I'm pretty sure you have the tac wire connected to the main power for the ignition system. It needs to be connected to the pulse wire that goes from the points to the coil. If you connect it to the ignition main power, it will be no better than a hard to read volt meter. I've done that before when trying to install a tac on an old 69 GMC. And the way to check for a bad crank case seal is, drain all mixed gas from tank and bike. Put straight gas, non mixed in the bike. Start it. If it smokes then its leaking. You have to give it a minute to clean the old oil out. Don't be scared. You can run a 2stroke for about 45min without oil before doing serious damage. Give it a few small revs to see if it puffs smoke. That's how they check for that leak at the bike shop I used to go to. All 2 strokes that have oil injection come from the factory already ran for up to 5min without oil. They put gas in it without oil in the gas and start it and let the oil pump prime itself. It takes up to 5min before those engines get their first taste of oil. Also... Another way to check if you're running to rich on oil is, check the spark plug. Black and carbonated or sluggy is to much oil. You want a nice mid to dark brown with very little deposits. Hope this helps.
Ben Hawke nice little bike hack though. Throw in a switch and a calibrated scale on the rev counter and you can have a multi function Voltage/RPM gauge. 👍
I'm diggin the project so far guys, Pretty cool you're both sticking with it I think it'll be a pretty sick resto. I've always wanted to make a 2stroke street bike
Yes!! Finally a new episode! Thanks for the time you take out of you day to make this video, also I would love to see you pick up a project snow blower since winter in around the corner. Thank you, and keep up the good work.
A small bridge rectifier to convert the AC to DC, a 4700Uf electrolytic cap to smooth out the DC, and a 7805 TO-220 package three terminal 1 Amp voltage regulator will stabilize the voltage to the tachometer to 5 volts. Those parts are small enough to fit under or perhaps inside the instrument cluster. As for getting the ignition pulses cut in half (from 2 stroke to 4 stroke) you are going to need a clock type circuit that will divide the pulses by a factor of 2. Not sure if there is anything like that on the market. Perhaps you can look at what might be available from Kawasaki (tach wise and internals) that are made for a 2 stroke engine.
Thanks for the comment, I was thinking almost what you mentioned, except that I thought I might need a very small 12v battery instead of the cap, just in case the voltage drops too much. But I suppose that wouldn't be a problem if I just designed it to work on 5v instead of 12. I'm hung up on the pulses though. I looked at something like I think you are describing that uses something called flip-flops but I know almost nothing about electronics so I am wary about trying to build something custom like that.
a D flip-flop would be the correct way to divide the frequency exactly in half. and the circuitry is about as simple as you could hope, one single chip with just the clock input from the coil wire, the output to your tachometer, and a set of positive and negative wires for power. I would transform to direct current with a bridge rectifier and stabilize the voltage with a voltage regulator or a buck converter (which sound complicated but are all things you can buy and hook up without actually having to know how they work) first to see if dividing the frequency in half is truly what you need, but your logic with the four stroke to two stroke sounds reasonable to me
Your last sentence is exactly why I didn't recommend anything. What you may want to look at is a pickup wire (like an hour meter uses that wraps around the spark plug wire) to feed into such a circuit. Direct feed as you did would blow most flop-flops. Look into 555 chip timer circuits where you can input X pulses and output X pulses by adjusting/selecting the components
one of my favorite channels as of recently, huge bike guy myself, I've always wanted to work on them too but never thought I could until recently after learning a lot about engines in general (mainly cars but bikes too) and videos like this have helped me a lot! thanks for that.
So glad I found this channel. Usually I watch videos on 1.5x or 2x speed because I get bored with the exposition, but Not Yours! Normal speed all the way. You're entertaining as well as educational. Keep up the good work!
You were going to prove you did not know electronics and ended up proving you didn't know about the fuel flow. It's another fine mess you've gotten us into, Stan.
Brian C To much oil in the gas can cause carbon build up and get packed behind the rings and cracking the rings and scarring the cylinder wall or worse. That's why you should run the recommended mixture from the factory.
Chad that or put a make a new number face for it, open it up and slide it in. But the needle is still pretty high on it, when it does go high in rpm it'll just be pegged and pretty much useless.
Dude your videos are awesome me and my son (a 4 year old ) sit at home before I got to work and nerd out on Your videos 🤘🏼👌🏼 thank for all the knowledge
I think the 4-stroke KLX250 may fire once per crank revolution just like your 2-stroke there. If the KLX uses a source coil under the flywheel to feed the ignition coil, it will fire twice per 4 strokes (2 crank revolutions) - once on exhaust (wasted) and once on compression.
