!!!Working fuel gauge, FOR REAL this time!!!

[satariel666]

What if you had a extended swingarm (3" or 6") would it be easier to go towards the tire then or will that not work? Just throwing out ideas.

Yep, that would be good idea Brain.
And this way it should be easy.

But first need to get the exyended swngarm.
Personally i like the stock swimgarm lenght so i decided to relocate the battery
under mine tail section.
What i've found thera are only 2 places for battery relocation.
One under the tail section and the second, under the one may be fited.

 

[Thevmaxrider]

Have a 6" stretched swingarm I will sell you:biglaugh: My tank is being expanded by Tom at COO during the chain conversion. Should add ~4L of capacity or so. Toxic LOVES its fuel:rofl_200: and I want the extra cruising distance.

 

[4gasem]

4 liters is basically 1 US gallon. That's a lot.

Chris

 

[RagingMain]

Alrighty I got some work done today
Here is a list of tools you are going to need

Drill
Step Drill Bit
Regular Bits
Tubing Cutter
12mm socket and ratchet
Wire and various connectors
Fuel Sender and Gauge
Blind nut riveter
10-24 blind nuts
5 10-24 stainless 1.5" socket head cap screws with lock and flat washers.
Some extra cork (got this from the auto parts store)

Here is the fuel sender I am using.
http://www.hardin-marine.com/detail~ID~63.aspx
It is a 240-33 ohm sender so your gauge will have to match

You can pick up any gauge you want. For testing I picked up a Sunpro from Pep Boys for $20

Below is the pic of all the tools ready to go

 

[RagingMain]

Well of course you are going to have to drain the fuel. I chose to just go for a ride until my light came on then went for a bit longer.

Came home parked the bike and used the 12mm socket to pull the drain. It is located on the left side of the fuel tank.

Pulled out a couple of safety items
Fan to blow away the fumes
Fire extinguisher

Then I used my wall mounted shop vac, but wait not like you are thinking :rofl_200:
I turned it into a blower and stuck the end inside the tank to blow out the fumes. Opened the garage door and turned on the fan. Let it sit that way for a few hours.

While this was going on I planned out where to place the sender and drill my holes.

Will put up more tomorrow, I am tired and its time for bed

 

[RagingMain]

So after marking the place for the sender I drilled a pilot hole then used the step drill bit to open it up to 1 1/8"

I had the vacuum blowing into the tank the whole time and it actually prevented a lot of the chips from going into the tank. Any extras I plan just to suck out using the vacuum, of course after all the fumes are out :biglaugh:

Then I used the tubing cutter and cut 1" from the bottom of the sender. Follow the directions that come with the sender.
This will give you an 11" sender which is about 3/8" off the bottom of the tank. This will be where you set your empty setting later.

Now if you notice the tank is sloped just a bit.
If you try to put the sender in the tank it is going to hit the back of the tank and you will have to keep shortening it :bang head::bang head: and have to go buy another sender. Dont make this mistake, learn from mine.:bang head::bang head:

Then I taped the gasket down and put an old rag inside the big hole.
I drilled ONLY one hole at this time because I used the actual sender as a template for the rest of the holes.
After drilling the first hole I installed a 10-24 blind rivet nut and installed the sender. Making sure it was gudentight (german virgin) I used the sender, with extra cork underneath, as the template to drill the other holes.

It is imperative you drill these holes EXACTLY where they need to be or the bolts wont line up to the blind rivet nuts later.

Also to ensure the sender wont hit the back of the tank you will need to insert some extra cork to level out the top a bit.

Now here comes the tricky part.
Since the tank is sloped, by default the blind nuts will be sloped yet you are trying to put the bolts in straight up and down. This makes for an interesting time.

One thing I would recommend for this, and I still might try, is to use self tapping sheet metal screws. This should allow for easier installation.

This is as far as I have got for now, should finish up the wiring today and post those pictures.

 

[one2dmax]

So, you were able to find the blind nuts after all. Where did you finally source them? Looks good so far. Easier may not be the right way either. I think the blind nuts are the way to do it right.

Sean

 

[RagingMain]

So, you were able to find the blind nuts after all. Where did you finally source them? Looks good so far. Easier may not be the right way either. I think the blind nuts are the way to do it right.

Sean

Got the blind nuts and the tool from Harbor Freight of all places

 

[one2dmax]

Duly noted. I have the mindset of aircraft components so it's always hard to make a recommendation to someone that maybe doesn't have as much access to stuff like that. Glad to hear about anyone can get them. They can come in very hand when putting stuff together!
Sean

 

[jedi-]

If you rig up a hose from a car exhaust for example and put the end of it into your tank and run it, the gasses will purge out the fumes inside the tank making it safe to work on.

