Topic: Wiring up a Danmoto gauge

[Scott S]

 This looks like it will be pretty simple to wire up, but I could use some positive reinforcment, to ease my mind.



 In fact, whoever designed this thing might have had a Honda! Many of the wires match color for color to the Honda wiring diagram.
 I have a few questions, but I'll take them one or two at a time so as not to get everyone confused.

 Here's all the instructions that came with the Danmoto, if you can really call them that. Notice my handwriting on the second pic. That's the easy, idiot-proof stuff!




 I'll be using the wires that once went to the "idiot lights" on the dash of my CB500. Those should match up to the turn indicators, oil pressure, neutral, and high beam on the Danmoto.

  The turn signal bulb on the stock dash has two wires...orange and light blue. LB comes from the RH turn signal, O comes from the left. Pretty straight forward to match those up, right?

 Next, the oil pressure switch has a blue/red wire on the stock harness. The dash light has the blue/red and a black wire. The black just runs power to the bulb, right?  If the Danmoto has a 12V source, all I need is to run the B/R wire from the oil pressure switch to the BL/W wire on the Danmoto, correct?

 Same idea with neutral lamp. It has a light green/red wire from the neutral switch and a black wire to power  the lamp. I can take the LG/R wire that once went to the dash lamp and plug it into the LG/R on the Danmoto.

[Scott S]

 First REAL question, if my other stuff passes inspection...

 Let's start with #4 and #5 on the Danmoto; +12V and Ground. In a CB500/550 dash (this bike is a '71 CB500 and I'm using the correct diagram. I'm pretty sure that the 500/550 was the same up to about '76), I can use any of the green wires in the headlight bucket for ground. Should I use a black wire for power? Or should I look for a keyed power wire...a black/white wire, I believe.

[Greggo]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the greens were all grounds..no power..

[Scott S]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the greens were all grounds..no power..

 Corrected that....I was confused for a minute. Electricity is black magic to me.

 Now....best way to get 12V and ground to the Danmoto?

[Greggo]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the greens were all grounds..no power..

 Corrected that....I was confused for a minute. Electricity is black magic to me.

 Now....best way to get 12V and ground to the Danmoto?

I think you would want power linked to the ignition switch, yeah?

[Scott S]

 I know that there's a keyed power wire on the main harness that feeds the coils; a black/white wire. Is there a corresponding wire inside the headlight bucket?
 The Bk/W wire on my diagram goes to the tachometer light, along with a green wire. Could I use that?

 Which brings me to #6: Background illumination.
 I was figuring on using one of the wires that sent power to the tach or speedo lighting. Suggestions?

[Stev-o]

Yes, greens are ground and you would want it wired through the ig switch (or it would be constant hot)

[Scott S]

Yes, greens are ground and you would want it wired through the ig switch (or it would be constant hot)

 Is the black/white wire that goes to the tach light the same keyed wire that feeds the coils? Could I use that?

[lucky]

First REAL question, if my other stuff passes inspection...

 Let's start with #4 and #5 on the Danmoto; +12V and Ground. In a CB500/550 dash (this bike is a '71 CB500 and I'm using the correct diagram. I'm pretty sure that the 500/550 was the same up to about '76), I can use any of the green wires in the headlight bucket for ground. Should I use a black wire for power? Or should I look for a keyed power wire...a black/white wire, I believe.

On the Honda some wires with colored stripes are wires that only have power that is switched on. On and off.
For instance the start button yellow with red stripe.
Turn signal wires etc.,.
Horn button and so on.

[Scott S]

 Any other input? Am I correct on the signals/oil/neutral lights?
 Best source for 12V and ground?

[andrewk]

I just wired up one of these on a CB450SC.  You have the signals and such correct in your previous posts.

Best source for 12V is a black wire.  That's switched 12V.  If you put it on the Blk/W wire, it would go on and off with the kill switch, and I don't think you want that.  Any ground plug in the bucket with an open spot will be good for ground.

Pretty painless, but there's a lot of wires there.

[Scott S]

 Cool. Good info.

 Do you like the gauge?

[andrewk]

It's not the worst.  I'm still playing around with the tire circumference setting, I'm within 4 mph now, which is probably more accurate than stock.

