Sequential shift lights??

[GTP 85]

Don't know if anyone has asked this before...

But can you buy sequential/ progressive shift lights? sort of like what they have in race cars with a row of green and red LEDs.

Can these be bought and or made from electronics stores?

Any help would be appreciated

[Cheap6]

The tachometer kit sold by Jaycar under part# KC-5290 has, in addition to the numeric 7 segment LED readout, a series of 10 LEDS - 7 green, three red. The speeds at which the 7 green LEDs and the three red LEDs (which are lit as a group at the highest speed setting)come on are programmable. $67.95 + a couple of hours assembly and wiring in. The LEDs can be mounted remote from the tacho proper on flying leads if that is more suitable for use as shift lights.

If you are brave, a cheaper (in cash terms but not time) option might be to make a circuit yourself. That could be based around a frequency to voltage converter eg. Jaycar ZL-3930 (LM2917) and a bar graph display driver eg. LM3914, Jaycar ZL-3914.

The LM3914 is used in the fuel mixture display, voltage monitor and battery monitor kits sold bt Jaycar (and others). They might provide a reasonable starting point for part of a circuit design. With limited knowledge of electronic engineering I have found cut and paste circuit design to be a successful technique.

eg. http://www.national.com/mpf/LM/LM2917.html#Overview

and feed the output into one of the kits using the LM3914 using a voltage divider resistor circuit to set the 'on' speeds.

[GTP 85]

Wow.... haha. Thats intense! Electronics aren't my strongest suit on cars, so i think i mite just place this one in the 'too hard' basket. Was hoping i could buy something already made... ahh well

Thanks Cheap6. i might look into the first one, if i get some time, and get help from someone to assemble it.

[Cheap6]

There may well be something already made but don't be afraid of having a go at assembling the tacho kit if that will do what you want. The level of skill required is similar to that needed to assemble plastic scale model kits.

The kit instructions (in general - not just the tacho.) are pretty good. A multimeter helps to ID resistors as the colour codes can be hard to distinguish sometimes, and some components have to be installed with the correct electrical polarity (look at the pictures and schematics), but that's about it.

If you want to see what is involved without having to commit to purchasing a kit, the unit is described in Silicon Chip magazine issue 139, April 2000. The local tech. college library should have a copy.

Silicon Chip Online - A Digital Tachometer For Your Car

If you want to try something easier first, maybe buy the fuel mixture meter. It's about as easy as the kits get, will be useful in its own right as a fuel economy and diagnostic aid, and you can see how the LM3914 chip and a voltage divider is used.

(To be clear, the programming of the tach. LEDs is done using push button switches that are included as part of the kit - that's a feature of the unit, you don't have to use anything else.)

[Stressball]

This is the thing you want, I think Ecliptech Innovations It's called the Shift-I.

Progressive modes etc, variable colours depending which model you buy.

[woteva]

This is the thing you want, I think Ecliptech Innovations It's called the Shift-I.

I got 1 of them on my bike. Works great.

[GTP 85]

I got 1 of them on my bike. Works great.

They have a pretty hefty price tag right? do you reckon they are worth it? Reasonably accurate?

[woteva]

They have a pretty hefty price tag right? do you reckon they are worth it? Reasonably accurate?

Have a read through the install and user manuals. I think it was a small price to pay for my bike. I can now keep my eyes on the road and see the lights flashing when I get up near redline. With my setup, the first light is set to 5k RPM with the last light on at 11k RPM as the redline is 12k. So when putting around town, sometimes the first light just comes on. Also I have the blue/red curved version.
http://www.ecliptech.com.au/download...ion_manual.pdf
http://www.ecliptech.com.au/download...ser_manual.pdf