...The never ended story of my Smiths speedo

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yves norton seeley

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Hi there,
I will never complain on access about some products that don't give me the satisfaction I expect, it's to easy to break the reputation of companny with a few words.
But this time, I am not happy believe me.
A few monts ago I buy a E tacho and speedo from Smiths.
I buy it brand new from Frank Jordens, a Norton specialist here in Belgium
Not cheap, I pay it with my blood, sweat and tears, (money from my crash)
No problems with the instalation of the tacho, he is working very well so far.
Another story with the speedo:
There was no instalation paper inside the box?
Frank order the instalation paper and mail it to me, but it was not the good one...
I contact Peter at Caerbont and he mail me the good one.
Becouse I am not a elecronic engineer from the NASA, a bit difficult to understand:
Red/Black: sine wave signal from sensor ?????
Red/Blue: square wave signal from sensor ?????
Yellow: pull up to 12 volts resitive load ?????
Pink: 5 volt output ?????
Shakespeare was not my teacher english, so, if sombody can explain me: "pull up to 12 volts resitive load" I will be very gratefull!!
After a lot of mails with Peter, I still not understand, but at least he tell me to connect
this wire to this and dont connect this wires.
I follow Peter's instructions step by step, and I put the contact on:
The pointer go full scale and back to zero, so far so good.
There was still the old sensor from the Motgadged on the back weel, so I try first with this one, first I program the PPU, then I lift the back weel; start the engine and put it in second gear, the pointer dont' move.
I decide to order via Frank the Caerbont speed sensor, part# EMP34-1Kit
Frank order the sensor and after two weeks nothing arrive, I ask Frank to call Caerbont and they says: Sir, you make your order by the wrong departement, you have to make your order by the sales departement.
Frank send the order to the sales departement and he receive a Pro Forma invoice and a mail to say that I will receive a kind of Pay pal request to pay the sensor, a week later still no payment request, Frank call back to Caerbont and they says: we send the request to a wrong adress.
They send the request to the good adress, Frank made the payment and we are still wayting for the sensor....

I plan to buy a new Smith, a Smith and Wesson .45 to shoot my self
Any comments are welkom
Thanks
Yves
 
I've been there before with other vendors.... Patience until you just can't stand it, or drop the order and deal with another outfit. I wouldn't burn the bridge though because you may need to cross it in the future for something else.
 
I've been there before with other vendors.... Patience until you just can't stand it, or drop the order and deal with another outfit. I wouldn't burn the bridge though because you may need to cross it in the future for something else.
I don't want to burn the bridge, Peter from Caerbont is a nice man and he really try to help me out.
The problem is the long chain of mistakes, this whole story is already monds old, and now I wish to see the end.
The part# from the speedo is: RES3-1B523C 225 Kph WPRF globe.
If somebody as the same speedo, please let me know how to made the connections
Thanks
Yves
 
I went GPS myself and I'm not looking back. Cheap & effective.
 
Hi Yves,
i also have a kmh speedo from Caerbont. And yes Peter from Caerbont is a nice guy. We are in contact for over a year now to solve the various problems.
Note: my Norton has a 12V negativ earth system. I use the 2 wire MotoGadget sensor with 2 magnets.
The wiring is as follows:

- reed switch to ground, and the other to the red/blue wire (that is for 3-wire sensors but works for this 2-wire sensor, don't ask)

- green and yellow wire to 12 volts switched ignition

- Black wire to ground

- Red/white wire to illumination positive supply

- brown to reset switch

This works with my speedo. Your setup may be different. But I hope this helps.

Peter

...The never ended story of my Smiths speedo
 
Hi Yves,
i also have a kmh speedo from Caerbont. And yes Peter from Caerbont is a nice guy. We are in contact for over a year now to solve the various problems.
Note: my Norton has a 12V negativ earth system. I use the 2 wire MotoGadget sensor with 2 magnets.
The wiring is as follows:

- reed switch to ground, and the other to the red/blue wire (that is for 3-wire sensors but works for this 2-wire sensor, don't ask)

- green and yellow wire to 12 volts switched ignition

- Black wire to ground

- Red/white wire to illumination positive supply

- brown to reset switch

This works with my speedo. Your setup may be different. But I hope this helps.

