the spot , should be very visible , that empty mount below the box is for the GPS  , right now two of them toggles above the Gizmo  are for the fans , my plans are to have the cooler fan fully automatic and controlled by the Gizmo with digital temperature display , the fan on the engine I  plan on running that fan 2  power wire from the Gizmo , thru a toggle , then to the fan on the engine  , so when the atv takes a dip  in the water , I can turn that fan off and not be a boat prop , and when turned on ,  it will be controlled thermostatically 

 

I like to think I dubbed that name "" Gizmo "" , but think it was a joint venture on  naming , I relinquish all my  Registered/Trademarks  on the name " Gizmo "  to Retro for one Gizmo , <*(>>>>{   --  LOL 

 

fullsizeoutput_9a1.jpeg

IMG_8816.JPG

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This project is going to be a blast @Fishfiles! I've been looking forward to working alongside you for quite a while! Expect no mercy folks, Fish is a hardcore humorous fabricator fellah! Thanks for letting me slide on those "gizmo" trademark royalties my friend. :-)

 

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The display is based on a W1209 digital temperature control board. One of my sources (this WAS a legitimate source, beware there are a lot of fakes being sold by ebay and amazon) for the W1209 last spring was a seller on amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CH7W3XP

 

The W1209 is based on a ST Microelectronics STM8S003F3P6 micro-controller chip. There are many fake boards out there that do not have a genuine STM8S chip on them. Fakes boards are useless junk. (How to identify fake W1209s)

https://www.st.com/en/microcontrollers-microprocessors/stm8s003f3.html

 

The display enclosure is fashioned by robbing a silicone rubber button strip from a Polycase FB-45-4 box:

https://www.polycase.com/fb-45

...and drilling & dremelling out the cover of a Bud HH-3641 enclosure to fit a smoke-tinted polycarbonate button frame & window (that is LOCA glued to the display LED) with flush mounted silicone button strip:

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/563-HH-3641

....and a custom made aluminum mounting bracket is made for the back. The wiring harnesses are made using soldered waterproof connectors.

 

These are genuine W1209 with STM8S chip appearing as they are shipped. Notice that "HW-557" is silkscreened onto the PCB below the LED display and that all capacitor & resistor locations are populated below the STM8S chip. Note that "LLL" is shown on the LED display alerting that the oil temp sensor is disconnected:

 

w1209-1-0.png

Lets take a glance at the W1209 description, specs and instructions for their use:

 

Quote

DESCRIPTION:

This is an ST Microelectronics micro-processor based fan control gizmo suitable for replacement of Honda ATV Fan Control Units found on most air-cooled models produced since the late 1980's. This device solves all of the problems that the factory Honda FCUs are noted for, while adding several features and capabilities within a small, highly functional yet low cost, operator-friendly package.

 

This gizmo intelligently monitors the motor oil temperature and automates the control of the oil cooler fan operation. Sensing is provided by a custom made, high precision NTC thermistor equipped oil temperature sensor. Although the control module contains an embedded STM8S003F3P6 micro-controller no programming knowledge is required. Three tactile switch buttons on the control module allow for configuring the various parameter menus, including oil cooler fan motor start & stop trigger temperatures. The present motor oil temperature is displayed in degrees Celsius while the ignition key is on via its 3 digit, seven segment LED display and present fan relay energize state is displayed to the operator by an onboard LED.

 

A custom made 10 volts DC LM2940-N low drop out power supply provides regulated power for fan relays and supplies clean DC power to the onboard 5 volt STM8S micro-processor power supply. The built-in fan motor relays can switch up to 40 amps of fan motor load.

 

Its notable features include two critical operation fault alarms. One alarm notifies the operator if the oil temp sensor ever fails, or if one of the wires inside the oil sensor sub-harness ever became broken or its connector became unplugged. Another alarm notifies the operator if the motor oil ever begins to overheat; which would occur if the fan motor ever failed to run, or if air flow through the oil cooler became blocked or restricted by mud or debris.

 

The oil temp sensor pullup is calibrated via an onboard trimpot to match the accuracy of a digital multimeter thermometer while the sensor was submersed in heated oil, before the gizmo enclosure was permanently sealed during final assembly. For those having access to better measuring equipment that wish to more finely adjust the gizmo's accuracy, temperature correction calibration offsets can be set in a parameter menu, ranging from -7 °C through + 7 °C in 0.1 °C increments.

