3 Colour LED Charge Indicator - opinions?

[pete]

That's a good point Bill, although with the bar type the location of the lit LED's should suffice.

I had a digital gauge I got from Jaycar years ago but found the backlight ineffectual at night and it wasn't exactly weatherproof.

Anything newer will probably be better though...

[Bill Alexander]

Here is a photo of my digital volt meter (apologies about the photo quality)

This voltmeter is led display and easily read in the dark (it is hard to read with bright sun behind). It is not water proof but in my case it is sheltered inside the fairing. As can be seen I rode into work today in a storm and the meter was hardly dripped on. I do have a cunning plan for waterproofing it eventually in the meantime it is easy to remove with the velcro so if it ever is at risk of getting drowned I can whip it off really quickly.

[mike-s]

For what it's worth that ebay seller has a few bar graphs.
link to his shop

[pete]

Here is a photo of my digital volt meter (apologies about the photo quality)

This voltmeter is led display and easily read in the dark (it is hard to read with bright sun behind). It is not water proof but in my case it is sheltered inside the fairing. As can be seen I rode into work today in a storm and the meter was hardly dripped on. I do have a cunning plan for waterproofing it eventually in the meantime it is easy to remove with the velcro so if it ever is at risk of getting drowned I can whip it off really quickly.

Ah yes, LED in that instance is much better than LCD. The one I was referring to was LCD and quite useless on a bike. I think in a car it would've been good due to dash lighting etc.

Also, no fairing on my 450E so totally exposed to the elements, which is why I'm hoping with the bar graph type to be able to line LED's along the bottom of the gauge housing, but we shall see.

For what it's worth that ebay seller has a few bar graphs.
link to his shop

True, although a lot of those look quite bulky and would be hard to fit in with the gauges in a neat and tidy way...

[pete]

Got my bits yesterday so I could make a start.

I'm just running it all up on a breadboard for now to see that it works ok, then I'll transfer it to some vero board I have left over from my ignition circuit.



I'm using these LED's for prototyping but I'll current limit the super bright ones coming for my gauges and use some of them behind some tinted plastic I think. I know that doesn't make sense right now, but I can see it in my mind...



They were already wired that way from something else I must've done 15 years ago...

All components in, just need to do some jumpers to finish the circuit ready to test:

[pete]

Ok, prototype finished up tonight, very messy on the breadboard.



Straight 12v works:



And I discovered I had a LM317 variable voltage regulator hiding underneath the prototyping setup (which don't work no more), so pilfered that:



And a brief crappy video of how it looks:



I need to calibrate it of course, but that'll do for the moment as it's MotoGP time and I'll solder it all together properly before calibrating too.

[Hammered]

I bought one of these from Fleabay for a penny, I paid $4.99 in shipping, but hey, I paid paid a penny! Its small enough, 1" x 3/4" and pretty damn bright. I plan to strip the lighter plug body away, rewire for a blade style fuse (ato) and place in the gauge cluster. Course Ill have to repair the one I have after my deer strike. Its small enough to fit in the idiot lights section of the vertical stalk or in the gear indicator area. And since Im replacing the 5 light setup for a LED indicator, theres plenty of room for either way. I used the unit a couple days in the Caliber to see how quick its changed and such and to check how easy it was to see. Seems like a decent deal for $5 a 10 days waiting.

[pete]

Cool, there are certainly plenty of options out there!

For me this is some extra fun while I'm waiting to get to other stuff that will get me closer to being on the road, and I haven't done this stuff for years.

[Hammered]

I wish I had a first idea about electronics. I love seeing people do this kinda thing. Leaves me scratching my head.

[pete]

Don't worry, I'm nowhere near 100% on how the circuit works... the days of trying to understand it fully are about 15 years behind me now unfortunately, but I still find myself fascinated by it and like to have a fiddle every now and then.