Was at a bar watching the NASCAR ease and actually stoped and went outside to watch Your vid. They are that fun to watch. Camera girl told you on this vid. Love your logic. Keep em Comming. What project will be next?
If you're pretty sure it's double the speed, because of 2-stroke vs 4-stroke, and since it's based on the frequency of electrical signals coming in, for mere pocket change, you can solder together a capacitor, rectifier, IC circuit that will mathematically correct the frequency/count, and give you the correct reading...
It's an Anti-Theft method I used to do it to my bikes all the time you just need remembered off is on and vice versa. We also used to reversed the ON OFF kill switch. It didn't stop thieves from throwing in the back of a truck but it would stop them from ridding of on your bike or
They make lighting coils for these bikes that output more watts. You can pull the cover, pull the flywheel, and then replace the coil. You can even rewind your own with some enamel wire and a soldering iron. Your rich problem, did you retune the carb?? I'd rejet that bike it's so worth it. If you want inexpensive jets look up Jetsrus.com Sudco jets are cheaper and still good quality. I think I ended up with a 42 Pilot jet and a 155 Main jet. As far as the needle I used a Sudco CGK 017.018 they also make a DGK 017.030. Most guys use the CGK one though, it has the best overall performance. This should get you close, but you'll have to play with it based on your altitude!
I seriously learn so much from all your videos. U literally go through every single issue and possibility while working on things.. Love it! The generator video was by far my fav tho.. And I'm a dirtbike finatic.. I have a lot of kx200 parts btw if ud like them.
Regarding your tac: if the one you have was meant for a 4 stroke and you’re now running it on a 2 stroke then it’s generating twice the electricity than it was meant to for a 4 stroke signal. A voltage divider would allow you to cut the signal to the tac to what it should be. Normally that would be just two resistors in series, one end connected to the signal from the source signal (input ignition coil), the other end to the tac ground, and the center tap between the 2 resistors. To know what the resistors should be, you need to know how much current - or the “load” the tac signal input wants to draw to work. To find that out, you need to measure the resistance between the signal input and the tac ground. A special note here: you may need to swap leads on your ohm meter as there may be some rectification going on in the tac electronics, in other words it is looking for the current to flow one way. Usually that means putting your ground test lead on the ohm meter to the ground on the tac, and the plus test lead to the signal input on the tac and measuring the resistance across the two points. Then to be safe, swap the leads and see what the resistance is when swapped (should be higher). Take the lowest resistance, and then get a potentiometer (roughly a quarter to a fifth of the lowest resistance value you measured across the tac). The lower the resistance, the larger the potentiometer needs to be in current handling capacity ( hopefully no more than a watt in value). Assume that the potentiometer is a one watt, 100 ohm pot. Like the two resistors I described above, we have essentially the same circuit, where we connect one end tap of the pot to the source signal, the other end of the pot to ground, and the center tap to the tac, emulating the two resistors in series. But now you can vary exactly the resistor value ratios do as to give you the exact values you need to make the tac give you an accurate reading. The if you want, you can replace the pot with fixed resistors, just make sure that you don’t move the pot shaft before taking the measurements: taking your ohm meter, first measure the resistance between the left tap of the pot and center tap ( remember what the left tap was connected to on the bike), then measure the right end tap on the pot and center. You now have the two resistor values to make up a voltage divider for a more accurate tac reading. You will probably have to round the values off a bit to find the closest manufactured available values, but remember it’s the ratio of the two values that is the most important part. The closer you can get to that in your fixed resistor values, the more accurate your reading. I would conjecture that a fixed voltage power supply would also stabilize the tac reading. I saw some suggestions of using some fixed voltage regulators. Those recommendations I would worry about, not knowing what the upper voltages the input to those regulators may be seeing, possibly above their rated limits. One would need to know those limits. And a cheaper (and little more dirty fix) might be a zener limiter, depending on the current demands of the tac power supply. Don’t know if any of that might help but here for more suggestions if needed or wanted. Love what you and your wife do, you all have taught me a lot! Thanks!
If the signal for the gauge is indeed a linear offset or variation of the expected signal I'm pretty sure a simple resistor can be used to adjust it to the correct RPM.
I love your videos. You should do a video on fixing the odometer in your Mercedes. It's a very common 300 series problem. And can be repaired with Loctite.
A two stroke will smoke a lot until warm. Two stroke Snowmobiles smoke bad when you first start them but once warmed up the smoke clears up. Mix you fuel at 40:1 and ride it awhile and see if it smokes a lot less.
I really enjoy watching you trouble shoot and problem solve, it's great learning. And also, cudos on controlling your temper. My mechanic videos would not be appropriate for RUclips.