 

All operator settings and parameters are saved and stored in non-volatile memory until the next time the operator alters them. No backup is required and the gizmo does not consume any power while the ignition key is turned off.


    SPECIFICATIONS:

    Display: Red LED 3 digits, seven segments

    Relay state: Red LED

    User input control: Three tactile switches/buttons (From left to right 'Set', '+', '-')

    Temperature Control Range: -50 °C to +110 °C (-58 °F to +230 °F)

    Resolution at -9.9° to 99.9°: 0.1 °C

    Resolution at all other temperatures: 1 °C

    Measurement Accuracy: 0.1 °C

    Control Accuracy: 0.1 °C

    Refresh Rate: 0.5 Seconds

    Input Power (DC): 10.5V – 26.0V

    Measuring Input: Custom NTC Thermistor precision oil temp sensor (10K ohms.

    0.1 °C tolerance)

    Output: 1 Channel Relay Output, Dual relays, Capacity: 40 Amps


    Power Consumption

    Monitoring mode current: <=35mA

 

Quote

PARAMETER SETTINGS MENUS:

    Long press the 'Set' button for 5 seconds to activate the parameters menu.


    Code | Description | Range | Default Shipped Value

    P0 | Heating or Cooling mode | C/H | C

    P1 | Hysteresis Set | 0.1 °C – 15 °C | 12 °C

    P2 | Upper Limit | 110 °C | 110 °C

    P3 | Lower Limit | -50 °C | -50 °C

    P4 | Temperature Correction | -7.0 °C to +7.0 °C | 0.0 °C

    P5 | Delay Start Time | 0-10 minutes | 0

    P6 | High Temperature Alarm | ON/OFF 0-110 °C | 110 °C/OFF (required for Cooling mode)


    Long pressing the '+' & '-' buttons at the same time will reset all values to their

    factory defaults.

 

    Displaying the current oil temperature:


    The thermostat will display the present motor oil temperature in °C by default

    while the ignition key is turned on. When in any other mode making no input for

    approximately 5 seconds will cause the gizmo to save any changes to NVRAM and

    return to this default display.


    Setting the oil cooler fan relays triggering temperature:


    To set the trigger temperature press the leftmost 'Set' button momentarily. The

    seven segment display will begin to flash the previously stored triggering temp.

    You can now change the triggering temperature (in °C) using the '+' and '-'

    buttons in 0.1 degree increments. Holding a '+' or '-' button down increases the

    scrolling speed. Press the 'Set' button momentarily again to save your new trigger

    setting and return to the default display. Alternatively, if no buttons are pressed

    for approximately 5 seconds the displayed trigger temperature will be stored and

    the display will return back to monitoring the current oil temperature.


    Setting the parameters:


    To set any parameter, first long press the 'Set' button for at least 5 seconds. The

    seven segment display should now begin to flash 'P0'. This represents the first of

    the seven parameters (P0 to P6). Pressing the '+' or '-' buttons will cycle though

    the various parameters. Pressing the 'Set' button while any of the seven

    parameters are displayed will allow you to change the value for that parameter

    using the '+' and '-' buttons (see below). When finished setting a parameter press

    the set button to exit that option. If no buttons are pressed for 5 seconds the

    gizmo will save settings and return to the default oil temperature display.


    Setting the mode of operation, Cooling or Heating - Parameter P0:

    The parameter P0 has two settings, C and H. When set to C (default) the cooling

    fan relays will energize when the triggering temperature is reached. When set to

    H the relays will de-energize when the trigger temperature is reached.


    Setting the hysteresis - Parameter P1:

    This sets how many °C change in oil temperature must occur before the fan relay

    will change state. For example, if set to the (as shipped) default 12 °C and the

    trigger temperature has been set to 88 °C, the fan relays will energize at

    100 °C. The fan relays will not de-energize until the oil temperature falls back to 88 °C. Setting the hysteresis to a reasonable value prevents the gizmo from continually cycling the fan motor.


    Setting the upper limit of the thermostat - Parameter P2:

    This parameter limits the maximum trigger temperature that can be set. It can be

    used as a safety to prevent an excessively high trigger temperature from

    accidentally being set by the user.


