Instrument Cluster or Face Replacement?

[ikillbugs]

I purchased this scooter because I liked it the best, but some others had the same instrument cluster only with a different look and the speedo in MPH, not KPH. As you can see mine is in KPH with the MPH in small letters. A face that reads MPH would be nice.

Is there a place I can get these parts... a new face or whole new cluster?

I suppose I can wait until I can find and cannibalize a used scooter.

Problem with just replacing the face is the odometer will still be KPH, but no big deal. I can do the math.

Doing the math on the fly and on the road for the speedo is not the same as doing the math at my leisure as for the odometer.

Below is a pic of mine posted for reference:

[ikillbugs]

And on a related note: is there a way to calibrate the speedometer? Mine is 7-8 mph slow. When it says I'm doing 60 I'm only doing 52-53. I checked it against 2 different apps on my phone, same results.

[Rebel]

Accuracy is a real problem on these things and I posted an idea quite some time back about fiddling with the spring inside but never tried it out on one. One solution is mounting a bicycle speedometer on it, some of those are pretty good and cheap as well.

There are several places you can order a gauge set for it, probably any dealer and ebay has themI've seen a lot of the listed under scooter speedometer.

bottom of the page here
www.scooterparts4less.com/Moped_Web/Moped_Jonway150cc_150T_12_BodyPanel.htm

[ikillbugs]

Feb 20, 2012 1:32:29 GMT -5 Rebel said:

One solution is mounting a bicycle speedometer on it...

I actually considered that. I used to ride a road bike and they are very accurate (you can calibrate them yourself), but they are pretty much designed for spoke wheels, and besides, I would rather just "fix" my present setup.

...and I didn't think of asking the dealer. Duh.

[Rebel]

They are set up for a spoke but people do use the bike speedos, were there is a will you know. I did look on ebay and found ones like yours for 30 - 50 dollars.

[jmkjr72]

all it takes is a bit of epoxy to make a bike speedo work on a scooter
you epoxy the sender mag to the wheel and then you make your own bracket for the pick up
i run a sigma bike speedo on my zuma

the issue with getting any old cluster is it may not be calibrated to your hubs gear ratio

there are lots of after market speedo units but they are going to cost you
but the up side to something like a trail tech is you can now read temps and have a tach that will work properly
the down side to many of them is you loose your fuel gauge

[Rebel]

Here is a link to my ramblings about adjusting the speedometer.

Speedometer Calibration

[ikillbugs]

Thanks for all the replies. I had the unit out today and I had a chance to get a good look at the inner workings. I may or may not try your little trick there, Rebel (from the other thread), to get it to read more accurately, but I have decided I will eventually just buy a cheap unit on eBay, working or not, just to get the face. It's made of a translucent plastic that is opaque-painted on the face to keep light from coming through where you don't want it.

Too bad my money is low or I would have gone out and got some LEDs to replace, or augment the existing filament bulbs while I had it apart.

In the mean time I just cut out tiny squares of adhesive paper (stickers) with speed increments stuck to the face. It's helpful to see speed at a glance since I wear a full-face helmet and I have to look down to see it, as opposed to lowering my eyeballs.

I may also check out a craft store tomorrow to see if I can find some materials to make my own cluster! (Would probably turn into a cluster-f*#!)

[mainepeace]

If you are good with photoshop or any design program, you can make your own. There are sites out there where you upload a drawing and they cut the acrylic for you, in whatever shape or design.

ponoko.com is one place.

You can design your own face with etched numbers, so it will backlight if you want.

Greg

[ikillbugs]

Feb 21, 2012 19:23:58 GMT -5 mainepeace said:

If you are good with photoshop or any design program, you can make your own.

Yeah that's one idea I had in mind. Yes I am pretty good in that (graphics) department. My thought was to remove the face, scan it and use that for a base to go on, then design my own... print it on adhesive vinyl and voila! Still would have to work out the details but ehh, It's on the back of my mind. Not a priority at the moment.

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.

[ikillbugs]

Well I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it but today I used that GPS thingy on my phone strapped next to the speedo and was filming it in HD so I could accurately review the speed and where the corresponding needle position was... and dang if it ain't spot on now. The only thing I did was remove and re-attach the cluster (which of course included removing and re-attaching the speedometer cable).

So, if you have a speedo that is reading inaccurately give that a try! Maybe the speedometer cable just wasn't properly seated. Hmmff.

Go figure!

[Rebel]

Ok, have you ever checked the phone for accuracy?

[ikillbugs]

Feb 22, 2012 17:51:27 GMT -5 Rebel said:

Ok, have you ever checked the phone for accuracy?

I used 2 different apps and both were the same results.

[jmkjr72]

phones are as bad if not worse then speedos
they dont always work of of sats more often then not the work off of cel towers so not truley gps

[ikillbugs]

Feb 22, 2012 19:42:45 GMT -5 jmkjr72 said:

phones are as bad if not worse then speedos
they dont always work of of sats more often then not the work off of cel towers so not truley gps

Good to know. I will test again using a Garmin GPS and let y'all know.