I would suggest that you strip the carb down compliantly, jets as well. Clean with carb cleaner, and then re-install. See how that does before stripping motor. Hope this has been some help. :-)
Was that tachometer by chance off of a four stroke bike? That could be why its reading so high. Also was the engine a single cylinder or a twin? That could also lead to inaccuracy with the tach. As a side note I run LED lights on all my stuff (if I can) and they draw very little current opposed to incandescent bulbs. Saves me from needing to run a bigger or higher amperage stator, plus I can run more lights!
You've got your wiring hooked up in a series circuit. Each lighbult acts as a resister. If you take the voltage divided by watts you get the resistance. That resistance is affecting your gauge when the turn signals are on. you need to wire it up in a parallel circuit. If you want I can email you a diagram if that will help
I’m sure your busy and short on time but if you cleaned these parts/projects it would add a lot of visual pop to your hard work. It would at least make some great before and afters. Anyways your videos are great.
Is Jen ALWAYS so sassy? 😒 Hey, which coil wire were you hooked-up to? I don't know about Electronic Ignition, but it used to be that Tach trigger wires connected to the coil Ground (-). Are you guys in NORTHERN Commiefornia? I don't remember it being that humid this week, down here in SoCal. 🤔
It’s a/c. You need a full bridge rectifier to make d/c. Easy to make. It’s just 4 diodes. you can buy a tach converter on eBay. As far as the stater. Your going to have to use a regulator with a battery to keep the amps up. The regulator might even have the bridge rectifier built in.
i have recently learned a lot of electrical theory from tech school. its pretty cool to see someone figure it out on their own. i commend you sir. i would not have been able to even comprehend the magical world of electricity if it werent for a crazy instructor drilling it into my brain. btw whats your altitude? 2 stroke carbs can be very sensitive to altitude change. the po might have been riding it a sea level, also if its humid its going to run a little weird vs a clear crisp day.
Single cilinder 2 and 4 strokes both have the same amount of sparks per rotation. If a 4-stroke is on the exhaust stroke, the moment the piston hits top dead centre it will still spark. My guess you need a battery to even out the peaks in the voltage and a resistor of sorts to bring down the voltage in the signal wire going to the tach.
check the packing in that silencer, might be pretty crummy and wet? unless.... it was doing that without that on there and just the head pipe solely. my 500 does smokes a bit until i start riding it, and so did another two stroke of mine i had. might just be like that?
Problem is that its not a linear error. 1000rpm shows 2000. 2000rpm shows 4000. If not used to work on electronics there might not be an easy fix to the problem. Maybe the tach got some jumper/setting inside? If you could set it to "2 cylinders - 4-stroke" it would be the same as setting it to 2-stroke (1 cyl). If no setting is available and as someone wrote, some kind of flip-flop circuitry is needed and maybe there are some aftermarket solutions to get the conversion done. And voltage stabilization is a must with any tach. A 7805 as some suggested is fine (assuming 5V is what its supposed to run on). I've seen 7810 being used in car clusters. Regulating closer to the max voltage (but below the min voltage of the source) is a good idea to keep the 78xx regulator cool. And you can add a small plate as heatsink. It's probably a really small current needed for the tach. Also rectifier is needed to get DC (or just a diode with capacitor will suffice). The hardest part will be to keep moisture away from electronics.
Too bad I'm so far away from you, I would've made a little circuit that would take care of such problem. Maybe you have some friends who are electronics hobbyists, they might be able to help you out here.
It's not quite a schematic, but it's gonna be smth like this: alternator > diode bridge > electrolytic capacitor > buck-boost module from eBay. That is for the power, for the signal, there's few ways to divide the frequency in half. I know that Jake can solder, but soldering electronic components is different than wires. That's why I wanted it to be all modules.
That's awesome MrJohhhnnnyyy! I can solder too, but it sure is nice to have an electronics hobbyist friend, it always seems to go better if they are involved!
Can’t you just make or purchase a different face for the tach that has the correct RPMs on it. Like if it’s showing 2x the actual RPM just change the scale on the face to half.
You can convert your AC power to DC with a couple diodes and a capacitor. This will also smooth out the voltage. I'm not an expert on the topic, but I think you can get caps that discharge at a certain voltage, say 5 or 12 volts. If lower voltage is what you need to get the tac to work, you can throw some resistors inline until you get it "tuned" to the correct RPM. Or you can buy a 2 stroke tac, designed to run on A/C, which is realistically what you should do rather than creating a fire hazard.
