Scrooge McDuck's extra cheap DIY curvy gear indicator.

I've just started riding and a gear indicator seemed like a good idea, primarily while pulling up to a junction it's nice to know if you're in 2nd or 1st.. anyway I'm not discussing the merits, I wanted one and didn't want to pay a lot!
Having read about the TRE mod it's apparent that the 99-02 SV650 has a switch which knows when the bike is in neutral, 2nd or 3rd so I decided to take advantage of this... testing the switch, the pins simply connect to ground when in the appropriate gear so I built a simple circuit which supplies 12v via some suitable resistors to a pair of LEDs which ground via the neutral switch and effectively gives me a gear indicator for virtually zero cost.
Here's the circuit built on stripboard:





That was just after building, before testing obviously leads have been trimmed, traces cut etc..
It works perfectly, green LED lights up in 3rd, red in 2nd, I don't expect I'm the first person to come up with this but I didn't manage to find this info anywhere else and hope it might be useful to someone!
I mounted it this evening and need to finish wiring it tomorrow, if anyone cares I'll take a video of the extremely exciting functionality the case is a heritage motor centre pencil sharpener with the pencil sharpener bit removed, just happened to be the ideal size!



Ick that looks rusty... anyway, you get the idea, hope it's useful to someone!

Who knows where I can pick up an accessible ignition live near the clocks? Preferably fused!

[Bibio]

was looking to do the same but only for top gear as i'm always looking for 7th.

nice work.

Yeah 7th would be nice but I work with what I got... Will see how useful it is when I ride it next!

[squirrel_hunter]

Originally Posted by Bibio

was looking to do the same but only for top gear as i'm always looking for 7th.

And one day I will find that gear.

Originally Posted by Bibio

nice work.

Agreed.

Now work out how to get the other gears and report back...

[yorkie_chris]

Bodge in pointy gear position switch, use comparators/microcontroller of some sort to digitise it... dead easy...

[Bibio]

i do have a schematic for one somewhere but just never got round do making it.

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Bodge in pointy gear position switch, use comparators/microcontroller of some sort to digitise it... dead easy...

Originally Posted by Bibio

i do have a schematic for one somewhere but just never got round do making it.

I simulated one on an arduino.

Its easy really, the bike uses specific voltages to tell it what gear it is in for the FI.

I didn't want to bodge the loom, and never got round to tracking down the connectors it uses to tap into it that way.

Pointy Gear Indicator is simple.

Just learn to tell what gear you're in from the feel of the bike. It's dead easy.

Like I said, not looking to discuss if it's a good idea, just how to do it. Personal choice etc!
Does a pointy switch fit in directly? Sounds the easiest way if that's the case...

[SoulKiss]

There is a wire that carries a voltage between 0V and 5V.

Each gear sets a specific voltage on the wire, read that and you know what gear.

Its all in the manual