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Stromputer is alive

189K views 770 replies 89 participants last post by  p38arover 
#1 ·
I started another thread months ago ("MK 1B") but it got long and very technical, so I decided to create a new one.

Basically I invented a digital solution that shows the current ambient temperature, current gear position and current battery level in an LCD display, gears showing also as LEDs. The solution is based on Arduino (AVR) microcontroller and can (and will be) expanded to have more advanced features - MPG (Miles Per Gallon) display is high on my list. If a GSA has it, so will the Wee! :) I also think of adding connectivity to smartphone via Bluetooth (e.g. show incoming SMS messages). The Arduino is a very capable and extensible platform.

I got some help from good Stromtroopers along the way (you know who you are.. :hurray:), had some bugs and fixed them, and did many experiments until everything got to work, but it really works now! The prototype is mounted on my bike and works great.



The core costs of the initial prototype were a bit high - about $110, not taking into account the mounting (RAM in my case) and other R&D costs (extra parts, wrong parts..). That been said, it is still cheaper than getting a 3rd Party Gear Position Indicator that does just that function.

The project is also open source: stromputer - Display enhancement for Suzuki V-Strom motorcycles (and others) based on Arduino - Google Project Hosting

I think the project is now ready to move to the next phase, which is more optimal and also much cheaper. I have clear ideas on how to make it cheaper - in particular consolidating all electronics into one box instead of two as it is today.

BTW: There is another project by Voltar, which is more of a DIY gear position indicator.
 
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#2 ·
Cool.

Now I don't need to even think about a 2012.
 
#9 ·
All V-Strom models have exactly the same gear position sensor mechanism. Therefore it will work on all V-Stroms.
Furthermore, I think it will work on any Japanese bike.

The device really needs three inputs:
1. Red Wire - Battery +
2. Black Wire - Battery - (GND)
3. Pink Wire - PosiTap to the motorcycle Gear Position Sensor (GPS) wire .

Time to install - Maybe 10 minutes.
 
#4 ·
Wrong video.

 
#10 · (Edited)
Thanks!
The Stromputer can be made small by doing these things:
1. Using the Arduino Nano the dimensions drop to 0.73" x 1.70". I'm currently using a much larger Arduino Duemillanove (2.7'' x 2.1'').
2. The "Shield" I used for the prototype is both expensive and large. A small and cheap Through Hole PCB from Radioshack can be used instead.
3. Once I do 1 & 2, the entire "Brain" box is eliminated.
4. The current LCD is also large. If you go for a smaller LCD, a smaller box can be used.

so I do not have exact final dimensions, but think I will get rid of one box and reduce the size of the existing box.
 
#11 ·
This looks neat. A great idea. You have something very cool here.

Post updates as you make them. It will be interesting to see how your project changes.

A few ideas

- You need to decide on a "Finished first revision" of this, and get it marketable, before you start working on a second revision to add more things, otherwise you may never finish it.
- Smaller definately
- Not sure i see the benefit of the walking gear lights at the top aside from looking neat. :)
- Low battery indicator. maybe use green LED for OK and RED LED when battery is drawing too much or not charging? No idea what changes that would involve in your setup. You could also display the word LOW at the bottom or something.
- Temps below 34F or 1c should display an ice warning (green and red again maybe? or ICE at the bottom?).
- Could engine RPM's be incorporated so the gear indicator is green when RPM's are above 4k and Red when below that? or display SHIFT at the bottom?

Maybe all these are dumb/silly, i don't know. Just tossing out ideas.

Keep it coming. :)
 
#22 · (Edited)
Thanks.

I'll try to answer the items:
1. Not sure what you mean by a "Finished first revision". The first revision (today) is fully functional and finished. It is not a product, and I'm not selling it, but you can replicate exactly what I did and it will work for you.
2. Smaller - agree, that is no so easy but doable.
3. The led gears are actually much more visible and useful for me than the LCD display of the gear. They are "positional" and have a color coding. I can easily detect 6th gear, because it is blue and lights alone ("Overdrive mode"). That been said, if you don't want it, that feature can easily be removed.
4. Low Battery Indicator - I think a 'Low' indicator in the LCD is good enough - it will take me 1 minute to add the logic, but a LED is equally easy to code, just take more time, space and cost to build.
5. Low Temps - Exactly the same as Low Battery Indicator. With the LCD very easy to add.
6. RPM readings are doable but are not trivial, since to get the RPM the MCU needs to connect to some wire with that signal, and then count the "peaks".
I actually plan to do a similar solution for the front wheel speed - get the bike speed by counting the PWM signal coming out of the front wheel speed sensor.
As mentioned above, once I know the speed (S in miles per hour) I know the distance (M=S*T, T is time). And once I know the fuel gauge level (G) I can calculate MPG (Miles Per Gallon or in M/G).
 
#12 ·
My goodness, you are a dangerous man!

As I have said before, I am envious of your cranial crunching talent!

I only have one question for you; is it waterproof?

Thanks for sharing this!
 