 

[RagingMain]

If you rig up a hose from a car exhaust for example and put the end of it into your tank and run it, the gasses will purge out the fumes inside the tank making it safe to work on.

Careful doing that someone might call the cops and tell them your Vmax is trying to committ suicide:rofl_200::rofl_200::rofl_200:

Ran into an issue today with the sender, doesnt want to calibrate properly. Playing email tag with tech support, probably a bad sender, we will see.

Other than that all I did was wire it up via the instructions and it actually works, sorta, but the potential is there.

One more note, have to cut the sender down 2" in order for it to fit.
This still is about an inch lower than the top of the OEM level sensor, so theroetically when I get it working, you will see your light then have about 1/3 gal before it reads empty so you will still have a small amount left.

 

[gamorg02]

now the most important question Fargo, how are you able to just sit there and not ride the bike?

 

[RagingMain]

now the most important question Fargo, how are you able to just sit there and not ride the bike?

Well Garrett, I went and rode it this morning and...































IT FREAKING WORKS!!!!!!!!

Well it needs a little fine tuning. For one dont hook it into the lights/signals, when you put on your signals the gauge tends to move with the blinking lights :rofl_200: You think that would have been a no brainer when installing.

Also it needs to be conditioned somehow. The fullest it would show when the tank was full was 3/4 then when I would drive it would go up to 7/8, then sitting at a traffic light it would drop back down to 3/4. I am thinking it needs to be a constant voltage.

Will keep fine tuning to see what I can come up with.
Anyone with electrical/instrument experience feel free to chime in.

 

[one2dmax]

Do they make a voltage stabilizer that can make the voltage constant?

 

[RagingMain]

Do they make a voltage stabilizer that can make the voltage constant?

I am not sure, that is what I am looking for.
I was also thinking of running it straight from the battery/RR connection on a fused connection but then that would leave the gauge on all the time and that would be no good.

 

[Thevmaxrider]

I am not sure, that is what I am looking for.
I was also thinking of running it straight from the battery/RR connection on a fused connection but then that would leave the gauge on all the time and that would be no good.

Wire it direct, but use a fused relay inline that uses switched power to activate so it only turns on with the key.

 

[satariel666]

Do they make a voltage stabilizer that can make the voltage constant?

Its more like the "current lagging".

 

[RagingMain]

Its more like the "current lagging".

Prezmyk
My sender has a resistance output (nominally E=240 ohms, F=33 ohms) rather than a voltage output. If you connect it to a fuel gauge that wants a resistance sender, the voltage feeding through the fuel gauge will be divided by a greater or lesser amount by the sender's resistance, so you'd see Send/Neg voltage variation when the sender is connected to a fuel gauge.
So I think if there is a system voltage variation it is going to change the send/neg voltage of the sender causing the gauge to read differently.

Then again I could be wrong, usually am :biglaugh:

I will test for current and voltage and see which one changes

 

[satariel666]

Prezmyk
My sender has a resistance output (nominally E=240 ohms, F=33 ohms) rather than a voltage output. If you connect it to a fuel gauge that wants a resistance sender, the voltage feeding through the fuel gauge will be divided by a greater or lesser amount by the sender's resistance, so you'd see Send/Neg voltage variation when the sender is connected to a fuel gauge.
So I think if there is a system voltage variation it is going to change the send/neg voltage of the sender causing the gauge to read differently.

Then again I could be wrong, usually am :biglaugh:

I will test for current and voltage and see which one changes

That would be correct sir

But if its work like typical fuel level sensor.
I do not know much about those sensors :confused2:

I mean that both sensor and gauge needs some nomial supling power so
each drop, voltage or current will be affecting on it.
Typicaly in automation im founding that effect by power lagging which is coused by current lagging.

If You are using regular bulbs in Your indicators so they can consume preatty much power, about 42W. With the relay it should end at about 50W.
That would be about 4,2A at 12V.
Wires form indicators in v-max harnnes are about 0,5mm^0,5 or so, cant remeber, maybe even 0,75mm.
So wire can take about 5A peak and about 3-4 constant.

Any of wire from v-max harrnes was not designed to take extra load.
Dont ask me how do I know LOL :biglaugh:

Like noted by other guys independet suply directly form battery should do the trick.




Do you have datasheet for this sender?

Anybody could be wrong

 

[RagingMain]

One of the things I am going to do to check the accuracy of the gauge is go to Radio Shack and pick up some 100 ohm resistors.

Wire 3 of them in parralell to equal 33 ohms, place it between the send wire and the neg wire to see if the guage reads at the full mark.

Then use one 100 ohm resistor to do the same should read close to half

Then use two 100 ohm resistors in series, 200 total ohms, and should read close to empty.

If that checks out then it is the sender and not the gauge.