    Setting the lower limit of the thermostat - Parameter P3:

    This parameter limits the minimum trigger temperature that can be set. It can be

    used as a safety to prevent an excessively low trigger temperature from

    accidentally being set by the user.


    Setting temperature offset correction - Parameter P4:

    This gizmo was calibrated to match a multimeter thermometer (with the sensor

    submersed in heated oil) before it was sealed up during final assembly. Should

    you learn that there is a difference between the displayed oil temperature and the

    actual oil temperature, corrections to displayed oil temp accuracy can be done

    using this parameter.


    Setting the trigger delay - Parameter P5:

    This parameter allows for delaying switching of the relay when the trigger

    temperature has been reached. The parameter can be set in one minute

    increments up to a maximum of 10 minutes. This parameter should be set to '0'.


    Setting the high temperature alarm - Parameter P6:

    Turning the alarm “ON” and setting a value for this parameter will cause the relay

    to switch off when the temperature reaches this setting. This is useful in Heating

    mode as the relay will not re-energize until the temperature falls below this value.


    For Cooling mode set the alarm to 'OFF'. The seven segment display will show

    'HHH' to indicate an oil over-temp alarm condition. The fan relay will remain

    energized and will not de-energize until the temperature falls back below this

    value (+ hysteresis value). The default setting is OFF.


    Oil Temp Sensor Fault Alarm Feature:

    If the oil temp sensor ever becomes damaged or disconnected, the display will

    show 'LLL' and the gizmo will not operate until the fault is corrected.


    Wiring Connections


    1) The White positive supply gizmo wire must be connected to a fused, ignition switched, B+ source. The White/black accessory power supply wire is an excellent candidate for that. The gizmo requires only about 110 milliamps max current, so that 10 amp accessory circuit can still be used for accessories.


    2) The Black and Green negative ground gizmo terminal will bolt down to the frame using the existing ground bolt next to the CDI.


    3) The Yellow gizmo wire must connect to the Green/black wire next to the cooling fan motor connector. Honda uses a natural colored 2-wire plastic connector there. Snip that Green/black wire between the connector plug and the fan motor and connect the Yellow gizmo wire on the fan motor side. Seal and insulate the unused snipped section of wire coming out of the connector.

 

The stock W1209 has a 5k ohms pullup resistor on it along with a cheap relay that are desoldered from the PCB and thrown away. In place of the discarded 5k ohms pullup resistor I solder in leads and mount a 25 turns, 10k ohms trimpot to the board with JB-weld. Leads are then soldered on for the oil temp sensor connections, regulated 10v DC power supply and the two relays that are mounted inside the power supply box. The 25 turns, 10k ohms trimpot is used for calibrating the finished oil temp sensor against the W1209 in hot oil on the stovetop. This is a pic of the modified W1209 being calibrated during final assembly.

 

calibrate4.png

 

Testing the over-temp alert feature. Note "HHH" on the LED display:

 

calibrate7.png

 

Verifying the final calibration against the multimeter as the stirred oil cools:

 

calibrate8.png

 

Next up, we'll drill out the OEM brass thermistor, replace it with our precision 10k ohms thermie and build a regulated DC power supply and relays box.

 

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A junk oil temp sensor is gutted out and gets a Littelfuse PS103J2 NTC precision 10k ohms thermister embedded in the brass using JB-Weld original formula.

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/803-PS103J2

 

24" leads with a waterproof connector are soldered on to the thermie:

 

sensor3.png

 

sensor-1.png

 

sensor3-done.png

 

The power supply is made on a perf board that is plated through to both sides

https://www.ebay.com/itm/223091274651

.... then cut down to fit into the end of a Hammond RL6175-F project box:

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/546-RL6175-F

 

The 10 volt regulator is an LDO based on a TO-220 package, Texas Instruments LM2940T-10.0:

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/926-LM2940T-10.0NOPB

... a tantulum capacitor that I stock snubs the regulator, a home made brass heatsink is soldered onto the back of the package and the input gets filtered by a Nichicon 4700uF 25v electrolytic:

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/647-UVK1E472MHD

.... the primary relay is a Panasonic ALQ309 PCB mount:

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/769-ALQ309

and the power relay is an ordinary automotive Bosch style 40 amp relay. In this pic you can see one that is getting wired up before harnesses were connected:

 

ps-relays-box3.png

 

The power supply/relays box mounted on the underside of my winch plate:

 

fan-gizmo-3.png

 

Being installed on the Creamsicle:

 

fan-gizmo-4.png

 

Alright thats enough for now. Lets get crackin' on Fishfiles 450 gizmo build in the next post.

