• Don't overlook our Welcome Package, it contains many links to important and helpful information about functions at VHT like posting pictures and sending PMs (private messages), as well as finding the parts you need.

    AD

Brand new CDI for Hondamatic CB400A/CM400A/CM450A

I really hope he is not a thief, just a goof. There is enough good folks, even in the groups that will shame and boycott someone of bad faith like that.
 
Comforting to know that someone else (the person who donated the CDIs to me to finish this project) has already taken my work and is attempting to possibly manufacture a competing model.

View attachment 15394

Just a bit of background information on this project. I have been working on this off and on for the past 10 years, had a lot of notes, but mainly needed a few more broken CDIs to finish the last bit of this schematic. This guy was complaining about it on a facebook group, I showed him my notes, he had some additional ones that he got from someone else years ago. He sent me his broken CDIs, and from that I was able to complete the schematic, build and test it and so on. The further progress I made he started asking for things I thought were unnecessary for this project. Such as the removable connector. I asked why is this necessary, and he wanted to be able to quick change the CDI in case it fails. I was saying if you're at that point where you are constantly swapping out CDIs and need a quick connector for this then you have a deeper issue that needs solved. I am not doing that and modifying the case design for this purpose. If you want to do such a thing, buy a kit, and put some connector closer to the box or whatever. I added some mounting holes in the 5th revision mainly for him, though I think this is a bit silly.

He doesn't know much about his own bike, he asked a lot of questions, claimed to know somethings about electronics but he was usually wrong or confused when I gave answers to his questions. Maybe he was feeding for more information, I have no idea any more. At some point I mostly stopped answering him because he couldn't even figure out that 1N4002 was a diode. If you can't understand that, you shouldn't be attempting to make these circuits and should buy a pre-soldered kit or the completed unit, in my opinion.

I don't know who this guy is specifically. He has no idea of these forums, just fb groups and does not know how to use a computer very well. I just kind of chalked him up to being a goofy old timer.

But he did mention he was in touch with people from France and elsewhere over the years to try and make a CDI for him and people would ignore him (wonder why?) after a while and he really wanted to get his bike running again. Gave me a sob story about how he loved this bike, and it was a real shame there are no options out there for these bikes.

I don't know who made up this slightly modified board design (I also noticed it's been changed to be a true dual layer board, with a modified component layout, probably to make it dissimilar enough from my version); but I would suspect the guy in France as this guy can't figure it out himself. But I can assure you that if it does come down to a competing version (which I really hope this does not, it should not be like this in a small niche community) that I'm using the proper components and a lot of work has been poured into this to make it everything it should be and you expect it to be.

I'm a bit upset by this as I gave the guy a discounted completely assembled kit (cases are not made yet, he just wanted the pre-assembled kit to mount himself he claimed), even a blank PCB to experiment with (which was the older prototype PCB that was larger). He never used the CDI, I followed up with him as I was excited to hear about someone using my work and being happy that their bike finally runs again. Instead, he said his bike started one night, not the next and he was still playing around with old CDI. At that point, he began shotgunning parts and clipping wires and jumpering them based on bad advice on facebook groups. That's about when I got fed up with this guy. I originally made the detailed instruction thread on what to test for your stator, etc. BECAUSE of this guy. I gave him a word document in facebook and email directly and a link to the thread. He never read any of them, instead just started assuming it HAS to be this wrong with it or THAT is wrong with it and I'd follow up with "did you test the stator?", "did you test the relay?", "did you test the coil?", and so on and he never did. I asked if he needed help with that, but he didn't. He's soldered heath kits back in the day, did some ham radio he knows what's up. So, OK.

And yeah, I know that selling as a kit is a risk because anyone can just buy the kit one time then copy it with some effort. And it may be inevitable. But with something so oddly niche specific I figured it was mostly unlikely. It's not like a CB750 where everyone wants parts for it. If it happened, I figured it would be after I sold a few of these to make up the hundreds of dollars and my personal time on this project. I made the kits an option, at a risk to me, because I know what it's like. Having a bike and no money, it may actually be your only means of transportation. It was for me in my 20s. My wife at the time used my car and I rode that CM400A year round, even in the snow, because it's automatic you can drag your feet and blip the throttle at 3mph in a snow storm and not stall out. I have been there. The kits are mainly intended for people like that.

Sorry for the stream of consciousness story/rant here. Just a bit dissuading.

