Rather Odd!!!

[essexbloke]

Gone back to using the firestorm daily now (weather's much better)

Have noticed something i had seen before....

Every time i turn the ignition off, the trip resets itself to "0" on the dash.... speedo is fine, but seems as the trip wont hold a memory....complete bugger when you use this to judge your petrol use...

I dont ever remember it doing this before

Anyone got a cure... does it have some sort of back-up battery???

Cheers...

[Johnny Wishbone]

Essexbloke me oul flower, you're not alone.... haven't bothered to fix it yet, it doesn't get on me nerves that much, but if you do find a cure be sure to let us know!

[essexbloke]

Could it be a fuse or summit else as simple?

[Johnny Wishbone]

Doubt it - thinking about it logically for a sec though, the trip data must be stored on an Eprom or some other storage device. Some of these discrete devices need to have a constant supply in order to maintain what's stored on them. Sounds like either a loose connection, damaged pin, or something like that. Could be that the chip is just fooked. I have my baby apart at the moment - I'll whip the clock covers off and take a look at the odo & trip tonight..... Like I said, I never bothered checking it out properly before as it never really bothered me that much.

[Johnny Wishbone]

Stripped down the clocks last night and had a look in behind the speedo cover plate - everything seems fine, no loose connections. I'd say whatever storage device is used for my TRIP is just knackered.... Dunno if yours is the same Essexbloke but I'd say if you strip it down you won't find anything visibly wrong. Get a bike computer if it bothers you that much - reckon I'll get one myself if i go up a few teeth at the back. Gericke do decent ones for 20 quid.

[bluesman]

Guys, looks like your Storms need an BIOS upgrade and new ROM battery may couple of Microsoft patches as well

BTW IMHO I think ROM battery may be actually serious - you need to check if there is power on clock when ingition turned off, but it is also possible that if is is built on energy-independent storage it is just dead if you played with electrics or some static damaged it...

[Johnny Wishbone]

Static!!!!??? Ah balls, that'll teach me for wearing my one piece latex racing suit and knitted helmet....

Latex body suits and furry helmets (Que FILTHY comments from TonyW ) aside, if the battery ran dead on the bike then there'd be no charge to keep the ROM battery topped up, and eventually that'd run dead too right? Would that damage the ROM battery? That could be a reason maybe. I dunno, I'm just clutching at straws here....

[Pete.L]

Jonny said

Ah balls, that'll teach me for wearing my one piece latex racing suit and knitted helmet....

Wow!! Nasty visions behind my eyeballs or what

if the battery ran dead on the bike then there'd be no charge to keep the ROM battery topped up, and eventually that'd run dead too right?

Not necessarily, a simple diode (IN 14148 for example) would be enough to stop any current leakage. and it may not be a battery a 2.2uF cap used to be a favorite for holding a charge in eproms,modern ones often have it built in and you have to replace the chip.
keep guessiing, it's quite amusing or better yet if someone can get hold of a decent circuit diagram I'll have a pop at whats wrong with it.
Pete.l

[essexbloke]

Right, that's it got get me a replacement trip....

Took a run to Brands Hatch yesterday..... only way i could judge petrol, was to keep tabs on the actual odo..... not buggering around with that....

will be replacing with a little trip computer....

recommendations (and prices) please....

[sirch345]

Take a look at the link I have given you below, under accessories, then computers, I think the one most go for is the Sigma BC 800. I think these prices will take some beating.

http://www.settlecycles.co.uk/shop/

Also on the home page of this site under Articles you can have a look at fitting one of the above by FirestormAl very good artical.

HTH, cheers Chris.

[essexbloke]

Cool.....cheers for that......

guessing that'll be which one i get then.... seems simple enough to rig up too....

[essexbloke]

Ok, now got the sigma bc800 natty little bit of gear too.... all wired up, fitted in about 3/4 hour...

Only one problem.....

How the hell do you configure it???? I'm not a mathemetician....and the manual made about as much sense as chewbacca on acid....

your supposed to enter some figure (4 digits) into the setup but howdo i work out this 4 digit figure exactly???

Anyone else got one?

[Max]

I've got a Cateye on my mountain bike and if the calculation is the same then you end up with a number which is the roling circumference of the wheel and there is a table that gives you the number to punch in for that from a chart.

[essexbloke]

Yep, there is a table, but nothing seemed to correspond with the size of my wheel/tyre....

(all geared for standard pedal cycle wheel/tyre sizes)

[RQ]

Essex dude, read the leaflet carefully, and if you're like me it should make sense after the 10th read.

Get out your measuring tape geezer and do the following.......

Measure from the centre of the hub of the front (assuming you are attaching it to the front wheel!) to where if the wheel was straight it meets the ground. Erm, let me try that one again. Centre of hub to ground = z .

z * 2 = diameter of wheel. Diameter of wheel * 3.14 = area of wheel.

Bearing in mind that's the only measuring you need to do, after that use the rest of the instructions on the sheet, I think you then have to multiply that by another figure to convert it to MPH / KPH, and then have to convert that figure to mm's which then gives you the four digit number you input into the Sigma. Sounds complicated, but I promise it sounds worse than it is.

I installed it on the Storm bout a year ago, dead handy too. Love that "average speed" and "stored top speed reached"..........

Back to that speedo issue, surely there is a secondary power supply to keep the memory running in the odo, if so, where is it?