 

 

 

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wow that's impressive, most impressive!

 

are you gonna make these at all and sell them?

 

id be in the market for 2-3 depending upon the price?

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2 hours ago, sublime68charger said:

are you gonna make these at all and sell them?

 

Nah, I don't like to put folks in debt. I'll make them to help folks out for free (unless the bike is gonna be sold, then no) until my stock of W1209 boards is depleted. I think I have a list of names waiting on 'em somewhere, I'll add ya name to it. Glad ya like DIY gizmos, hope ya patience is long & strong. 🙂

 

EDIT: @sublime68charger, it looks like I have enough boards to make ya one and I've added ya to the list. I'll hollar when your name is coming up, possibly near the end of summer if all goes well. Each gizmo takes me about 10 days to build and the list is long.

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You're very welcome sublime68charger!

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Attention Honda Engineering. You’ll watching this.  Might learn something. 

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Wow!  What an amazing "gizmo"! And the time, patience and skills!  I'm very impressed. 

 

If I'm using my rancher to spray fence, creeping around in 1st or 2nd, I never know if the fans coming on at the right time or not.  It doesn't seem to come on as often as when newer.

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A new OEM Honda oil temp sensor costs about $40. They're chintzy junk too. I can build this entire gizmo and ship it anywhere in the USA for less than the cost of a new OEM Honda sensor.

 

I don't have much to show for this project today except the oil temp sensor is done. I have the power supply PCB assembled as well, but I cannot find any Red 8 gauge stranded copper wire, so I ordered a new length of it. I'll finish the power supply & relays box after the new wire arrives. In the meantime I may as well get started on the display unit. More pics coming next week....

 

 

precision-sensor.png

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I am still waiting on the #8 AWG wire to arrive that I ordered. I have the power supply and relays box completed except for that final wire. I will solder it in and seal up the box as soon as it arrives. May as well dump the power supply pic in here now, before the display pics start getting added to this thread. Due up next; the final component of this build, the programmable display unit.

 

ps-relays.png

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Woohoo! This is interstin! Thanks for the pixof the sensor innards. 

Im piling em up for ya. I found another this morning. When it comes in I’ll put the Brasso to it.

I don’t see that new sensors are available for the two-wire systems. 

Are you converting the single wire to a dual wire setup?

what feeds power to the gizmo? does it connect to an accessory feed; is it fuzed?

 

outstanding 

0CF4BABF-3369-4CC2-83DB-C337E5EC1B1D.jpeg

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3 minutes ago, Goober said:

Woohoo! This is interstin!

 

Yup, they are very fun and challenging to build too!

 

4 minutes ago, Goober said:

Are you converting the single wire to a dual wire setup?

 

Yup, I been drilling out the plastic guts of a single wire sensor completely. Then I rough up and shine up the hollowed out brass shell to promote a good bond with JB-weld, stagger-solder 24" leads onto the new NTC precision thermie and fill the brass shell with JB-weld before dunking the new thermie into the bottom of the brass. After the JB-weld cures for 48 hours I file and sand off the excess JB-weld from the exterior of the brass, sheath the leads with shrink tubing and assemble & solder a waterproof connector onto the leads. The final step is shrinking the sheathing with a heat gun. The sensor plugs into a two-wire harness that comes out of the display unit and thats all there is to it... The sensors are very easy to make.

 

In your case, the '86 & '87 two wire brass sensor body differs from the newer style single wire sensor. So, when I get ready to build one of these gizmos for your TRX350 I'll have to ask ya to mail one of your junk sensors to me that I will gut out and stuff with the new NTC precision thermie. Don't bother polishing the brass up... I must do that anyway after the JB-weld cures.

 

17 minutes ago, Goober said:

what feeds power to the gizmo? does it connect to an accessory feed; is it fuzed?