Looks like someone already thought of something similar... :( Add a few capacitors (3 maybe, the more you add the better the effect, 16v caps from old stereos? ) to make it DC (or close enough), might also eliminate the voltage drop for short periods depending on the discharge rating. From that point, but might not be necessary depending on the the outcome of the previous step, you can add a DC to DC regulator circuit, I'd recommend a 1-14v input with a constant 12v output depending on the max voltage observed (some are adjustable output, $5-10 on eBay) that will produce a constant voltage of your choosing to power everything, make sure it can handle the amps, (shouldn't take up more than a few cubic inches). Then you can just pull whatever turn signal setup you want from a donor bike. A small project enclosure or electrical box should hold everything. I recommend finding a way to seal it though.
You might want to go with LEDs to reduce the voltage drop, and you might get better visibility as a result. This might help reduce load on the regulator circuit if you decide to use it. I would try to use capacitors though.
put an oscilloscope on the tachometer brown wire, and verify the voltage and the frequency on the scope. if in fact it is double the frequency, wire up a schmitt trigger, a digital divide by 2 counter, and an op-amp to give the correct output volt to the meter from digital circuitry.
white smoke at exhaust=crank seal leak, bike is 20 yrs old, change em out before it runs lean and needs a top end! also i can hear what sounds like piston slap as it revs down to idle, do the top end regardless, i thought my cr250r had a loose power valve... same noise until the piston skirt shatters and ends up in the lower end, what is a 250$ job becomes a 600$ job real quick
Ashley's Anti no that's how the kdx200's are they always sound like they have piston slap but it's really just the powervalve rattling it's completely normal on these bikes
My kdx320 sounded like that brand new. Took it back to dealer on warranty and the inspected it. It turned out to be the normal sound of the power valve. Kawasaki kdx's all sound like that.
Do you feel like the wife is roasting him all the time
It's her garage lol
Their personality’s and humor is what I love about this channel😄
Am i the only person who laughed when she said the only thing that is unfolding is your wallet?.
I'm pretty sure you have the tac wire connected to the main power for the ignition system. It needs to be connected to the pulse wire that goes from the points to the coil. If you connect it to the ignition main power, it will be no better than a hard to read volt meter. I've done that before when trying to install a tac on an old 69 GMC. And the way to check for a bad crank case seal is, drain all mixed gas from tank and bike. Put straight gas, non mixed in the bike. Start it. If it smokes then its leaking. You have to give it a minute to clean the old oil out. Don't be scared. You can run a 2stroke for about 45min without oil before doing serious damage. Give it a few small revs to see if it puffs smoke. That's how they check for that leak at the bike shop I used to go to. All 2 strokes that have oil injection come from the factory already ran for up to 5min without oil. They put gas in it without oil in the gas and start it and let the oil pump prime itself. It takes up to 5min before those engines get their first taste of oil. Also... Another way to check if you're running to rich on oil is, check the spark plug. Black and carbonated or sluggy is to much oil. You want a nice mid to dark brown with very little deposits. Hope this helps.
Does that mean you can engine brake on a 2 stroke
@@slothFPV Of course you can.
always love a new Jennie’s garage video
You've made the rev counter into a voltage gauge! Lol!
Yeah. He plugged into the ignition power wire instead of the points to coil signal wire.
Ben Hawke nice little bike hack though. Throw in a switch and a calibrated scale on the rev counter and you can have a multi function Voltage/RPM gauge. 👍
I'm diggin the project so far guys, Pretty cool you're both sticking with it
I think it'll be a pretty sick resto. I've always wanted to make a 2stroke street bike
Those jokes were a little... tachy.
I appreciate you two. Can’t think of a better more wholesome way to start a Monday morning!
Yes!! Finally a new episode! Thanks for the time you take out of you day to make this video, also I would love to see you pick up a project snow blower since winter in around the corner. Thank you, and keep up the good work.
A small bridge rectifier to convert the AC to DC, a 4700Uf electrolytic cap to smooth out the DC, and a 7805 TO-220 package three terminal 1 Amp voltage regulator will stabilize the voltage to the tachometer to 5 volts. Those parts are small enough to fit under or perhaps inside the instrument cluster. As for getting the ignition pulses cut in half (from 2 stroke to 4 stroke) you are going to need a clock type circuit that will divide the pulses by a factor of 2. Not sure if there is anything like that on the market. Perhaps you can look at what might be available from Kawasaki (tach wise and internals) that are made for a 2 stroke engine.
