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Post Info TOPIC: SparkBright Monsoon - Waterproof battery voltage monitor


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SparkBright Monsoon - Waterproof battery voltage monitor
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Just a brief reminder about this great bit of kit.

I was experiencing charging problems on my latest TTR refurb project. Somehow, I managed to kill my digital multimeter so I was unable to do the stator resistance and charging tests shown in the workshop manual.

After a flash of inspiration (don't often get them these days) I took the LED monitor unit  (Monsoon 10 model) off my "shopping" TTR and connected it the battery on the problem TTR to see what was going on. 

When the engine was running, the LED remained flashing red slowly indicating that it wasn't charging. After swapping out the stator with a known good one I got the same reading so my investigation turned to the rectifier/regulator under the tank. To my shame I saw I hadn't connected it up  disbeliefdisbelief

So that turned out to be an easy fix in the end plus I got a bit of practice doing a quick (and unnecessary) stator swap wink

There is a moral here which I guess is to check ALL connections before tearing the engine or whatever apart to find/fix a fault biggrin

The clever little LED ignition monitor light - see here - was such a simple way to check the charging circuit on the TTR.

Andrew will custom build a unit with your own preferred settings if you feel the need.

The LED on my shopping TTR shares the mount with the switch for my fabulous Symtec heated grips.

The pic below shows the light with the engine running - green is good and means the battery is charging. The heated grips switch is on the right of the panel.

LED_ignition_light.jpg

The pic below shows the red light flashing to show the voltage of the battery with the ignition switched on but the engine not started.

LED_ignition_light 2.jpg

The light comes with a decent length of lead and it was simple job to stick the earth wire in behind the coil earth bolt and, after stripping about half an inch of wire, the positive was hooked over the brown terminal in the ignition connector block and the block connected up again.

The pic below shows the connections and also the nifty Maplins indicator buzzer which was also easy to fit.

LED_ignition_light 0.jpg

The following pic just shows the wiring under the panel.

Heated grips - switch wiring.jpg

Brian

 



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image.jpg

image.jpg

Thanks Brian i received the light and fitted it strait away. It will be handy to keep an eye on battery voltage and charging. Also to have a dash light that stays on when the keys on as ive pulled up at a headland lookout , switched the engine off with the kill switch and sat there for 20min with headlights on not knowing. 



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I sold the TTR with the battery monitor installed and, after some battery/charging issues on my friend's TTR where I found the monitor to be a great check tool, I decided that I must fit one on my current TTR.

I already have a clock and heated grip switch on my bars so room was tight for another mount but recalled that there is an unused slot for another warning light in the warning light binnacle. 

I had a spare binnacle from a broken speedo so experimented with that first.

LED_ignition_light  1.jpg

 

By taking off the black surround from the monitor LED, I was left with a 10mm LED bulb which only just fitted in the space available. 

The next job was to fashion a 10mm hole that was just tight enough to grip the bulb. I used a combination of drill bits and a countersink to achieve this without damaging the plastic lens. The bulb will be offset so mark the lens carefully to find the centre of the hole. Use the frame to do this.

LED_ignition_light  2.jpg

 

You can see the amount of offset in the following photos:

LED_ignition_light  3.jpg

LED_ignition_light  4.jpg

 

This is the LED bulb fitted in the lens. I have put some heat shrink on the thin monitor wires to make them a better fit in the sealing grommet.

LED_ignition_light  5.JPG

 

I test fitted the bulb/lens and it was fine so it was time to fit it properly to my TTR.

I had to remove the headlight to access the two screws at the bottom of the binnacle to allow the cover to be removed. Surprising how much dust gets in!

LED_ignition_light  5a.jpg

 

Remove the grommet from the bottom of the binnacle:

LED_ignition_light  6.JPG

 

Then push out the lens from below with a screwdriver:

LED_ignition_light  7.JPG

 

Put the led bulb in its lens frame in from the top and feed the wires down and through the grommet making sure the heat shrink is positioned correctly.

LED_ignition_light  10.JPG

 

I protected the wires with some sheathing before attaching them to the coil and ignition connector:

LED_ignition_light  11.JPG

 

Time to put the petrol tank back on and test the installation.

All worked - very pleased with a tidy installation biggrinbiggrinbiggrinbiggrin

Brian

 



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What a great Mod Bri

I have been wanting to install one for a while and that is a very neat way of fittingsmile

Might get some for the shopwink



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Thanks Steve. I reckon the Monsoon 10 would be a good addition to the Totally TTRs shop.

It's like having an old-fashioned ignition light which will either be flashing when you switch the ignition on or showing green when the engine is running. Plus it gives an early warning of any charging problems.

I realised that the digital speedo binnacle is of a different design and have had one apart to see what the insides look like.

I reckon it would be easy to fit a Monsoon to it by drilling a 14mm hole in the top for the bezel (there is just enough room - I have checked!).

Before drilling, cover the area with masking tape as this will make it easier to mark where you want your hole to be, prevent any accidental scratches and help stop your drill bit from slipping.

If you do not have a sufficiently large drill bit, make the hole as large as you can by drilling then use a round file to open the hole out to necessary size. When you are approaching the correct dimension, frequently stop filing and check the fit. Remember, you can always take a bit more away from the hole, but you can’t put it back again – so please work carefully.

OE binnacle solution  1.jpg

 

Then drill a hole at the bottom just big enough to feed the wires through. This could be sealed with a blob of silicone to prevent dust getting in.

OE binnacle solution  2.jpg

Feed the Monsoon in from the top.

It isn't easy to get the coloured lenses off the top as it is glued on well so leave it on!

Brian



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A couple of weekends ago I helped out a fellow forum member down in the South Hams on a trail riding weekend. His battery (new!) was dead flat and it wasn't clear whether there was a stator, battery or rectifier/regulator problem. So we swapped regulators and I lent him my battery and all went well and he got his two days of trail riding in. We swapped batteries on his way home but not the rec/regs.

I took the TTR for MOT this morning and the battery/charging monitor showed green (charging) on the way there but it went to red on the way back. I had the heated grips on (chilly here this morning!) and by the time I got home there was hardly enough juice left in the battery to turn the engine over. So I reckon my mate's problem was his rectifier/regulator which is now on my TTR.

The effort in fitting the monitor paid off on my first ride biggrin

Just got to find another rec/reg now cry

Brian



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