While I realize you were just trying to help and being an honest guy, in these times that rarely pays off. I've been more generous with help and information than most all my life and the old expression "nice guys finish last" isn't too far from true in many cases. Hopefully he's enough of a bungling amateur that the amount of help you gave him won't matter. And, sometimes shysters actually do get their "comeuppance" as grandma used to say.
 
While I realize you were just trying to help and being an honest guy, in these times that rarely pays off. I've been more generous with help and information than most all my life and the old expression "nice guys finish last" isn't too far from true in many cases. Hopefully he's enough of a bungling amateur that the amount of help you gave him won't matter. And, sometimes shysters actually do get their "comeuppance" as grandma used to say.

Yeah, it's really hard to say. I'm 99% certain that he didn't come up with that design. Probably the guy in France or he gave a sob story to someone else, who knows for certain. What I do know is that he had no idea what he was talking about. The first prototype I tried to wire it up on perfboard with many wires running off the board. The first one failed, and the second attempt also failed. They failed because it took 3 hours to build each by hand and after an hour into it I would get sloppy and make a wiring mistake. He was bothering me about progress and I told him where I was at then he kept suggesting to check the "fuzes" which it obviously was not a fuse. I explained that on closer inspection I realized I wired part of the diode network for those 1A diodes at the bottom of the board incorrectly and it likely fried the SCR (I made this mistake twice, it was harder to do on a perfboard than it appears). He kept going on about checking the "fuze" and I just ignored that. At that point I decided it was time to contact a PCB manufacturer and risk spending my own money on that instead as me staying up until 2AM every night wiring up perfboards was not working out.

I got the prototype PCBs and obviously that worked and was able to prove the design was correct. When I started making progress on the change relay he was asking what 1N4002 K means and other silly questions. I'm not picking on anyone here, but if you claim to know electronics and you don't know what is literally the most common diode on planet earth then either read up on it or stop working on it.

Regarding him being a bungling amateur; after the amount of questions and failure to follow instructions he's demonstrated over the past two months I have very little confidence that he could solder the board properly. He may get the components on the board, and possibly the right polarity, but I imagine it will be bad solder work with cold joints and/or solder blobs. These boards are made with modern techniques which means the lead free design is not as easily "reworkable" compared to the old stuff. You usually get about 3 or 4 chances (if you know how to do it properly) before you can no longer rework mistakes.

Because of that general silliness from him I don't believe he came up with that design he posted. Instead, he cried to someone else to make it and I'm more concerned about someone taking the work I did of spending all these hours from tracing out the original board from a broken CDI, laying it out on paper, taking measurements, then painstakingly updating the schematic on a large monitor while simultaneously looking at the old CDI and the hours wasted breathing in lead fumes to solder perfboards.

But, I guess we shall see. I'm still moving ahead, and will offer it regardless.
 
For brevity, here's where it all started. The first two failed perfboard prototypes. I know it looks fairly easy, but soldering all that by hand while continuously looking at a schematic and the original CDI PCB was not easy to do. When I realized it was too much work to do it by hand is when I decided to learn the PCB software to make life much easier.

20220525_220227.jpg
20220525_220221.jpg
20220520_222312.jpg
20220520_222307.jpg
 
For brevity, here's where it all started. The first two failed perfboard prototypes. I know it looks fairly easy, but soldering all that by hand while continuously looking at a schematic and the original CDI PCB was not easy to do. When I realized it was too much work to do it by hand is when I decided to learn the PCB software to make life much easier.

I've done just a little bit of that myself, very little, but making jumper wires and soldering them to board connections is tedious and time-consuming, so I can certainly understand how you got to where you are in the process. And rather than give up when it got difficult, you revised your approach and kept working toward the goal. Kudos to you. And if that other guy is the fraud he seems to be, he'll likely fall by the wayside sooner than later.
 
Back to progress. As I wait for the metal manufacturer sales guy to get back from extended 4th of July vacation to get the go ahead on the metal cases I decided now is a good time to get more familiar with the potting compound.