Raider21 I'd measure the needed current first, maybe such a big cap and 1A voltage regulator isn't even required
Thanks for the comment, I was thinking almost what you mentioned, except that I thought I might need a very small 12v battery instead of the cap, just in case the voltage drops too much. But I suppose that wouldn't be a problem if I just designed it to work on 5v instead of 12. I'm hung up on the pulses though. I looked at something like I think you are describing that uses something called flip-flops but I know almost nothing about electronics so I am wary about trying to build something custom like that.
a D flip-flop would be the correct way to divide the frequency exactly in half. and the circuitry is about as simple as you could hope, one single chip with just the clock input from the coil wire, the output to your tachometer, and a set of positive and negative wires for power. I would transform to direct current with a bridge rectifier and stabilize the voltage with a voltage regulator or a buck converter (which sound complicated but are all things you can buy and hook up without actually having to know how they work) first to see if dividing the frequency in half is truly what you need, but your logic with the four stroke to two stroke sounds reasonable to me
Your last sentence is exactly why I didn't recommend anything. What you may want to look at is a pickup wire (like an hour meter uses that wraps around the spark plug wire) to feed into such a circuit. Direct feed as you did would blow most flop-flops. Look into 555 chip timer circuits where you can input X pulses and output X pulses by adjusting/selecting the components
BeatRush2011 - Possible/probable, but the components are small and give plenty of headroom. I tend to over build for safety and longevity.
Always can't wait for your uploads,when i get a notification from youtube im well chuffed.
Great stuff,keep it up.
Always watching here in the uk 👍
Thanks for sharing. My kids and I love listening to your banter especially when your wife chimes in with some comment. You two are a lot of fun.
"This was just recently categorized as my thing!" You and Jennie are fantastic! Never stop!!!
one of my favorite channels as of recently, huge bike guy myself, I've always wanted to work on them too but never thought I could until recently after learning a lot about engines in general (mainly cars but bikes too) and videos like this have helped me a lot! thanks for that.
I'm hooked on your videos, thanks for making my day.
Your wife is hilarious
I don’t know how long y’all have been doing this but I really love this channel and love the interaction between you two. Keep up the good work!
*can't even tell you're bal-*
Samuel Cai haha I loved that part to😂
It wasn't the word "bald" he edited out, it was the swift uppercut to her jaw that was edited out.
Dave Spooney 😂😂😂😂😂😃
She’sawesome
Your wife is awesome! Loved that you left that much of of her comment in :-)
Some of your wife's comments are just absolutely priceless! Loved your "unfolding" wallet comment and can still giggle over it.
So glad I found this channel. Usually I watch videos on 1.5x or 2x speed because I get bored with the exposition, but Not Yours! Normal speed all the way. You're entertaining as well as educational. Keep up the good work!
Your Mrs has just the best voice and funny come backs, you guys are great. Thanks for the Vids much enjoyed.
Fuel, fire, and compression. She told you! I always love your approach and logic.
You were going to prove you did not know electronics and ended up proving you didn't know about the fuel flow. It's another fine mess you've gotten us into, Stan.
Love your vids, this channel is a hidden gem and probably the most entertaining motorcycle one out there. Keep up the dad jokes haha.
That's supper rich for that bike. You should running 30-40:1. Look up the mixture ratio for the bike.
Fr 99% of the two strokes I’ve seen run 40:1
Better to have more smoke...easier to clean fouled plugs...than rehone a scratched up cylinder :P
Brian C
To much oil in the gas can cause carbon build up and get packed behind the rings and cracking the rings and scarring the cylinder wall or worse. That's why you should run the recommended mixture from the factory.
Didn't know that...figured it was all blown out...
What if you were to add some marvels mystery oil...that should lubricate and bust up the carbon?
I love this series it's interesting I've learned a lot thanks keep it up
I would hook it up the way it was and just do the math when you look at the tac..lol. Love love love your videos!
Chad that or put a make a new number face for it, open it up and slide it in. But the needle is still pretty high on it, when it does go high in rpm it'll just be pegged and pretty much useless.
Dude your videos are awesome me and my son (a 4 year old ) sit at home before I got to work and nerd out on Your videos 🤘🏼👌🏼 thank for all the knowledge
your wife is a savage man...
Your perseverance is legendary and inspiring!
cant even tell your bal... nice job guys ya'll always make me laugh
mort glickman l
wow
y'all
I wanna stop watching this channel but I can't. Keep up the good work!
Need daily videos, please. love this channel!
you made my day.. You have a special delivery that is insane. I hope after you get famous on youtube you stay the same. TY!!
I think the 4-stroke KLX250 may fire once per crank revolution just like your 2-stroke there. If the KLX uses a source coil under the flywheel to feed the ignition coil, it will fire twice per 4 strokes (2 crank revolutions) - once on exhaust (wasted) and once on compression.
omg just finished looking ALL of your videos and was pissed of having no more content to see, what a great surprise :)
Was at a bar watching the NASCAR ease and actually stoped and went outside to watch Your vid. They are that fun to watch. Camera girl told you on this vid. Love your logic. Keep em Comming. What project will be next?