I'm not sure if I like the look of the 180 gauge as much as the 360, but no matter how it looks, it's BRIGHT, which is a very nice upgrade, especially at night.  Either unit is a good upgrade for someone wanting modern gauges.

My only concern is all weather performance.  The wiring has a weather seal, but I would imagine that water can find its way in somehow, it always does.  The Nighthawk I put this on sees daily use, but not much rain use, the owner uses it as a fair weather commuter.

[Scott S]

 Does anyone have pics or ideas for mounting the Hall Effect magnet and sensor? FWIW, I have Lester mag wheels and not spokes.

[Scott S]

 Got everything figured out and tested except the tach and speedo. Tach is wired, but I can't test it until the bike is running. We have a plan for the Hall Sensor....stay tuned.

 Pic is blurry because I had to turn off the flash.

[scottly]

I made a bracket to mount the pick-up for my bicycle speedo, and used a couple of tiny magnets from Radio Shack in the head of one of the socket head cap screws on my Morris wheels. 

[Scott S]

 We have something very similar in mind. Picked up some parts today. Hope to have it installed this weekend.

[andrewk]

Heres how I did the nighthawk.  I re-bent the speedo cable guide and used fender washers. Glued the magnet to a rotor bolt head, after cutting off the back plastic part where the circlip fits. Easy peasey.

[Scott S]

 I have everything working but the tach. It works, but reads high.

 I found this on a Ducati site:

"The Tach need a 10K ohm 1/2 watt resistor inline for it to work and connect to the negative tab of the coil.  Very easy.  Resistor can be had at Radio Shack 5 or $3."

 Does this sound right? I'm using it on a CB650 with dual output coils/wasted spark ignition.
 There isn't really a negative side of the coils, right? One prong gets the signal from the points (electronic ignition in my case) and the other is fed power from the keyed switch.
 Which would you use?

 Do I just cut the wire coming from the gauge for the tach signal and solder in the resistor?

[andrewk]

For the resistor wiring, yes, that would be the easiest way.

The points side of the coil is considered negative.  You'll want the tach on one side of your electronic ign (blue or yellow equivalent).

I'm having my own tach problems, but I'm working with CDI.  If I hook up at the coil it reads fine to 4k, then stops.  If I hook it up to the ign pickup wiring, it reads double.  I think my solution is going to involve a zener diode.  Strange how little information is out there.

[Scott S]

 I forgot to post these over here.
 Here's the bracket we made and longer bolts...



 Mounted the magnet on the bracket...



 And made up another bracket for the Hall Sensor.




 The magnet is mounted using the (longer) rotor bolts. It works, but I have to enter the tire ratio and change it to MPH.

[Scott S]

 The speedo works, but I still need to enter the proper tire diameter and change it to MPH.

 I also installed a 10K ohm resistor inline on the tach wire to get the signal down.



 That got the tach reading correctly, but it has a little noise in it. The bars would jump up one or two bars over the actual idle speed. We twisted up about 10 feet of wire in my drill to make a homemade capacitor and prove a theory. That took ALL the noise out of the tach signal as made it steady.
 I tried wiring in a capacitor from Radio shack, but the smallest one I could fid didn't remove all the noise. I have half a mind to re-attach the coiled wire and just hide it under the tank somewhere.

[andrewk]

that's a slick mount.  I like how you were able to hide it in the fender stay.  I routed mine along the brake hose.

[K3Owner]

We always employed electrolytics when filtering supplies because of the needed capacity. .001u may not be enough but we're not talking supplies here either. You said you coiled wire and that worked so you created a homemade inductive choke and placed it in line in the circuit? Nice job. Buy an inductor at RS that does the same. Now, that said, I haven't been on the repair bench in 20 years so you might say that it shows...

[Scott S]

 Yes, I need a bigger capacitor. Is there a way to measure the resistance of the coiled wire we made? That thing made it rock steady. Maybe I'll just coil it up and hide it under the tank.

 Someone said to try an electrolytic radial cap in the range of 1000-10,000uf. Or, since the ones I have came in a two pack, wire another up in series? Do I have to tap into the tach wire again and make another ground, or could I tap into the wire that comes off the existing capacitor that's going to ground?