I've worked in body shops for almost a decade so I'm pretty familiar with mixing things and using a scale to do it and mixing it properly. To anyone else out there who hasn't done so, best advice I can give (that I got from my old man who did the same job for many years) is to do what it tells you on the bottle. They didn't put it there as a suggestion. So be sure to follow the instructions. If they say 3 minutes mixing, they mean 3 minutes, not 30 seconds. Use a scale, don't try to be clever and think "well it looks like 2:1 so it should be good enough". It's not good enough, seen a lot of crap over the years in shops where primer cracks and fails. Particularly on roof replacements. You use the two part epoxy (which comes in a gun so it's always mixed properly, but you should discard the first bit that comes out of it just to be safe), wait for it to cure, then sand it with some 120 and/or red scotch brite (ideally both), then clean it then apply primer properly mixed. Most people would just half-heartedly scuff it with red, not clean it and mix the primer by eye. Looks OK, but then it fails after it gets out of the paint booth or a couple of months later and a customer comes back and complains.

Anyways, getting OT, but just follow instructions! :lol: With this epoxy, the cure time is quite long. About 24 hours, then they recommend another 3-5 days before put into service. When I had a call with the manufacturer he explained that it can adhere to itself (which is what I wanted and why I called). I have to pour it out, very slowly from one corner, then wait about 5 minutes, use a heat gun over it for a little bit to help remove any air bubbles. After about 2-4 hours it will start to get tacky and from here I can lay the circuit board on top of this and then pour the rest in. It's been about an hour it's starting to move around less in the mixing cup. Pretty neat to see. Wow, if I think mixing epoxies are neat I need to find another hobby! :lol:

20220630_212629.jpg

Ignore the imperfections at the top, that's some stray scotch brite pieces that got blown into when I turned the heat gun on. Since this is just some tests to get familiar with the product with a toss away plastic case I'm not too concerned. Good to see the grommets work as they should, nothing leaked out of the bottom half of it. It's neat to see how reflective it is. Pictures don't really show off how reflective it looks.
 
2 hours and it is pretty tacky, very little movement. Put one of those bad boards that were missing the drill holes in and a wire through the grommet. Poured more in and only had one air bubble after 5 minutes, got it out with the heat gun.

Painted some onto another one of those bad boards for fun to see what its like after it hardens.

So far, so good.

20220630_224336.jpg
20220630_225842.jpg
20220630_225848.jpg
 
STATUS UPDATE 07-06-2022:

* As mentioned previously, picked a metal fab shop to start on the cases. The sales guy told me he'd be on vacation for 4th of July holiday. I tried calling him personally yesterday, and tried calling the company itself today but their phone number is saying they are still closed. I guess they had an extended vacation for the whole shop over there. Not too worried, they are a reliable company that we use a lot at my day job for custom panels.
Will keep everyone posted as soon as I contact someone to finally give them the go-ahead to start making the cases. It's the last thing that's holding everything up. Worst case scenario is that they don't open again until Monday, but we'll find out.
 
STATUS UPDATE 07-18-2022:

* Metal Manufacturer got the invoicing finally setup. Work is now in queue and expected delivery date is 08-29-2022.
* Got the fixed batch of Revision 5 PCBs with the holes actually drilled this time.
* Used one of the new boards to solder up and test a fully assembled unit with the 3d prototype case for knauff13. Works great. Once the metal cases are here will transfer it to that, pot it up and send it out.

20220718_140939.jpg
 
The finished product is very cool.

Which only underscores the stupidity of the corporate money-grubbing site that only truly cares about the money, and not the bikes or the community who owns them.
 
Yeah, it's a real shame. But eventually people will figure it out that forum is practically useless to get fresh advice from.

I'm pretty excited to see the cases in about 6 weeks. If I had way too much time and money on my hands I would have tried to "japan" the cases to get that cool rubberized look on the front facing of the case. But that's totally splitting hairs and I just don't have the time to play around perfecting that technique :lol:
 
Wow… this thread. Glad to be here, and glad to stand on others shoulders, even if for just a short time.

Any options for non-hondamatic CDI’s in the future?
 
So, I have found out two things with the cases. The gauge of the metal is slightly thinner than what I asked for so the grommet has a small gap. Normally not a big deal, but it IS a big deal with the potting compound! Started to run out and make a huge mess. I tried some dielectric grease around the grommet as this stuff does not stick to silicone, but it was too runny and started leaking again a few minutes later. Tried a skim coat of RTV in the grommet but couldn't get it to setup just right. In the end, I found a skim coat of the silicone grease for brakes stays in place and prevented the compound from leaking out. Sorry knauff, I was not expecting that! The case doesn't look virgin, but I cleaned it up pretty well.

Another small nit was the mounting holes were off by a very tiny amount. Might have been the 3D printed cases allowed the plastic to deform when screwing it in. Not a huge problem, I just used a points file to file the holes slightly so it fits properly again. Will have to revise the CAD file for the next batch of cases.

