umpqua
GOLD Star
There's a country and western song in here somewhere.....
Permanent fix (in progress): Fuel/temp gauge spiking (pics, not dialup friendly)
- Thread starter Spook50
- Start date
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- Joined
- Jul 22, 2012
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- 583
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- Location
- Winter Park, Florida
- Website
- www.cruisermatts.com
Ok, mine has started doing this a couple months ago and it's getting annoying. Parts list?
Yeah, I wish this were available, but I suppose Spook has had life happen, so no time...
There's a kinda write up in here: Temp Sending Unit?
There's a kinda write up in here: Temp Sending Unit?
- Thread starter
- #125
Well I have some good news to report. My divorce trial ended up going very much in my favor, including the fact that I got my house back. I'm just now waiting for her to find a place and move out (she has until halfway through July), so once I'm all moved back in and settled, I'll be picking this up again. I have a new PCB designed that I'll send the Gerber files in to have produced (probably a 20 board batch to start with) that's a little more compact than what I'm using right now. They will use thru-hole components, and at this point I've 86'd the plan to make SMT versions, simply because it doesn't change the function at all, and it would gain really nothing for such a relatively simple circuit. The thru-hole boards are pretty compact as it is and will serve nicely. I'm hoping by the end of summer I can have my shop set up again (my ex wife has pretty well trashed it) and start producing units to sell.
There's light at the end of this tunnel!
There's light at the end of this tunnel!
hj 60
JT1W0HJ6000960839
We'll be waitin' ....
Curious if there are any updates? 
Very interested for a German HJ60 24V! Temp gauge is always on hot, fuel only comes down when the tank is almost empty.
Hope you settled in back nicely into your shop!
Very interested for a German HJ60 24V! Temp gauge is always on hot, fuel only comes down when the tank is almost empty.
Hope you settled in back nicely into your shop!
- Thread starter
- #130
I've been doing a ton of home improvement and cleanup (ex wife left it trashed and reeking of cat piss. So bad that I had the guardian ad litem come out and see it before cleaning it so she could see the conditions me ex was making my kids live in) and trying to organize my shop again. I'm hoping to get going on this project again soon. Next step is to order my updated PCBs and the components I need. The PCBs will come in a pack of ten so if they fit properly on the gauge I'll send out a couple for beta testing. I'd like to start by sending regulators to those who've contributed to my GoFundMe once they're finalized. I also need to order a new fuel gauge for myself, since even after changing out he sender, the gauge rarely works and rises above E. I need to make sure the issue is the gauge itself and not being caused by the regulator. Pretty sure it's the gauge, because the temp gauge works perfectly.
Glad things are coming back together for you, sorry there were some bumps in the road. I don't have any need for this (yet) but wouldn't mind having one stored in the parts bin! Lookng forward to a production model for sure.
- Thread starter
- #132
UPDATE!!
Well some good news, finally. I've been able to do some work in my shop, unpacking boxes and organizing some stuff (including throwing out the ex wife's personal s*** that she left here in her rush to take all MY personal s***, which she was ordered by the court to not touch), and I found the little test bed I had made for the regulators. This allows me to test individual regulators and dial in the initial output voltage of the unit before sending it out. It's even still got an early prototype attached to it.
I'm getting close to being able to start working on them again. I have an updated PCB design (fixed the overall shape a bit and adjusted stud hole placement for better fit) that I'll be sending out for a batch of prototypes in the next few weeks, and if all is well with those, next step is beta testing, and if that works out well, they'll be the production version of the through-hole regulators. The SMT regulator design is on an indefinite hold because at this point I still need appropriate equipment to produce those.
Well some good news, finally. I've been able to do some work in my shop, unpacking boxes and organizing some stuff (including throwing out the ex wife's personal s*** that she left here in her rush to take all MY personal s***, which she was ordered by the court to not touch), and I found the little test bed I had made for the regulators. This allows me to test individual regulators and dial in the initial output voltage of the unit before sending it out. It's even still got an early prototype attached to it.
I'm getting close to being able to start working on them again. I have an updated PCB design (fixed the overall shape a bit and adjusted stud hole placement for better fit) that I'll be sending out for a batch of prototypes in the next few weeks, and if all is well with those, next step is beta testing, and if that works out well, they'll be the production version of the through-hole regulators. The SMT regulator design is on an indefinite hold because at this point I still need appropriate equipment to produce those.
I just came across this thread and have enjoyed seeing the development of this solution. Very nice work. Is this a dead project or are you still pursuing it?
- Thread starter
- #134
It kept getting put on hiatus because of life hitting me from all angles for the last few years. Almost immediately after my divorce was finalized I got embroiled in a nasty custody battle that is still ongoing. Because of that I ended up losing my job in 2017 and could barely make ends meet between my savings and my military disability. As an aside from that, my own fuel gauge was failing so I needed to replace that. I got the replacement in finally a few weeks ago, and started a new job a couple weeks ago that'll let me get back on my feet. I managed to keep the remainder of what I had gotten through GoFundMe set aside for the project, so that'll let me get a new batch of PCBs ordered. Once that's done it'll be about 8 weeks to get them back from Germany. But if they fit correctly and test good I'll be able to start sending out test units. I'll have to go through my GoFundMe and the thread again to figure out who my beta testers will be. If the testing is successful, I'll start putting together the regulator kits to ship out to contributors first and then selling them on an individual basis.
Sorry to hear about all the life sh!t, but I am glad you are still pursuing . Keep up the good work, you have helped me (and I am sure many others) out a lot with your knowledge. I will be happy to buy one of your regulators.
. Keep up the good work, you have helped me (and I am sure many others) out a lot with your knowledge. I will be happy to buy one of your regulators.