#19 · (Edited)
Thanks! :)
I made it water resistant - but wouldn't say it is water proof. I'm quite sure it will hold off rain.

This is just the first prototype. Your point is valid - down the road this solution needs to be 100% water proof. I just didn't put it as a 1st priority for the first version, as I focused on the other functional aspects (i.e. making it work first).
 
#13 ·
I never knew that the stock DL-650 already has a gear position sensor providing a signal that you could simply tap into with a microcontroller/receiver ?

I thought that was one of the complaints of the poor functioning of the aftermarket GIpro gear position sensor was that it merely compared mph to rpm to calculate gear position, which does not work too well and is not as precise as having a sensor on the gear box itself.
 
#14 ·
The GIPro also senses the voltage from the gear position switch. That's why it shows a zero instead of a six if the reading is off a bit.
 
#15 · (Edited)
So you're saying that the stock DL650 has all the gearbox hardware & some of the circuitry for a gear position circuit, with signal being produced but sent to no where because the instrument panel has no display to receive the signal because Suzuki chose to not outfit the stock DL-650 with a gear position display(led, lcd, or likewise) ? The display is all that's missing to have a working gear postion sensor on the the stock DL-650 ?!?
 
#16 ·
That's about it. The GP switch is used by the ECM as part of the engine control. It is a series of precision resistors so each gear selection produces a particular voltage in the pink wire.

1st
Approx.
1.36 V
2nd
Approx.
1.77 V
3rd
Approx.
2.49 V
4th
Approx.
3.23 V
5th
Approx.
4.10 V
6th
Approx.
4.55 V
 
#17 ·
That's about it. The GP switch is used by the ECM as part of the engine control. It is a series of precision resistors so each gear selection produces a particular voltage in the pink wire.

1st
Approx.
1.36 V
2nd
Approx.
1.77 V
3rd
Approx.
2.49 V
4th
Approx.
3.23 V
5th
Approx.
4.10 V
6th
Approx.
4.55 V

I figured it was the other way around.

That is, the GIPro uses mph/rpm data (perhaps in the form of electical or signal strength) gathered from the ECM to determine the appropriate voltage to transfer to the display which results in a different numeral being displayed there. If so, I wonder about the how good a design this is.

The timing retardant feature may work differently.
 
#21 ·
"Also" meant as well as BigMan73's device. It does not calculate mph/rpm but only reads the voltage. There isn't much difference in the voltages between gears and the voltage reading has a bit of a delay to make sure any transients go away. A little resistance in any connection can throw things off.
 
#23 ·
Right.
Actually I didn't use a direct delay, but instead a moving average window. It is a smoothing function which causes a nice stable value.
I use it for gear and battery voltage values.
The moving window size is configurable. Large windows are very smooth but react slowly to changes. Small windows are not as smooth but react much faster to changes. The art is to fine tune the window size.
 
#25 ·
This is kind of like the "Scanguage" I have for my truck. This device plugs into the onboard diagnostic port and will give a readout of just about any measurement (manifold pressure, ignition timing, battery voltage, intake temp, engine temp, throttle position, fuel economy, engine speed, ect.) and it can pull trouble codes. Do our bikes have a port on the ecu similar to a standard OBD port on a vehicle? If so, there may be many more possibilities for your device if you could find a way to hard-wire it directly to the ECU. A quick look at Ebay finds that someone is selling an OBD tool for our bikes under the brand name "Heal-Tech". The tool appears to include a CD-Rom and USB-to-ECU cable. This tells me that you should be able to connect a cable to a port somewhere and have access to all kinds of data to program into your LCD display.

Disclaimer: The statement above is based on logic and my experience with vehicle maintenance. I have not searched for this data port on the bike, so it may easily be the case that I'm full of sh**.
 
#27 · (Edited)
UPDATE: Water proofing

Last week I rode in the rain, and a very little amount of water went between the clear plastic covers.
Obviously black electric tape is not a good solution (I knew that..)

So I just ordered a plastic dip spray:


Will replace all the electric tape with that spray; it should look nicer too.
(Kudos to RandyO for that tip)
 
#28 ·
Last week I rode in the rain, and had a very little amount of water went between the clear plastic covers.
Obviously black electric tape is not a good solution (I knew that..)

So I just ordered a plastic dip spray:


Will replace all the electric tape with that spray; it should look nicer too.
(Kudos to RandyO for that tip)
Great work. I can't wait to see a finished product.
 
#30 ·
I had many problems with the gear level readout.
It has been unstable.
At first it had something to do with heat.
Changed the resistors to military spec and that heat factor went away.
Yet, still the numbers were not right and were jumping - it was inconsistent and it drove me nuts.

I noticed a pattern that repeated - every time I disconnected the stromputer and reconnected it (the GND, + and GPS) it seemed to work stable for a while.