It WILL work. May cost more than buying a new one ... But it will work.
I love watching your videos I’ve learned so much about engines
Love your vids dude and like your style
These vids are so cool.
Glad to be on the journey with you.
If you're pretty sure it's double the speed, because of 2-stroke vs 4-stroke, and since it's based on the frequency of electrical signals coming in, for mere pocket change, you can solder together a capacitor, rectifier, IC circuit that will mathematically correct the frequency/count, and give you the correct reading...
It's an Anti-Theft method I used to do it to my bikes all the time you just need remembered off is on and vice versa. We also used to reversed the ON OFF kill switch. It didn't stop thieves from throwing in the back of a truck but it would stop them from ridding of on your bike or
They make lighting coils for these bikes that output more watts. You can pull the cover, pull the flywheel, and then replace the coil. You can even rewind your own with some enamel wire and a soldering iron.
Your rich problem, did you retune the carb?? I'd rejet that bike it's so worth it. If you want inexpensive jets look up Jetsrus.com Sudco jets are cheaper and still good quality.
I think I ended up with a 42 Pilot jet and a 155 Main jet.
As far as the needle I used a Sudco CGK 017.018 they also make a DGK 017.030. Most guys use the CGK one though, it has the best overall performance.
This should get you close, but you'll have to play with it based on your altitude!
I seriously learn so much from all your videos. U literally go through every single issue and possibility while working on things.. Love it! The generator video was by far my fav tho.. And I'm a dirtbike finatic.. I have a lot of kx200 parts btw if ud like them.
Keep these videos coming 👍🏼 I’m loving the build!
Great job guys. I’m addicted to your channel...
Regarding your tac: if the one you have was meant for a 4 stroke and you’re now running it on a 2 stroke then it’s generating twice the electricity than it was meant to for a 4 stroke signal. A voltage divider would allow you to cut the signal to the tac to what it should be. Normally that would be just two resistors in series, one end connected to the signal from the source signal (input ignition coil), the other end to the tac ground, and the center tap between the 2 resistors. To know what the resistors should be, you need to know how much current - or the “load” the tac signal input wants to draw to work. To find that out, you need to measure the resistance between the signal input and the tac ground. A special note here: you may need to swap leads on your ohm meter as there may be some rectification going on in the tac electronics, in other words it is looking for the current to flow one way. Usually that means putting your ground test lead on the ohm meter to the ground on the tac, and the plus test lead to the signal input on the tac and measuring the resistance across the two points. Then to be safe, swap the leads and see what the resistance is when swapped (should be higher). Take the lowest resistance, and then get a potentiometer (roughly a quarter to a fifth of the lowest resistance value you measured across the tac). The lower the resistance, the larger the potentiometer needs to be in current handling capacity ( hopefully no more than a watt in value). Assume that the potentiometer is a one watt, 100 ohm pot. Like the two resistors I described above, we have essentially the same circuit, where we connect one end tap of the pot to the source signal, the other end of the pot to ground, and the center tap to the tac, emulating the two resistors in series. But now you can vary exactly the resistor value ratios do as to give you the exact values you need to make the tac give you an accurate reading. The if you want, you can replace the pot with fixed resistors, just make sure that you don’t move the pot shaft before taking the measurements: taking your ohm meter, first measure the resistance between the left tap of the pot and center tap ( remember what the left tap was connected to on the bike), then measure the right end tap on the pot and center. You now have the two resistor values to make up a voltage divider for a more accurate tac reading. You will probably have to round the values off a bit to find the closest manufactured available values, but remember it’s the ratio of the two values that is the most important part. The closer you can get to that in your fixed resistor values, the more accurate your reading.
I would conjecture that a fixed voltage power supply would also stabilize the tac reading. I saw some suggestions of using some fixed voltage regulators. Those recommendations I would worry about, not knowing what the upper voltages the input to those regulators may be seeing, possibly above their rated limits. One would need to know those limits. And a cheaper (and little more dirty fix) might be a zener limiter, depending on the current demands of the tac power supply. Don’t know if any of that might help but here for more suggestions if needed or wanted. Love what you and your wife do, you all have taught me a lot! Thanks!
If the signal for the gauge is indeed a linear offset or variation of the expected signal I'm pretty sure a simple resistor can be used to adjust it to the correct RPM.
I love your videos. You should do a video on fixing the odometer in your Mercedes. It's a very common 300 series problem. And can be repaired with Loctite.
