kiwi
I have always been interested in making my own GP style telemetry system.
But the main hurdle has always been cost and also that laptops were too big to put onto a bike or it was too expensive to make a small enough device with enough memory.
The biggest cost is in the linear transducers used to record the travel of your suspension ( http://www.celesco.com/linearpot/index.htm ) these things cost upwards or $350US for 1 and also the PC/laptop $300US+.
I found a really cool site that sells really cheap sensors and an interface board that connects to a PC using USB.
www.phidgets.com
Also you can now get a EEE pc for around $300AU (cheaper in US$) which has a solid state disk drive.
This is important because it means you won't damage the drive while riding.
http://www.shoppingsquare.com.au/p_3736 ... nux_System
So my guess is that you can make a system that records front and rear suspension travel and bike speed for about $680AU or $800AU if you also want to also record the bikes g-forces on 3 axis.
Of course there is no software out there to do all this; plus you need to install all the devices on the bike and get it all working.
Luckily I'm a software engineer and I have electronics experience and so I could do the installation and programming; I just need to convince my wife to let me have $800AU for a project that may end up as crap on the side of the road.
The parts needed to make a basic system to record suspension travel are:
2x1101 IR Distance Adapters $22CAD
2x2008 IR Distance Sensor $50CAD
1x1202 LCD+Interface $125CAD
Total $197CAD (~$241AU)
EEE PC $299AU
Basic Total $538AU
Optional components
1x1059 Accelerometer $95CAD
1x1057 High Speed Encoder $60CAD
There are other options too like:
1. measuring air box pressure
2. rotation
....handle bar movement ie. with or with a damper
....brake lever position
....throttle position
....even RPM (off the tacho needle if need be)
....or use a voltage sensor on the tacho wire.
3. gear position
4. gas pressure
5. temperature
What do guys think?
Would you like your own home made motec system all for under $800AU?
Genius or complete lunacy ?
Sure would beat paying $10's of 1000s for a Motec system
But the main hurdle has always been cost and also that laptops were too big to put onto a bike or it was too expensive to make a small enough device with enough memory.
The biggest cost is in the linear transducers used to record the travel of your suspension ( http://www.celesco.com/linearpot/index.htm ) these things cost upwards or $350US for 1 and also the PC/laptop $300US+.
I found a really cool site that sells really cheap sensors and an interface board that connects to a PC using USB.
www.phidgets.com
Also you can now get a EEE pc for around $300AU (cheaper in US$) which has a solid state disk drive.
This is important because it means you won't damage the drive while riding.
http://www.shoppingsquare.com.au/p_3736 ... nux_System
So my guess is that you can make a system that records front and rear suspension travel and bike speed for about $680AU or $800AU if you also want to also record the bikes g-forces on 3 axis.
Of course there is no software out there to do all this; plus you need to install all the devices on the bike and get it all working.
Luckily I'm a software engineer and I have electronics experience and so I could do the installation and programming; I just need to convince my wife to let me have $800AU for a project that may end up as crap on the side of the road.
The parts needed to make a basic system to record suspension travel are:
2x1101 IR Distance Adapters $22CAD
2x2008 IR Distance Sensor $50CAD
1x1202 LCD+Interface $125CAD
Total $197CAD (~$241AU)
EEE PC $299AU
Basic Total $538AU
Optional components
1x1059 Accelerometer $95CAD
1x1057 High Speed Encoder $60CAD
There are other options too like:
1. measuring air box pressure
2. rotation
....handle bar movement ie. with or with a damper
....brake lever position
....throttle position
....even RPM (off the tacho needle if need be)
....or use a voltage sensor on the tacho wire.
3. gear position
4. gas pressure
5. temperature
What do guys think?
Would you like your own home made motec system all for under $800AU?
Genius or complete lunacy ?
Sure would beat paying $10's of 1000s for a Motec system