Tools
to Synchronise Carburettors
Light
& battery charging: Some
thoughts and calculations regarding the electrical energy of the
CB400F
FUEL
CONSUMPTION
Electronic
Ignition
Four winkers
blinking Security Patch
How to glue metal
(aluminium)
Grandfathers_Recipes_
how to scan and publish
large docs
To Be Continued
--------------------------------------------------
Tools to Synchronise
Carburettors.
Here a doc of a
comparative test of tools to synchronise carbs (from a French magazine -
Motolégende - from the issues November and December 2006). The
text is in French but I will make an English translation.
Complete article:
pdf-file
English translation: To
follow
-------------------------------------------------------
Light
& battery charging
-
Some power calculations
-
Total available power: maximum 0,156 kW at 5000rpm
(14~15V), at higher speeds the available
current decreases due to the larger demand of the coils.
Thus a maximum current of 11,14 A at 14V (P=U*I or I=P/U)
-
Base consumption of the bike: 3,5 Ampere (12V) for
only the coils and red (oil pressure)
and green lamp, leaves only 6,9A for the
lamps and charging the battery (in an ideal situation!).
-
Consumption of the lamps:
Head
light:
Main
light 35W =>2,92A
(12V)
Main
light 50W
=>4,17A (12V)
Main
light 65W =>5,42A (12V) (halogen lamp)
Stand light
and instruments: 3,4W/lamp => 0,28A/lamp
Tail
light: 8W => 0,67A
Stop light: 21W => 1,75A
Indicators: 21W =>1,75A/bulb; 3,5A
when 2 bulbs are flashing
Instrument lights: 4 x 3,4 W= 13,6W =>
1,16A
If you have a 65W lamp switched
on, only running at idle you already need:
3,5+5,42+0,67+1,16+0,28+0,28= 11,31A which is more then the output of
the generator at 5.000rpm!
-
Saving :
the largest consumer is obvious the head light, followed by
instruments and tail light (in Western Europe, you have to switch
the head light on when driving).
Switching to led-tech
can save you: for your tail
light: 0,15A iso 0,67A
Stand light: 0,03A iso 0,28A
Instruments: 4x 30mA= 120mA (0,12A) iso of 1,16A
Total gain:
0,52+0,25+1,04= 1,81A; this can make the difference
having to recharge your battery regurarely or not.
- The
dilemma of more light
For rides at night, the standard
head bulb (50/35W) does not give enough light when riding in the dark.
There are few solutions, but fitting a more powerfull
lamp demands more power (i.e. a H4 Halogen 65/60W).
By changing the fitting of the head lamp, I was able
to mount a 35W Halogen lamp in a modified socket, and I rode for a
fortnight with a
special 20W dichroïd halogen lamp.
Riding with a Halogen 65/60W should be possible when
you switch to led lamps for all other bulbs (see
fotos). If you do not need such a
powerfull light, I recommend a Halogen 35W or even 20W
(with a focussed
beam).
In the near future LED headlights will become
available, requiring only 0,5 à 1 Amp. They will consist of some
powerleds, combined giving a powerfull beam. These leds are already
available in flat 1W versions (3,8V/0,3A)
XENON cold beams will (propably) prise themselves out of the
market (remember what happened to Apple
computers!).
C. Three strategies:
I recommend 3 possible strategies according to your riding profile
First of all, do the
following:
a) Check your battery: it
must be clean, in good condition, enough but not to much liquid, acid of
good quality and density etc...; if you have doubts do some charging en
decharging tests and, if necessary, replace the battery (see Haynes
pg110).
b) Charge your battery
with a suitable charger (max.1,5 A) to full charge, if necessary repeat
a few times (especially with a new or longtime not used battery).
c) Check the charging
with the motor revving at 2K-5K revs, ( 14~15V, 2A charging current); if
something does not seem ok, control the proper working of the alternator,
rectifier and regulator. See the manual (See Haynes pages 110-111).
d) If you need to replace
your battery, look for a heavier model: the standard model is the Yuasa
12N12A-4A, meaning a battery of 12V with a capacity of 12 Ampèrehour,
and a start current of max.120 A. You can easily find a replacement of
12N14A with 14 Ampèrehour and a start current of 140 A's that
fits in the same space (almost 17% more capacity and current!). Take
care of the height: there you only have a few milimeters of play!
1°
Little light, little cost
Just change the bulb of the headlight for a halogen version; you can
buy 12V 35/35W BA20D or 12V 45/40W BA20D with different suppliers. I
bought mine (1x 35/35 and 1x 45/40) for 5£75 each at www.consumabulbs.com.
the
second lamp form the left is green led version. You do not
have to extra charge the battery if you do not use the start motor all
the time.
2°
More light, no charging
If you mount a 45/40W lamp, it is better to reduce the other current consumers as the tail light and
pilot light.
There are some led alternatives avaible at reasonable prices. For the
tail/stop light you need a powerfull version, for example the 1157-RLX3
from Superbrightleds.com as David installed.
Estimated costs: 20 à 25$
3°
maximum light
Some of us do need more light, much more light. I
recommend to buy special halogen bulbs of 55W or 65/60W (see e.g. special
versions at http://www.consumabulbs.com/files/silver.php
but you have to change the fitting in the head
lamp) and to replace all little lamps beside the tail/stop lamp by led-versions. By doing so you can limit the need to charge your
battery. When changing the indicator lights with led-versions, you
also need to replace the winker relais with a electronic version.
