Rally tower concept

[Static]

Cool project!! I am impressed!

[random1781]

On 2/10/2024 at 9:18 AM, Guido B said:

 

 

 

As promised...

 

That looks excellent! Glad to see your bike on two better wheels also!

 

I went down a rabbit hole when trying to select a light and made a chart of the big/expensive brands:

 

COMPANY	PRODUCT	LUMENS	WEIGHT	LUMENS/G
Ruby	R7	7518	705g	10.66382979
Baja Designs	LP4 Pro	10829	1270g	8.526771654
Baja Designs	XL80	9022	1111g	8.120612061
Baja Designs	Squadron Pro	4095	340g	12.04411765
Baja Designs	XL Pro	4600	1111g	4.140414041
Clearwater Lights	Super Sevina	10000	794g	12.59445844
Denali	D7	7665	816g	9.393382353

 

Stock light weight is 1948g. Lots to consider beyond weight though.

[random1781]

I'm wrapping up the second version of this.

 

 

The actual changes:

• The bracket the bolts to the frame now provides two attachment points to the tower itself. This should eliminate the fatigue and eventual failure of the rod that the side panel bolts to. That second attachment point is in line with that rod, which is pretty far up. The further up the better though.
• The two individual threaded rods that the side panels attach to have been replaced. It's now a single M8 rod going through the main panels with a reducer to M6 on either side. This is what the side panels will bolt into. I wanted to have more strength overall for the tower itself and still keep the M6 bolts for the panels because 1) that's the size that they're made for and 2) if vibration and fatigue continues to be a thing, I still want these bolts to fail as and where they have been rather than have a failure of the side panels.
• The front edge of the main/outer panels has been brought backwards 5 mil since the side panels were rubbing on the aluminum. Interestingly, the side panels were intact, and the aluminum is what was being worn down.
• The main panels drop down lower. This is to accommodate another set of attachment points for the side panels. I don't think this is necessary, but it doesn't hurt. Alignment here is a bit tricky, so we'll see how it comes out.
• The aux bracket mount is being revised (not pictured) to accommodate blank spots for doodads like switches or other panel-mount components (USB connector, indicators, whatever).
• TENTATIVE CHANGE: I might change the holes for the lower light into slots to provide the ability to space it as needed.

Edited March 9 by random1781

[random1781]

Because I have time to kill while these are being fabricated, I'm going down an electronics rabbit hole.

 

I've found myself wanting to glance down and quickly read some stats occasionally, like distance, speed, etc. Apps are neat, but honestly they don't really cut it for me, and I pretty much want my entire screen to be my map. Moreover, apps and devices fail, and even if it's not a hard failure, just a crash or restart can halt progress or reset values that are important.

 

I've been periodically checking out what hardware has been available, and I think we're finally at a point where there are enough "plug-and-play" devices that I can begin to piece things together and tinker at a higher level, so I'm putting together my own electronics package to collect and display all this stuff.

 

What do I mean by plug-and-play? There are now some generally accepted standards to quickly interface different components by daisy chaining different accessories together using cheap cables. So basically I can plug a USB-C cable into a controller and then just plug in different sensors  together to collect a bunch of data. I'm starting with:

• RP2040 with CAN interface - This is the main controller that will process everything plus interface with the CAN bus.
• High accuracy/rapid refresh GPS - Receiver that gives 25 updates a second and connects to 92 satellites in 4 constellations. It can connect via USB to give more accurate location data to my tablet and also connect Apparently it senses spoofing too!
• Temporary touch screen - This is a 2.4" touchscreen that the controller docks into. The intent here is to use this in the development process to get feedback while on the bike to make sure everything is working correctly, and the touchscreen function will be used grossly to switch screens or display different data. This won't make it into the final version as a readable, because honestly generic LCD screens suck for quickly reading out data. I'll wind up breaking everything out into useful, simple displays. But it has an SD card reader, so I might be able to log stuff with it.
• Gyroscope/accelerometer - I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to use this yet, but for the price of a few beers, why not? Could provide some interesting data when practicing.
• MOSFET power switch - This lets me switch on/off 10A from a device that only outputs low amperage. In other words, I can control the brightness of my headlight from my RP2040 controller, or something similar to a Skene/ezCAN for my lights. Because f paying $100+ to dim lights.

 

I need to design a waterproof case for all of these things and then the plan is to stick them under the headlight.

Edited April 2 by random1781

[random1781]

Adding a couple seven segment displays and maybe a bargraph. Seven segments display trip distance/countdown, maybe a timer, and whatever other bike info. Bargraph could graphically illustrate distance, RPM, or maybe gear or fuel level. Trying to get placement and cases made up...

 

 

Controls will be two momentary three-way switches and a rotary encoder.