Give this couple their own sitcom!!!!
Ok, I'm addicted. Great vids. I took apart all my toys as a kid and you do too.
A two stroke will smoke a lot until warm. Two stroke Snowmobiles smoke bad when you first start them but once warmed up the smoke clears up. Mix you fuel at 40:1 and ride it awhile and see if it smokes a lot less.
Your my favorite RUclipsr at the moment
Try hooking up the tack signal wire up to the pickup wire before the cdi
yesss!!! a new video! i always get so happy when this channel uploads. Don't change your ways man i love this channel.
I like how savage his wife can be😂😂
"The ONLY problem with this tach....is that it's not accurate...and useless"
LOL
Absolute Gold!
Maybe you can bring this out to the 2018 TrailTaker Meeker, Colorado Adventure Rally
Replace the packing in the muffler it might be old and filled with oil making it smoke
I really enjoy watching you trouble shoot and problem solve, it's great learning. And also, cudos on controlling your temper. My mechanic videos would not be appropriate for RUclips.
Another quality video. Great editing and the drama is real. PS it’s Saturday and it rained on Thursday so I think you met you dead line.
I would suggest that you strip the carb down compliantly, jets as well. Clean with carb cleaner, and then re-install. See how that does before stripping motor. Hope this has been some help. :-)
I love these videos so much! Keep it up dude you're super talented!
hahahahahaahah.... The Shasta Camper put a hex on you and your bikes because you didn't finish her!! =0 )
The comedic timing is perfect!!!
Was that tachometer by chance off of a four stroke bike? That could be why its reading so high. Also was the engine a single cylinder or a twin? That could also lead to inaccuracy with the tach. As a side note I run LED lights on all my stuff (if I can) and they draw very little current opposed to incandescent bulbs. Saves me from needing to run a bigger or higher amperage stator, plus I can run more lights!
You've got your wiring hooked up in a series circuit. Each lighbult acts as a resister. If you take the voltage divided by watts you get the resistance. That resistance is affecting your gauge when the turn signals are on. you need to wire it up in a parallel circuit. If you want I can email you a diagram if that will help
I’m sure your busy and short on time but if you cleaned these parts/projects it would add a lot of visual pop to your hard work. It would at least make some great before and afters. Anyways your videos are great.
looking forward to the next update on this...keep up the great work :)
Is Jen ALWAYS so sassy? 😒
Hey, which coil wire were you hooked-up to? I don't know about Electronic Ignition, but it used to be that Tach trigger wires connected to the coil Ground (-).
Are you guys in NORTHERN Commiefornia? I don't remember it being that humid this week, down here in SoCal. 🤔
I thought Skymall went out of business? Where did you find Toppik Hair Fibers baldness concealer?
Man I love this bike and build/series
Howdy! I have question. Do you have military experience? I can't think of another maintainer who also has dry humor.
Did you also check with the DC range of your meter to comfirm AC reading?
9:11 i saw the Shasta !!! When are are we going to see the finished caravan ???
You could put on a trail tech tach/ speedo for about $80-$110 depending on which you get, I have one on my 1990 kdx200 and it works great
It’s a/c. You need a full bridge rectifier to make d/c. Easy to make. It’s just 4 diodes. you can buy a tach converter on eBay. As far as the stater. Your going to have to use a regulator with a battery to keep the amps up. The regulator might even have the bridge rectifier built in.
I think you can get an rpm gauge and put it on the bike, then find the correct resistor to put inline on the signal wire till it matches.
i have recently learned a lot of electrical theory from tech school. its pretty cool to see someone figure it out on their own. i commend you sir. i would not have been able to even comprehend the magical world of electricity if it werent for a crazy instructor drilling it into my brain.
btw whats your altitude? 2 stroke carbs can be very sensitive to altitude change. the po might have been riding it a sea level, also if its humid its going to run a little weird vs a clear crisp day.
where's the Shasta been? I haven't seen it in months. Are you still working on it?
I could watch and learn from you allday!!! I think i will lol
Single cilinder 2 and 4 strokes both have the same amount of sparks per rotation. If a 4-stroke is on the exhaust stroke, the moment the piston hits top dead centre it will still spark.
My guess you need a battery to even out the peaks in the voltage and a resistor of sorts to bring down the voltage in the signal wire going to the tach.
check the packing in that silencer, might be pretty crummy and wet? unless.... it was doing that without that on there and just the head pipe solely. my 500 does smokes a bit until i start riding it, and so did another two stroke of mine i had. might just be like that?