Peter

...The never ended story of my Smiths speedo
Hallo Peter,
Your wiring look very similar to mine, I go this afternoon to my workshop and i will make the comparaison and keep you posted.
My bike is also negative ground
Thanks
Yves
 
There are some earlier posts on frustrations with the set up process on the electronic Smiths speedo's.
I have one on my ES2, its too long ago to remember the details but it did take me multiple attempts and multiple readings of the instructions over a day or two to get the setup sorted.
 
Hi there,
I will never complain on access about some products that don't give me the satisfaction I expect, it's to easy to break the reputation of companny with a few words.
But this time, I am not happy believe me.
A few monts ago I buy a E tacho and speedo from Smiths.
I buy it brand new from Frank Jordens, a Norton specialist here in Belgium
Not cheap, I pay it with my blood, sweat and tears, (money from my crash)
No problems with the instalation of the tacho, he is working very well so far.
Another story with the speedo:
There was no instalation paper inside the box?
Frank order the instalation paper and mail it to me, but it was not the good one...
I contact Peter at Caerbont and he mail me the good one.
Becouse I am not a elecronic engineer from the NASA, a bit difficult to understand:
Red/Black: sine wave signal from sensor ?????
Red/Blue: square wave signal from sensor ?????
Yellow: pull up to 12 volts resitive load ?????
Pink: 5 volt output ?????
Shakespeare was not my teacher english, so, if sombody can explain me: "pull up to 12 volts resitive load" I will be very gratefull!!
After a lot of mails with Peter, I still not understand, but at least he tell me to connect
this wire to this and dont connect this wires.
I follow Peter's instructions step by step, and I put the contact on:
The pointer go full scale and back to zero, so far so good.
There was still the old sensor from the Motgadged on the back weel, so I try first with this one, first I program the PPU, then I lift the back weel; start the engine and put it in second gear, the pointer dont' move.
I decide to order via Frank the Caerbont speed sensor, part# EMP34-1Kit
Frank order the sensor and after two weeks nothing arrive, I ask Frank to call Caerbont and they says: Sir, you make your order by the wrong departement, you have to make your order by the sales departement.
Frank send the order to the sales departement and he receive a Pro Forma invoice and a mail to say that I will receive a kind of Pay pal request to pay the sensor, a week later still no payment request, Frank call back to Caerbont and they says: we send the request to a wrong adress.
They send the request to the good adress, Frank made the payment and we are still wayting for the sensor....

I plan to buy a new Smith, a Smith and Wesson .45 to shoot my self
Any comments are welkom
Thanks
Yves
Even a new S&W isn’t what they once were. I see the manufacturing close up.
I never had the need to take something vintage & convert it to modern. The original speedometer on my Norton is more accurate than any of my bikes. (checked against the GPS clamped on the handlebar)
 
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I agree concours. Hearing this story makes me love the simplicity of my old set up all the more. Also allows me to make pretend its not all that accurate when i get pulled over for speeding.

Q "Do you know how fast you were going?"

A "Not really. Do you know how old this speedometer is?"
 
I still have the original Smiths too, and both have been sent to Nisonger a couple times over the years to the tune of $200 US each time. If either clock starts wobbling again I'll likely replace it with an electronic one.
 
I agree concours. Hearing this story makes me love the simplicity of my old set up all the more. Also allows me to make pretend its not all that accurate when i get pulled over for speeding.

Q "Do you know how fast you were going?"

A "Not really. Do you know how old this speedometer is?"
I can not use the original set-up from a Commando, my bike is a Seeley
Yves
 
I took my bike out with Smiths clocks on for the first time the other day. Rev counter was ok but the speedo didn't move, this was no surprise as I had not tried to set them up. I had a look today and realised the PPU was a very high number, I reduced the number to 819 and it started to work. I haven't checked it accuracy yet and I arrived at that number from Avon, they give the rotations for a 90/90/19 for one mile as 819.

I have just looked at some pics I took of your bike at Chimay and see you have a Bridgestone BT45 120/80/18 tire and it looks like your sensor is picking up from 1 magnet. Your tire will turn about 508 times to cover 1 Km, this is what I would set your PPU to, ie: 508 to start with.

I am using the pink and the white with black rings for the sensor connection, do you have wires with these colours?
 
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