Yesterday I found the root cause.
It was that $2 posi-lock piece of crap. :furious:
Can't believe it.
It was supposed to be a good connector, but it is not.
It is a resistor, which creates noise. And with vibrations the contact gets unstable.
When you feed 12V and have +-0.15V waves on it, nobody notices that.
But for a sensitive gear indicator circuit running 0..5V, that makes a big difference!
Soldered the wires together, and N is now a solid 5.00V. always.
 
#32 ·
I love this project.

I have a Scangauge in my Tacoma and it is awesome. I'm a big fan of more gauges.

When does mass production start so I can buy one?.. or can I build one too?
 
#33 ·
Dude,
Appreciate your kind works.
Mass production..
Well it is a nice idea, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that.
A product requires a whole different level of investment (time and money). People want products to look nice, be small, and cost little, I also need legal protection - all this is a big step from an open source project.
Also, I'm not sure how much revenue there is in this project - Tens of units? Hundreds? Thousands? My gut feeling is maybe 100 units, as a best case.

BUT - I do have thoughts of perhaps doing a 2nd version of the Stromputer which will be more efficient, cost much less and have proper building instructions.
 
#34 · (Edited)
Guess I was alittle tongue-in-cheek about mass production..

However..

Your stromputer is pretty much a Scanguage for bikes.. I think you mentioned that it could be used on a variety of different motorcycles.. Again much like the Scangauge. You could have a project that might sell. I'm sure there's a place in Taiwan or China that could mass produce it and leave you a decent profit margin.

I'd buy one.. Especially if it's under 200$.

I'm also willing to giv'er a shot on making my own whilst following directions. Step one would have to be "Buy beer" of course.
 
#35 ·
Yes, Stromputer is not really specific to V-Stroms. It will work on many other different motorcycles.

I would give it a shot. But I would go with an improved V2 of Stromputer which is lean and mean. My cost estimations are around $70, given V2 design.
I can certainly provide more detailed instructions.
Step 1 is get a multimeter. I would leave the beer out for this project.. until it end.
 
#38 · (Edited)
#39 ·
Um, why aren't you selling that? You'd make a killing. Make it for around $60-$75 and take my money! (please) :)
 
#40 ·
Y

How many units do you think I will sell?
If I was to sell it would not cost $70, business involves profit and also risks

It stays DIY open source for now. I might start a kickstart project in the future
The biggest challenge for me is to properly document this project, and I need feedback from users
 
#41 · (Edited)
Nicely done! :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

I've been playing with Arduinos myself for about the last year, but I haven't done anything this ambitious (although I do have a weather station, and another air temp/air pressure/accelerometer data logger).
 
#42 ·
This is Awesome!! I would buy one in a heart beat if it cost under $200.
 
#44 ·
UPDATE:
I'm getting ready to build the next generation of my Stromputer - The Stromputer V2.
Today I got from eBay an Arduino Nano 3.0 - it is freaking small, has all the ports and functionality of the much bulkier and expensive Duemilanove ,has a usb port on it, and yet costs only $13! With shipping and also a usb cable! :thumbup:
The Stromputer firmware was already uploaded to it with any source code changes (Arudino software compatibility is perfect), but of course nothing is connected to it - yet, I can communicate with it (through the serial port) and I can see that it is alive.
Now I'm going to build a nano shield (shield in Arduino lingo - a daughter board that sits on top of the Arduino board) from a $2 Radio shack through hole PCB, that I will cut with a dremel.
On the shield I will put the power supply (10V-24V DC -> 9VDC), the precision resistors needed for voltage dividers (battery, gear), and the resistors needed for the light sensor.
Then the Arduino Nano is going to reside in the front enclosure, with the LCD and LEDs.
So the cost should come down to less than $50 :thumbup:
And I can get rid of the rear enclosure and free up the space under the seat. :thumbup:

Once I have some things actually working, I will post photos.
 
#45 ·
I speak two Asian languages and Spanish, but haven't a clue as to what you just said. But that's OK, 'cause the doodad sounds cool. I'll be in line for one when it's ready.:mrgreen:
 
#46 · (Edited)
I speak two Asian languages and Spanish, but haven't a clue as to what you just said.
That's because he posted in English :biggrinjester: (sorry, I couldn't help myself)

On the shield I will put the power supply (10V-24V DC -> 9VDC)...
Out of curiosity, what do you intend to do to filter the input voltage? I'm no electronics expert (just barely a n00b, actually), but as I understand, automotive and motorcycle power supplies are notoriously "noisy." That is, 12V isn't really; it's more like "anywhere from 10-14.4V, with spikes or brownouts of considerably more or less than that, and a waveform that only vaguely approximates smooth DC." I know the Arduino has a built-in voltage regulator, but is it capable of handling the voltage swings and ripples that a motorcycle alternator and regulator puts out?

Disclaimer: I'm interested in part because I've been toying with the idea of building custom LED tail lights/turn signals* for a motorcycle project that I have in mind, and I'm looking for a good way to solve the ripples/spikes/brownouts problem myself.

*Edit: yes, I realize that the LEDs on the bottom half are not connected to +12V -- that was an oversight, but I haven't fixed the drawing yet
 
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