Damn Spook, I always thought you were a helpful and funny guy. Of course we don't know each other but through your posts you always had a sense of humor and were never short with anyone. Like TNpig said, I hate to hear all this was going on in the background. Hang in there brother. We're all pulling for you.
- Thread starter
- #137
UPDATE!
Finally getting my stuff together and will be ordering a small batch of the new prototype PCBs this weekend. Fingers crossed that fit-up goes smoothly, because if it does I'll start assembling units to send out for beta testing through the winter. If everything checks out there, I'll be finally ready to start building and selling units. FINALLY getting this project off the ground again after so many hung starts!
Finally getting my stuff together and will be ordering a small batch of the new prototype PCBs this weekend. Fingers crossed that fit-up goes smoothly, because if it does I'll start assembling units to send out for beta testing through the winter. If everything checks out there, I'll be finally ready to start building and selling units. FINALLY getting this project off the ground again after so many hung starts!
- Thread starter
- #138
Quick update
Yeah I'm an idiot. When I ordered the next revision of PCBs a while back I didn't realize that I gave them my old shipping address, which they went to, and of course now there's no sign of them. I'm not going to throw a fit over a $20 international order (though it is irritating but I've got no one to blame for that but myself), so I submitted a new order with my current address. Hopefully there won't be so long of a lead time. Unfortunatley coming from Germany I can't track the order like any Amazon order or something like that. Meantime I've also got the individual components to populate 10 boards on their way from Digi-Key. Once I have a known good fitting and working assembly, I'll work on developing an SMT version of the regulators in an effort to further reduce their size. As a small upgrade (for the sake of compatibility) I changed a couple of the capacitors I'm using to 36V capacity so hopefully these will work just as well in 24V systems. Looking at the BOM I had put together a while back, the caps were still only 20V capacity, so no good for 24V systems.
If the SMT version happens, lead times for them will be slower than thru-hole regulators (once I can take orders) since parts will be individually soldered rather than run through a reflow oven, but I feel much more comfortable with my fine soldering abilities now that my health has greatly improved in the last year and the shakiness of my hands has almost completely gone away. Good thing it did too, because TIG welding class-A welds on aircraft ducting that I do at work doesn't allow for shaky hands
Edit: Just noticed the diodes I ordered are only good to 20V reverse voltage, so I've got a potential replacement on the way. Physically larger, though not by much. Newer diodes will be here before the PCBs so that won't delay things.
Yeah I'm an idiot. When I ordered the next revision of PCBs a while back I didn't realize that I gave them my old shipping address, which they went to, and of course now there's no sign of them. I'm not going to throw a fit over a $20 international order (though it is irritating but I've got no one to blame for that but myself), so I submitted a new order with my current address. Hopefully there won't be so long of a lead time. Unfortunatley coming from Germany I can't track the order like any Amazon order or something like that. Meantime I've also got the individual components to populate 10 boards on their way from Digi-Key. Once I have a known good fitting and working assembly, I'll work on developing an SMT version of the regulators in an effort to further reduce their size. As a small upgrade (for the sake of compatibility) I changed a couple of the capacitors I'm using to 36V capacity so hopefully these will work just as well in 24V systems. Looking at the BOM I had put together a while back, the caps were still only 20V capacity, so no good for 24V systems.
If the SMT version happens, lead times for them will be slower than thru-hole regulators (once I can take orders) since parts will be individually soldered rather than run through a reflow oven, but I feel much more comfortable with my fine soldering abilities now that my health has greatly improved in the last year and the shakiness of my hands has almost completely gone away. Good thing it did too, because TIG welding class-A welds on aircraft ducting that I do at work doesn't allow for shaky hands
Edit: Just noticed the diodes I ordered are only good to 20V reverse voltage, so I've got a potential replacement on the way. Physically larger, though not by much. Newer diodes will be here before the PCBs so that won't delay things.
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- Thread starter
- #139
Got the components to populate ten boards and organized them in one of the trays for my big electronics tackle box. Compartments labelled and ready to go. Just waiting on the PCBs now....
- Thread starter
- #140
Just a quick update. With the Covid crap going on I've been living my life as normal (I REFUSE to accept a "new normal"), but unfortunately half of my company got straight terminated at the end of April (myself included). Of course no supervision, management, higher level engineering or executive were let go or even given a pay cut. Just the welders and fitters). With the downtime I've made a LOT of progress on fixing up my 62, plus just a few weeks ago my custody battle is finally, officially, over. I ended up getting way more time with my kids than I had previously, so I've been focusing on them a great deal too (took them on their first road trip just over a week ago; also their first long trip in the 62). I've also bought into ownership of a local pest control company that I've dove into that's taking up a ton of time. Been very busy, but now it's a good busy so I'm not complaining.
But onto the good stuff: The new PCBs got here a few weeks ago. I'm finishing up restoring a few of the electrical parts from my 62 and then gotta finish up an antique clock I'm giving as a gift to my mother, and then my work bench will be clear so I can put together a handful of regulators to send out for testing as long as I know the mounting holes line up properly. Hard to believe I started this project seven friggen years ago and still haven't finalized it. I still have a list of names of those who've contributed to the GoFundMe, so they'll be the first to get finalized regulators. Unfortunately I don't know their Mud handles so I'll have to figure out a way to find who's who!
But onto the good stuff: The new PCBs got here a few weeks ago. I'm finishing up restoring a few of the electrical parts from my 62 and then gotta finish up an antique clock I'm giving as a gift to my mother, and then my work bench will be clear so I can put together a handful of regulators to send out for testing as long as I know the mounting holes line up properly. Hard to believe I started this project seven friggen years ago and still haven't finalized it. I still have a list of names of those who've contributed to the GoFundMe, so they'll be the first to get finalized regulators. Unfortunately I don't know their Mud handles so I'll have to figure out a way to find who's who!
