DIY Gizmo - Honda ATV Programmable Fan Control Unit

[jeepwm69 7,601]

When are you two gonna mass produce these things?  So many machines that have a bad ECU ($$$) so the fan doesn't come on anymore.  Looks like this could be put in place to not only allow tweaking of fan operation, but also get the fan working on machines that have a bad ECU, essentially bypassing that part of the ECU.

[retro 4,048]

I have been trying to figure out how to speed up the building of these gizmos ever since the first attempt was made! But every part must be custom cut & hand drilled/filed & custom fitted together, since this project is nothing more than a mashup of random small components being shoehorned into as tiny an enclosure as possible.

 

The most time consuming (50% of time required to build) and most difficult step (for me anyway, my eyesight and hands/fingers are both junk) in making these gizmos is the cutting & shaping (and precise placement, no room for error!)) of the cutouts for the button strip & digital display window on the top of the tiny display enclosure. The PCB board placement inside the enclosure must be precise too. When I make one tiny mistake that makes one of those cutouts look like its gone through a chainsaw art workshop, I gotta throw that enclosure away and try again on a new one. CNC or 3D printer tooling the front cover of the display unit precisely would cut the build time in half and the appearance of each gizmo would be much more professional as well. The back cover could be CNC tooled as well, to save a bunch of time it takes me to precisely locate and secure the PCB too.

 

So machine cutting the tiny enclosure gotta happen first. The remaining build & assembly is all custom too, but those steps are routine and usually get done without me throwing any parts away and starting over. 🙂

 

I'll work on finding a CNC solution for the enclosure as soon as I can get back on this project this winter. It certainly would be nice to be able to produce a gizmo every week!

[TBRider 1,406]

I have access to a 3d printer, step son owns one.

Edited December 2, 2020 by TBRider

[retro 4,048]

I am thinking about buying myself a decent 3D printer too, its a tool that I'm sure I would use often. But I am also planning on building my own 3D CNC machine (small 32"x32"x32") from scratch with quicklok interchangeable power tooling, so I might skip the 3D printer option entirely if I can find time to get the CNC project underway. I have already bought some of the electronic control components for the CNC rig... need to build the skeleton framework, rails & arms yet so I can get busy tinkerin' & tuning on it. I am very slow to accomplish most things though... so beware, I just may tap ya on the shoulder someday asking for your step son's help!

[TBRider 1,406]

If you have pictures of one and some rough dimensions of it, I'll see what we can do for one, I'm sure he wouldn't mind another project.

[retro 4,048]

I will have to supply a completed enclosure to whomever authors the design code, so that the dimensions of each cutout can be measured and placed on the computer design screen exactly as required. Someday I'll make one.

[Goober 1,555]

Oh crap i have a package on my bench for ya @retro

Edited December 3, 2020 by Goober

[oh400ex 629]

I would just like to put it out there that I want one of the 3D printed enclosure units.

This is just such a great idea and is well implemented. I need one for every model with a fan now lol

[retro 4,048]

I think I'd better learn whether the fake PCBs are as fully functional as the genuine PCBs with the ST Micro chips are, or not, so supply can meet the demand for these gizmos. I imagine the STM boards are all sold by now and I only got a few of those left on hand. I think I have four fakes... might have to swap STM chips onto them if they don't work like they should.

[Goober 1,555]

I’ll include a few of the fakes to ya

[retro 4,048]

I have plenty Goober. I was looking around on the 'net today and found some boards that display in fahrenheit rather than celsius. But after looking them over closer I realized that they were just timer boards that trip the relay on according to temp, but the relay off function is done by a countdown timer. False hopes... 🙂

 

[retro 4,048]

W1209 FAHRENHEIT !!!

 

Yup that's right! I just found some genuine W1209 STM8S003F3P6 PCBs that are programmed in fahrenheit, so of course I ordered some of them to test for temp tracking accuracy! Lets go boys.... 🧐

 

Digital Temperature Controller FAHRENHEIT

 

This is the 32764 MP PDF datasheet converted to a .png image. Note that this datasheet lists the temp range specification in error... the correct temp range spec is -58° F to +230° F.

 

 

Here is a link to a youtube video of the W1209F (32764 MP):

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBLyAO9r3Tg

 

Stay tuned for more!

[retro 4,048]

Patience rewards the tinkerer... @Fishfiles your gizmo will ship with the fahrenheit version if ya wish. Members have a choice, C or F now.