 

Yes, the installer connects the gizmo power supply positive wire into the accessory circuit on the bike (negative bolts down to frame ground), so input power is fused through the existing accessory fuse inside the fuse box which allows the gizmo to be switched on when the ignition switch is turned on. The gizmo only consumes about 35 milliamps of current in monitoring mode and maxes about 110 milliamps of current with the fan relays energized, so the 10 amp (15 amp on TRX350 I think?) accessory circuit remains completely free to be used to power other devices.

 

Normally when I build these gizmos I supply and switch the ground for the cooling fan motor on the bike from the relays box. Only ground gets switched on and off by the fan relay, so the fan motor remains connected to the OEM fan circuit which is fused by the stock fan motor fuse. In this manner the OEM wiring harnesses are least disturbed and the gizmo requires minimal accessory power for operation.

 

The installer only gots to hook up three wires when the gizmo is built that way .... the gizmo's ground ring-terminal gets bolted down to the frame at the nearest existing 6mm bolt of your choice, the positive 12 volts supply wire gets plugged into the accessory circuit where the accessory sub-harness connects to the main harness (simple to make that male/female bullet connector adapter), and the relays switched ground for the fan motor gets plugged into the stock negative fan motor lead where the fan motor normally plugs into the main harness. To return the bike to stock simply unplug the gizmo and remove it from the bike, replace the custom oil temp sensor with the stock Honda sensor, plug the OEM FCU parts back in and its back to stock. No hacking required. 🙂

 

Note that in this particular build for @Fishfiles 450 Foreman the relays are being set up to switch the positive wires for the two fans on his bike, rather than the negatives, since he already has them wired up that way. But normally I wire them up as explained.

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Is that Polycase a 4-button type

they stock it as an FB-45 and then you choose the button number—so i assumed FB-45-4 means 4 buttons?

 

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, Goober said:

Is that Polycase a 4-button type

they stock it as an FB-45 and then you choose the button number—so i assumed FB-45-4 means 4 buttons?

 

Yup, exactly as you said. It is a key-fob case, I just use the button strip from it. I order the 4-button model then I trim the raised portion of the 4th button down so its flush with the body of the button strip, since I only need 3 of the four buttons. I have to do it this way because the Polycase FB-45-4 has the only button strip that I can find that has its buttons spaced apart the right distance to match up with the three momentary tactile switches on the W1209 board. I'll show how that all goes together (I make a polycarbonate frame for the button strip) in the next series of photos.

 

EDIT: I added a link to the plated perf boards that I use in the previous oil temp sensor & power supply post. I don't have a link to the tantulum snubber capacitor that I use to snub the TO-220 10 volt LDO voltage regulator, as I stock those and don't remember where I got them several years ago. Refer to the Texas Instruments LM2940T datasheet for the necessary snubber cap, or PM me if you'd like me to send you one of mine.

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All this electrical stuff is above my pay grade ....

 

Retro's Gizmo is high tech compared to this set up I am putting together on  my Red 300 , got a Davie's fan controller out of Australia , which is temp on/off set-able and has a digital display , but is not water proof and they tell you that in the in the installation instructions , if you look at the cooler pic , in the top left hand corner is the sensor for temp , I put the controller in the water proof box , the controller  is a two fan set up , not sure yet if I am going to run two fans of this one or not 

 

I think it is going to so cool and a safe guard to have a digital display of current temp right in front of my face 

 

I have my fan on a toggle now , sometimes I will forget to turn it back on after a stop , automatic control will be great  ----- having the cooler on the rack allows me to reach up and fell the inlet hose going into the cooler , and from my experiences , when the fan kicks on there is a quick drop in temperature , I think it really makes a difference , when this Gizmo is all hook up , that is what I want to see in real time digital numbers 

 

 

nNHDhsRIQmeuCUmtL%YvSg.jpg

fullsizeoutput_bfd.jpeg

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16 hours ago, Fishfiles said:

All this electrical stuff is above my pay grade ....

what he said!

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I got a rain day goin' on here today, me no workie in da' rain. Fishfiles and I been PMing about a mounting bracket for the display. Fish gave me some pics of his mounting location quite a while ago to refer to. Originally I thought about making a 45 degree bracket that would bolt down to two existing bolts on his pod extension. But I think we may have schemed up a better mount overall, since this latest bracket idea will be completely hidden behind the display once its mounted and the small wiring harnesses coming out of the display will be completely hidden as well. It should appear like its a wireless gizmo once mounted...? I think we nailed it... We'll soon see....