If it gets me a nice indication of the state of my charging system then so much the better

[bakalorz]

I'm using these LED's for prototyping but I'll current limit the super bright ones coming for my gauges and use some of them behind some tinted plastic I think. I know that doesn't make sense right now, but I can see it in my mind...

The 3914 does the current limiting for you by adjusting some of the resistors ... tell me what current you are looking for and I'll run the numbers ... right now its set to 10 -12 ma / segment, only 1 segment on at a time ... when the bike runs the voltage bounces around, so the "on" segment moves around much faster than the eye can see, so it appears that multiple segments are on.

[pete]

The 3914 does the current limiting for you by adjusting some of the resistors ... tell me what current you are looking for and I'll run the numbers ... right now its set to 10 -12 ma / segment, only 1 segment on at a time ... when the bike runs the voltage bounces around, so the "on" segment moves around much faster than the eye can see, so it appears that multiple segments are on.

Yes I read that along the line somewhere...

If it's set now to 10 - 12 mA, then that may be ok with the super brights.

What I'm hoping to achieve though is making the low end and high end LED's brighter than the rest to catch my attention.

As I'll be using 20000 mcd white LED's, I'm hoping to find some translucent green and red plastic to put over the top, so the "good" range is green, and over and under voltage is red, and I want those LED's to be noticeably brighter. Of course it will require careful calibration but because you've put the trimpots in that should be straight forward, and a dab of silicon once setup should stop them from adjusting unintentionally with vibration.

If 10 - 12mA is OK for the brightest desired LED's (over/under voltage), then I'll just add extra resistors inline with the anode of the LED's I want to be less bright (good voltage) to current limit them some more.

Make any sense?

[bakalorz]

Yes I read that along the line somewhere...

If it's set now to 10 - 12 mA, then that may be ok with the super brights.

What I'm hoping to achieve though is making the low end and high end LED's brighter than the rest to catch my attention.

As I'll be using 20000 mcd white LED's, I'm hoping to find some translucent green and red plastic to put over the top, so the "good" range is green, and over and under voltage is red

FWIW ... When I was reading about using LED replacements for taillight bulbs, one of the suggestions was NOT to use white LEDs in colored plastic housings because they tended not to be bright enough, but to use red or amber LEDs. The reason as I remember it was that the White LEDs make several colors, but a lot of it gets absorbed in the housing, wasting a lot of the light that was made, while the red LEDs made only the red out of the energy they used, most of which was transmitted.

So if the white LEDS behind translucent red are not bright enough, try getting some red LEDs. (I personally think using red and green LEDs is WAY EASIER to do than building a decent looking translucent red and green housing anyway ...)

, and I want those LED's to be noticeably brighter. Of course it will require careful calibration but because you've put the trimpots in that should be straight forward, and a dab of silicon once setup should stop them from adjusting unintentionally with vibration.

I really really really doubt the trimpots will move from vibration
...
...
...

STOP ... WAIT ...This isn't going on a Harley Davidson is it ? ...get the pitchforks and torches ... BURN THE HERETIC !!!!!!!111!!!!


If 10 - 12mA is OK for the brightest desired LED's (over/under voltage), then I'll just add extra resistors inline with the anode of the LED's I want to be less bright (good voltage) to current limit them some more.

OK, that makes sense ... I thought you just wanted all of them dimmer. The extra resistors should work fine the way you want to do it.

Make any sense?

Aarghhh ... the stupid posting software thinks I didn't write anything and is making me put text here ....

[pete]

Cool, I have heard the same about coloured LED's vs. coloured lenses, but I'm ordering 100 as part of replacing the bulbs in my gauges so I'll have plenty to spare. I figured 20000mcd should certainly overcome any brightness issues

And don't worry, definitely not going on a Harley either

Sounds like my plan will work in theory, so as long as I can get the practical side sorted I should be laughing.

Now to hurry up and wait for those 100 LED's to arrive...

[pete]

100 LED's and 100 resistors arrived today



So I'll take care of my gauge conversion first then will come back to this.