[Fishfiles 20,145]

2 hours ago, retro said:

Patience rewards the tinkerer... @Fishfiles your gizmo will ship with the fahrenheit version if ya wish. Members have a choice, C or F now.

I am a Fahrenheit guy for sure  

[jeepwm69 7,601]

What is this "Celsius" you speak of?    Sounds like one of the bad guys in "Gladiator"

[Fishfiles 20,145]

8 hours ago, jeepwm69 said:

What is this "Celsius" you speak of?    Sounds like one of the bad guys in "Gladiator"

Celsius Dickious was a Roman in the Monty Python movie , Life of Brian !!! LOL 

[TBRider 1,406]

Here is a joke gift my stepson did with the printer. His brother wanted a new toilet for his place for Xmas, so he printed up a gift card holder to wrap up, he can do almost anything I guess.....lol

[retro 4,048]

I have my eye on a Prusa 3D printer with multi-material printing capabilities. I intend to order these two kits, along with a selection of filament spools sometime this coming summer. Gotta bunch of learnin' to do before jumping into this ~$1500 investment... but if my old noggin' proves to be capable of learnin' new tech then these gizmos will be put into production.

 

Prusa i3 MK3S+ kit

 

Prusa i3 MK2.5S & MK3S/+ Multi Material 2S upgrade kit (MMU2S)

 

This project will be restarted from the beginning in about two weeks or less. Gonna use one of the fahrenheit modules I got and start again from scratch.

[Fishfiles 20,145]

That 3D printer  looks like a fun thing to have , I would likely be playing with it more than working with it ---- there was a guy at the indoor flea market in Slidell that hada boot with one set up and he would make things for you for a price , that flea market closed down 1st of the year , wonder where he went 

[jeepwm69 7,601]

I saw someone on bookface who printed a 350 Rancher air cleaner core on a 3d Printer.  Thought that was neat, since some of them (300 for example) have gotten $$$

[jeepwm69 7,601]

On 1/7/2021 at 10:29 AM, jeepwm69 said:

I saw someone on bookface who printed a 350 Rancher air cleaner core on a 3d Printer.  Thought that was neat, since some of them (300 for example) have gotten $$$

 

[retro 4,048]

I got all of the gizmo supplies back out today. I have my work area all set up too, so I am ready to begin a fahrenheit gizmo build. I will probably get going on it on Saturday, as tomorrow I will be busy with snow removal chores.

[retro 4,048]

If I remember right I didn't cover the power supply and relays box build for this gizmo, so I'm gonna build one from scratch using parts already explained & linked to Mouser earlier. I am going to wire the 40 amp relay like I normally do, so this PS/Relays build will supply the ground for the fan motor, rather than the positive supply like I did with Fishfiles build. Once finished, this PS/Relays box will be included with the next gizmo that gets built. So the next one is just begun... while this one for Fishfiles is getting a reboot.

 

Here are the parts I will be using to make this box:

 

 

And this is how I intend to end up, minus the fat red cable:

 

 

[retro 4,048]

The proto board gotta be made first, so I dropped it into the slot that the end of the enclosure provides and marked the board where I needed to cut it. The edge of the cut off board must stick up about 3/32" above the top of the enclosure so it can be captured firmly (don't want it flopping around inside the box once completed) once the lid is put on it.

 

 

 

After cutting the board it got flipped over (the row of solder pads on this board won't be used, so that waste edge will be inserted into the lid) and the upper edge was notched on both ends with the hacksaw for board clearance necessary for fitting the lid on the box.

 

 

Then the rough edges from the saw cuts were filed off smooth.

 

 

Test fitted in the slot... the lid fit down good and the board did not rattle.

 

 

Next the components were prepared and laid out on the board so that spaces along the top and the bottom edges of the board remained for soldering wiring connection headers onto it. This mock up was necessary because there is no extra space on the board that would allow me to make a part placement mistake. Once the wires are soldered onto this board it will appear to be crowded.

 

 

 

This step is optional... I cut a small heatsink out of a .010" thick brass shim sheet then bent it to fit the VR and will solder it onto the board, then solder the voltage regulator down onto the brass to provide additional heat sinking capacity. The heatsink is optional here because the voltage regulator chip will only be running at about 12% of its max load handling rating... so if I just solder the VR onto the board it would be fine. But since I can.... I'm gonna.

 

 

Be back later to solder & hookup wire it all together, into a compact (& cheap!) working unit.

 

 

 

[retro 4,048]

Our 500th member joined us today!!! 🙂

 

I forgot to include a pic in the last post so here it is showing the finished proto board sticking out of the box about 3/32":