 

Anyway, the idea calls for drilling and tapping for two #4-40 mounting screws along the bottom edge of the 1/4" thick aluminum toggle switches plate. The wiring harnesses would route down through an existing 1/4" gap in the pod brackets below the bottom edge of that 1/4" plate. The display should be centered on the plate between the toggles and the Garmin GPS mount. Here is one of Fishfiles photos showing the area we talking about.

 

IMG_8819.JPG

 

I cut and filed this bracket out of some extruded aluminum, then drilled and tapped it for four #4-40 screws (once assembled the screw heads are inside the back cover, the ends of the four screws are flush with the bracket when tightened) that attach it to the back cover of the display. In this photo you can see the two screw holes that will receive #4-40 screws to mount the display to the 1/4" thick edge of the aluminum toggles plate on Fishfiles 450. I made a matching drilling template for those two holes that will be sent with the gizmo to provide a quick 'n easy install.

 

bracket0.png

 

And here you can see how that bracket will attach to the back of the display once the black paint cures up a bit harder.

 

bracket1.png

 

If it doesn't rain tomorrow there should be some more pics dumped in here. I'm gonna try to provide pics and fabrication methods more often for those who may decide to make their own toys.

 

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19 minutes ago, retro said:

I got a rain day goin' on here today, me no workie in da' rain.

 

You're not gonna melt!

 

Seriously though, I had worked on the wife's Rancher AT for weeks trying to figure out why it wouldn't shift.  I had it up on jackstands, had done a SRA secondary in it for an ~18% GR, and shaved the speed sensor down to read the new gear.  Speedometer worked, but the thing wouldn't shift past 3rd gear with the exception of it going into 4th, but only at EXACTLY 7mph (that tells you how long I'd messed with the thing that I found that out LOL). 

 

Anyhow, I was working on it and it started raining, so I took it off the jackstands to pull it under the carport to mess with it.  VOILA!  On the way from the yard to the carport, it starts shifting.  Turned out for whatever reason those bikes won't shift past 3rd on jackstands!

 

And that's why you shouldn't be afraid to work on stuff in the rain!

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Wow , that Gizmo is going to look sweet right up there on the dash , and seeing the temperature right in front will be great 

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I agree Jeep, I shouldn't be such a wuss, might learn sumthin' new too!

 

But I live off-grid so life and work is different. The nearest utility pole is 1.25 miles away, so I gotta start my generator whenever I need to use many of my power tools. Half of my smaller power tools I've converted from battery packs to 13.5 volts with cords soldered into them, so I can just plug those into the wall when I need them... they run off my solar power supply/battery bank. But I own many tools, such as my two Dremels and my two drill presses that I am using every day on this gizmo project that can't be converted to run on DC.... my generator is a 1976 year model portable Miller welder mounted on a small trailer, I don't ever uncover it to start that bugger while its raining or snowing. I care for it a bit too much (my exgirlfriend claims I care more about my tools than ever I cared for her, haha..), its been bulletproof all those years, its still in nearly mint condition and probably cannot be replaced nowadays, at any price.

 

Thats why I always refuse to work on rain days. And probably explains my lazy streak too. :-)

 

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VOILA!  On the way from the yard to the carport, it starts shifting.  Turned out for whatever reason those bikes won't shift past 3rd on jackstands!

 

any chance the rain ... on the electrics ... caused it to start shifting ? i say this because fish has used water to help trace down electrical issues ... 

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4 minutes ago, _Wilson_™ said:

 

 

 

any chance the rain ... on the electrics ... caused it to start shifting ? i say this because fish has used water to help trace down electrical issues ... 

 

No I've seen a lot of people with the same problem over the years, and every one of them had the thing up on jackstands trying to run it after they shaved down the speed sensor.  The 7mph thing going to 4th gear popped up in someone else's thread from a couple of years before I was troubleshooting.  Sure enough, mine was the same way.  Put it on the ground and it's been fine since.  Back up on jackstands, won't go past 3rd.

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