Add a Tachometer

[alantf]

Look for a black/white cable. That's the colour of the ground cables.

[5th_bike]

Alantf is correct about the black/white wires being 0V.

The frame is also connected to 0V. As far as I remember, I squeezed the tach's zero volt wire under a nut at the coil, to connect to the frame.
You'll have to connect to the coil under the tank anyway.

[wacio]

Thank you all. I got the tach going. Works great. I used cheapo ebay 13k rpm tach.

[IMG][/IMG]

Its mounted using screw mounting turn light bracket.

[amgarb]

I've read all 12 of these pages but many of the links and pictures are dead and gone.

I bought an ebay tachometer like the one pictured directly above but the wiring description for mine a a bit vague and I'm hoping to get a bit of help.

I have 5 wires and here is how I think they get connected:

1. Long Red for light +
2. Long Black for light -

3. Short green - ground
4. Short black - power to tach
5. Short yellow - signal

So I thing the long red and short black can be connected to power at the horn.

Then I connect the long black and the green to the frame some place.

Finally, hook the yellow wire to the coil but I'm not sure which side.

Can anyone advise?

Thanks!

[5th_bike]

Do not connect the yellow wire at the spark side of the coil.

[wacio]

You can try both - mine is connected to the white one.

[amgarb]

Since many of the photos from earlier in this thread are long gone, I figured I would document what worked for me.

I bought my tachometer from fleabay. It was $14 (best offer with free shipping). The description was “LED Motorcycle Tachometer Fit Suzuki Intruder Volusia VS 700 750 800 1400 1500"



It came with no instructions and the wiring as described in the listing was quite Chinglish:

Wire Connection:
Long red- positive, Long Black- Negative
Short Green- Ground,Short Yellow/Black-Engine Signal
Short Black- power/ignition lock positive

After online research, I determined:

• The long black (-) and long red (+) are for the backlight.
• The short green is ground
• The yellow/black is the input signal to the tach.
• The short black is power to the tachometer.

So...



I combined and extended the long red and short black and connected them to power at the horn. (Black wire in my photo below. But you can barely see it since I pierced the black tubing and threaded it through.)

I also combined and extended the long black and short green and grounded them at the coil. (Blue wire in my photo below.)

I extended the yellow/black wire and connected it to the coil. (Brown wire in my photo below.)




Fired it up and it worked. Tachometer reports 6800 rpm at 60 mph. A bit more than others report in this thread. The tach is somewhat on the slow side to respond; wish it was a bit faster.

[Vegas Street Rider]

Great photo presentation. Others doing the same project will be appreciative.

[Water Warrior 2]

Nice How To article, My Honda has a digital graph that is stupid. Round with a needle is good.

[alantf]

Honda?.... Is the dash anything like a BMW?
BMW dash.jpg