Jump to content

The new news 24 thread


Father Ted

Recommended Posts

Cheaper than that, it just pulls off. And yes, it has the strange hook thing in one of the spokes. The odometer assembly had no lubrication whatsoever so that got some silicone lubricant on the gears and bearings to try and make it last more than a few miles.

 

 

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

many years ago my brother has a similar speedo fitted to his Raleigh Chopper - I remember him riding it up and down the street for what seemed like a whole day so he could get the mileage to 100. unfortunately at mile 98, he had to come in for his dinner and give up his challenge.

 

imagine how pleased he was when he came home from school to find I had borrowed his bike and done the last 2 miles for him !

 

he's still not forgiven me and he's 50 this year :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm waiting for MikeR to respond on this one. He spent 30 years man and Boy at GecPlesseyTelecomunications which became MarconiComs ending up as a senior test engineer. I once gave him a very fucked central locking module off a mk2 cavalier, which had been sitting in a box which was full of water. It came back 2 weeks later with extra wires and new components and working. Apparently it had been fixed at "Lunchtime" with "reject parts" . 

 

 

interesting to note the protection the output stage had to back emf off the coil ?????    ,,S F A !! , and the chip modifing the mark space ratio of the coil power , why ?  just stick a power transistor stage in .....its primary idea was to stop contact wear , this box;s job is to provide the AA man with overtime

 

I am presently battling with another heap of shiteware called Animate it , suppost to let the average child do stop motion , the green screen bit is "poor"  , this is a Xmas divorce package in disguise ...... perhaps I could seal it up and put it up for a RAFFLE  ?

 

the quality camera was the best  , thousands spent on pick and place , wiring done by a  S F B , thick as  , and half as useful ..

post-21637-0-93551400-1515186559_thumb.jpg

 

 these 3 bits of "quality" engineering  enforce the view that we are treated  as single point users who dont speak to each other , as opposed to a comms company supplying ALL its output to national telephone network  , and if the kit goes tits up , heads roll and companies shut .....

 

then the internet and user groups  came along ..........

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That looks typically cheap Chinese electronics. Dodgy soldering, only a couple of screws holding the board on - despite the enclosure having enough mounting points for more and no strain relief/support on the parts or cabling. Plastic housing that is as thin and brittle as a chocolate box. I bet some of those parts are harvested recycled components.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

when I was in component engineering a lot of devices were always going throu die shrinks , so they could get more parts out of a chunk of silicon crystal , many parts as a result became faster and slower devices dropped off the part codes ,mainly memory stuff ,  they also found time to give everything Motoring or Military spec for temp range etc and normal shite was not needed , it just went to Hobby shops ......... for people to build DIY ignition kits ........

 

now it seems everyone is a diy hobbyist selling stuff on internet sales sites , just waiting for my "security camera " to land on the door step , yet another APP supported hardware build to have fun with ....for £20 it should provide hours of fun .. provided the wires are soldered on !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bit late to the game but looking at that Sparkrite thing, the switch is definitely the first casualty. We get loads of cheap chinese mains inverters in and they're not worth fixing in general, but half of them just need a new switch. They're fitted in bus lockers too which are a lot less damp than an engine bay. They'll manage a couple of years, the switch is never used but just goes high resistance eventually.

 

The LED legs will snap and the LED will fall into the casing and bounce around but that's fine. After that the output transistor will kill itself through inductive spikes or latchup/general badness through a low battery or the usual corroded spade terminals used to power it. Since it's only 100 ohms away from the PIC, that'll go with it too seeing as there's bugger all capacitance to stop everything going wild.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That J-FET in particular are designed for driving coils and is supposed to have in built protection to be fair. Fairchild semis "EcoSPARK 2" technology or some such marketing bollocks. No app note docs from what I can find (probably under NDA as usual) but they do seem to imply it can directly drive it without additional protection.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

interesting to note the protection the output stage had to back emf off the coil ????? ,,S F A !! , and the chip modifing the mark space ratio of the coil power , why ? just stick a power transistor stage in .....its primary idea was to stop contact wear , this box;s job is to provide the AA man with overtime

 

I am presently battling with another heap of shiteware called Animate it , suppost to let the average child do stop motion , the green screen bit is "poor" , this is a Xmas divorce package in disguise ...... perhaps I could seal it up and put it up for a RAFFLE ?

 

the quality camera was the best , thousands spent on pick and place , wiring done by a S F B , thick as , and half as useful ..

20180102_140007.jpg

 

these 3 bits of "quality" engineering enforce the view that we are treated as single point users who dont speak to each other , as opposed to a comms company supplying ALL its output to national telephone network , and if the kit goes tits up , heads roll and companies shut .....

 

then the internet and user groups came along ..........

What platform do you need the software to run on? My son got something similar last year and he managed it ok.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re the pushbike speedo: I had something that looked identical on my Raleigh Roadrunner 30-odd years ago, it was fairly accurate judging by the time I followed a Polis car doing about 30 down the 1-mile-long hill in town.

Feet up on the rear carrier, hands on the handlebars but tucked under my chin, it went off the clock down the same stretch.  It frightens me now!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another thing on that Sparkrite I missed was the input protection from the points. The resistor will limit the amount of current coming in but EMF will be likely picked up from the noisy rotor arm at the top of a distributor and the long wires to the unit. As there is little protection, it's likely to shorten the life of the poor little microcontrollers input pin. I'd like to have seen a TVS diode across there as a minimum really. Probably why they retrofitted that little diode in there to offer at least some protection.

 

I'd also would have liked to seen a smaller pull-up resistor on those points too. Part of its job should be to keep a reasonable amount of current across the points, as some sparking is good. A small amount of sparking helps keep the contacts clean and necessary for decent point life. I reckon 50-100mA would be reasonable considering they usually switch >5A.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kinda disappointed with the box really. They didn't have to do much to make it a really good, useful unit. Ignition amplifiers have been around for yonks and many well proven simple, cheap designs they could have knocked off.

 

I may remove the switch, seal the insides and give it a go anyway. Otherwise it'll end up in my box of cheap Chinese junk.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re the pushbike speedo: I had something that looked identical on my Raleigh Roadrunner 30-odd years ago, it was fairly accurate judging by the time I followed a Polis car doing about 30 down the 1-mile-long hill in town.

Feet up on the rear carrier, hands on the handlebars but tucked under my chin, it went off the clock down the same stretch.  It frightens me now!

Well, after work I spent a bit of time wobbling up and down the road, phone in my left hand, holding the handlebar, trying to keep a steady 10 mph on my GPS app, while trying to pin the needle so it sat correctly at 10

 

Think I got it accurate enough, it's certainly better than it was.

 

Trying to figure if I should paint the outside rim of the clear bezel silver to match the middle of the needle.

 

 

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Focus update, they've changed the battery and cranked the water out through the spark plug holes. Despite this it still won't start, so do I think it needs new spark plugs?

 

I said they probably flooded it and to try again later. Another number on the spam list...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What platform do you need the software to run on? My son got something similar last year and he managed it ok.

 

The Animate it runs on Windows , it does a few things ok , but does not store preferences like the onion setting , the green screen operation seems a bit hard work to get it to sort of work , results are nothing like the advert !!   , I have a little test setup running at the moment to learn how it all works before passing it on ....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...