Problem is that its not a linear error. 1000rpm shows 2000. 2000rpm shows 4000. If not used to work on electronics there might not be an easy fix to the problem. Maybe the tach got some jumper/setting inside? If you could set it to "2 cylinders - 4-stroke" it would be the same as setting it to 2-stroke (1 cyl). If no setting is available and as someone wrote, some kind of flip-flop circuitry is needed and maybe there are some aftermarket solutions to get the conversion done. And voltage stabilization is a must with any tach. A 7805 as some suggested is fine (assuming 5V is what its supposed to run on). I've seen 7810 being used in car clusters. Regulating closer to the max voltage (but below the min voltage of the source) is a good idea to keep the 78xx regulator cool. And you can add a small plate as heatsink. It's probably a really small current needed for the tach. Also rectifier is needed to get DC (or just a diode with capacitor will suffice). The hardest part will be to keep moisture away from electronics.
love your video I hope you get it figured out you may have to rob a cluster from a 2 stroke trail bike to get a decent tach reading
as we all wait impatiently for the next installment :)
Too bad I'm so far away from you, I would've made a little circuit that would take care of such problem. Maybe you have some friends who are electronics hobbyists, they might be able to help you out here.
Write down what the schematic would be, he can probably put it together.
It's not quite a schematic, but it's gonna be smth like this: alternator > diode bridge > electrolytic capacitor > buck-boost module from eBay. That is for the power, for the signal, there's few ways to divide the frequency in half.
I know that Jake can solder, but soldering electronic components is different than wires. That's why I wanted it to be all modules.
That's awesome MrJohhhnnnyyy! I can solder too, but it sure is nice to have an electronics hobbyist friend, it always seems to go better if they are involved!
Can’t you just make or purchase a different face for the tach that has the correct RPMs on it. Like if it’s showing 2x the actual RPM just change the scale on the face to half.
You can convert your AC power to DC with a couple diodes and a capacitor. This will also smooth out the voltage. I'm not an expert on the topic, but I think you can get caps that discharge at a certain voltage, say 5 or 12 volts. If lower voltage is what you need to get the tac to work, you can throw some resistors inline until you get it "tuned" to the correct RPM.
Or you can buy a 2 stroke tac, designed to run on A/C, which is realistically what you should do rather than creating a fire hazard.
Hi just watched you video have you tried new fuel and oil mixture ?
Looks like someone already thought of something similar... :(
Add a few capacitors (3 maybe, the more you add the better the effect, 16v caps from old stereos? ) to make it DC (or close enough), might also eliminate the voltage drop for short periods depending on the discharge rating. From that point, but might not be necessary depending on the the outcome of the previous step, you can add a DC to DC regulator circuit, I'd recommend a 1-14v input with a constant 12v output depending on the max voltage observed (some are adjustable output, $5-10 on eBay) that will produce a constant voltage of your choosing to power everything, make sure it can handle the amps, (shouldn't take up more than a few cubic inches). Then you can just pull whatever turn signal setup you want from a donor bike. A small project enclosure or electrical box should hold everything. I recommend finding a way to seal it though.
You might want to go with LEDs to reduce the voltage drop, and you might get better visibility as a result. This might help reduce load on the regulator circuit if you decide to use it. I would try to use capacitors though.
I caught a glimpse of the shasta camper outside the garage. dont think ive forgot about that
Love the videos. I buy and sell dirt bikes so i love seeing your videos
put an oscilloscope on the tachometer brown wire, and verify the voltage and the frequency on the scope.
if in fact it is double the frequency, wire up a schmitt trigger, a digital divide by 2 counter, and an op-amp to
give the correct output volt to the meter from digital circuitry.
white smoke at exhaust=crank seal leak, bike is 20 yrs old, change em out before it runs lean and needs a top end!
also i can hear what sounds like piston slap as it revs down to idle, do the top end regardless, i thought my cr250r had a loose power valve... same noise until the piston skirt shatters and ends up in the lower end, what is a 250$ job becomes a 600$ job real quick
stucare1 Your right the piston slap is real here
Ashley's Anti no that's how the kdx200's are they always sound like they have piston slap but it's really just the powervalve rattling it's completely normal on these bikes
My kdx320 sounded like that brand new. Took it back to dealer on warranty and the inspected it. It turned out to be the normal sound of the power valve. Kawasaki kdx's all sound like that.
yeah i didnt hear any piston slap
Wow, did you come up with this info out of your reer?
Hi again you don't have to slit crank cases to change main oil seals
"The only problem with this tac....is that it's not accurate" LOL!
bro you in PA? my father in law has been going to carlisle for decades. im in Richmond Virginia
Did the Break light flash when you put it together