Estimated cost: 50 à 100$
At the moment, I have installed on my bike a small
replacement winker relay and the front indicator lights by wite,
bright led-versions (25 leds), giving a very light yellow light, in
combination with the amber winker cap. They are clearly visible, even
in sunlight, and give much more light then the amber led versions. The
winker
relay works fine with only one 21W indicator lamp (at the rear) and the led-lamp
at the front.
Also,
I have replaced the pilot and instrument lights
by self-made ledlamps with 2 or three bright, white leds per
lamp and the instrument lamps on my 'dashboard' with the proper
ledlamp (red, green, amber and blue/white).
And
finally, I replaced the tail/stop lamp with a 25-bright-led version
with a tail light and stop function (all leds burn allways, but only
with full power when the brakes are used).
If power led-beams will become available (at
reasonable prices) I will test them.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Fuel
consumption
According to Graham
the fuel consumption
of the CB400F is :
Fuel consumption - over 100 miles/gallon (Imp.) at 30MPH, 74 at 56MPH & 55 at 70MPH (Average 42)
According
to Rick: "My last tankfull gave 235km on 10.7L or 4.55L/100km or 62miles per Imp. gal. Stock head, bored carbs, K&N Pods, OMT header, Dyna coils, Boyer ignition."
(100km = 62.137 miles, 5L = 1.32US gals or 1.0998 Imperial Gals. Therefore, 5L/100KM = 47 miles/US gal, 56.5 miles/Imp gal.)
Temporarily
on hold
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Electronic
Ignition
Some basic proposals, I like the first for its
simplicity and will certainly try it.
basic-PNP,
German1& 2,
Velleman
For
those interested in some backgrounfd info about Electronic Ignition,
CDI, TCI (Transistor Controlled Ignition): CDI
To
be continued
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Four winkers BLINKING
Security Patch
I have added a security patch for the indicator
lights. By pressing one button, I now can light up and let blink my four
winkers to signal to other drivers that something is going on.
To do so I only had to add one switch and two
diodes. The features of these diodes are common: minium 5 Amps and 25 Volts. I
use type 6LA2 (6 Amps,
250 V).
Modification: - remove the gas tank and free the wire
connections (front left of the bike);
- cut the following wires grey (coming from the winker relay),
orange and light blue (to left or right winker circuit);
- add an extra wire and connect the wires again;
- attach the switch (see the diagram) and the circuit
board with the 2 diodes;
- test before replacing the gas tank.
Attention points: - the wires have to be sufficient
thick (up to 10 amps to and from the switch- 4x 21W bulbs + small
signalling lamps); you can use led alternatives to reduce the current.
- Take care of possible short circuits!
- Make sure that the diodes are 'heavy' enough and
have some free airflow to
can cool.
The electrical diagram of this modification.
A photo of the
extra switch.
A short film of the working indicators (MOV format).
___________________________________________________________________________________________
How to glue metal (aluminium)
Glueing metal is
not an easy job. There are several products
and methods available on the market, but as a customer it is sometimes
difficult to choose.
I
have successfully glued broken aluminium pieces from my right break
lever. The pieces held together for more than a year and only came loose
when I overstressed them during an emergency brake. I now have glued
them again and I am confident that they will hold together for quite a
long time. I have used an epoxy resin glue that is
applicable during an hour. You have a to let the glue harden for
12 hours and then you can grind it or paint it over. The only
disadvantage is heat: the clue only can whitstand about 100 degrees
Celsius.
See following pictures: the
glued part and the
glue in its original package.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Grandfathers Recipes
An article from Motolégende, describing in detail
some tricks and hints to facilite life when maintaining a motorcycle.
pdf-file
___________________________________________________________________________________________
HOW
to scan and publish large docs
1°
To start, I scan with a good scanner (must not be top class) at 600dpi for a
high quality scan. Do not forget to select text only, text
with fotos or drawings, or foto only mode, because this has
a great influence on the result. The results are saved as quite large
TIFF files (typical for the pages of the Honda Shop Manual is 6 to
9MByte per page). You have to do some trial-and-error to obtain
the best results.
2°
Then, I edit these pages with Photoshop Elements2 (from Adobe, I bought my
copy two years ago for 20$ on the net in the US):
-
First, I straight the pages (up to 0,1 degree to the right or the
left);
-
Then, I resize the page to the wanted dimensions, either by crop (when
to large) or with the canvas resize function when to small;
-
then I correct the appearance and the staines with the histogram
and brightness/contrast levels: at this stage you can get rid
off a lot of garbage and see-through scanning artifacts, but also some
try-and-error is involved.
-
Then, with the eraser, I remove/correct some larger staines and
I add with the Text-function missing texts, numbers or other
details that where lost in the scanning.
-
then I save the file as a pdf-file without the layers (if you do not
want to edit anymore), so I obtain a file of about 800kByte, with
fotos.
3°
I close Photoshop Elements and open the file with Acrobat Pro 7
(from Adobe, rather expensive to buy). I first use the size
reduction function to obtain a pdf-file of about 160kB and save
the reduced file.
-
Finally I create a large pdf-file by inserting the reduced pages in
the right sequence (you also can add non-reduced pages and reduce the
size of the final file);
-
And then I add an watermark to identify the file (against
those on-net 'profiteurs').
Now
the file is ready to be published on line or send by mail. You see,
some steps are to be taken, but after a while you learn to organize
yourself to advance much quicker.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