Knauff, If you find this unacceptable, please let me know and we can try do something else to make it right.

20220819_181900.jpg

20220819_181904.jpg

20220819_181915.jpg

The black stuff on the table is the compound that leaked out. That's after I used an old bath towel I use for cleaning up messes in the shop.

Otherwise, the tacky period has ended for the compound and I put it back on the bike to test it and still works great.

Again, apologies for that.
 
Had more time to reflect on that mistake. The solution is simple. I just scuffed it with some red then gray scotch brite to clean it up (but did not remove the powder coat layer) and re-cleared it. Now it looks much better.

20220819_204932.jpg

So this was my fault, I was told by who printed the 3D cases for me that they were 1.5mm. They're actually about 1.9-2.0mm. 16 gauge is about 1.5mm which is what I told them. So next round needs to be 2.0mm. For now I'll have to be careful with the grommets for the first 3. Sucks, but what else you gonna do? Oh well, I assumed a measurement and missed a very critical one. Live and learn. At least I can respray it.
 
Yeah, I don't think any cosmetic flaws are going to affect the way it runs... :lol:

Yeah, but I'm trying to aim for professionalism as best I can. So mistakes like that always disappoint me when I make things for others. In fact, I thought about getting nice small stickers made for the front, but I don't want to draw attention to it (looking at you aftermarket guys with your huge logos and stickers). I'm just going to hand-write it on the back with the serial number. As seen in the pictures below.

Hopping on the DT250 and gonna be pretend to be Ricky Carmichael in the 3 mile ride to the post office :lol:. One is for Ben, the other is for someone who contacted me a few days ago (probably indirectly with the help of Tom, but unverified) who needed one and needed it now so I was able to repurpose an original case. Was tricky to do so as the SCRs stand a little bit higher than the originals which is why the newer cases are a few mm taller.

20220820_095340.jpg

20220820_095313.jpg

Can't wait to hear your success stories of the bike living again!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I hear you about looking too over-commercialized but when you're also trying for the most professional look, the handwritten info on the back of the unit is both good and bad. If accompanied by a small sticker with your brand name on it then it would be like Honda putting little paint dots on important, finished parts as a QC check but if it's by itself and they're the only markings on any unit you make and sell, it just looks like they're coming out of your garage. We here at VHT know the work quality so it doesn't mean anything to us, but I'd think a small professionally-made sticker with your brand on it, on the front of the box, along with small handwritten notes on the back, would provide an image of a little more professionalism. Just my opinion.
 
I hear you about looking too over-commercialized but when you're also trying for the most professional look, the handwritten info on the back of the unit is both good and bad. If accompanied by a small sticker with your brand name on it then it would be like Honda putting little paint dots on important, finished parts as a QC check but if it's by itself and they're the only markings on any unit you make and sell, it just looks like they're coming out of your garage. We here at VHT know the work quality so it doesn't mean anything to us, but I'd think a small professionally-made sticker with your brand on it, on the front of the box, along with small handwritten notes on the back, would provide an image of a little more professionalism. Just my opinion.

I hear ya. If I get to a point where they would be sold on say 4into1 or a similar place I'd have to step it up a bit more for sure. Personally, I prefer a handmade part made out of someones house that looks as professional as it reasonably can be (i.e. what I'm trying to accomplish) when it comes to obscure and niche parts like these. But you do make a good point. These are the first 2 fully assembled units to go out, so it's still a learning curve for me. #1 is me of course, but I did sell two kits previously thus Ben is #4. I appreciate you taking a chance on me and the project Ben.

CDIs are officially shipped.
 
I hear ya. If I get to a point where they would be sold on say 4into1 or a similar place I'd have to step it up a bit more for sure. Personally, I prefer a handmade part made out of someones house that looks as professional as it reasonably can be (i.e. what I'm trying to accomplish) when it comes to obscure and niche parts like these. But you do make a good point. These are the first 2 fully assembled units to go out, so it's still a learning curve for me. #1 is me of course, but I did sell two kits previously thus Ben is #4. I appreciate you taking a chance on me and the project Ben.

CDIs are officially shipped.

Hey, I'm personally rooting for your success. We're the underdogs here and the big corporate idiots in the industry cared more about your money than the benefit for their membership, so to ace them out of a home for something this valuable to the masses involved with the SOHC 400/450 models is great for both of us. I'm not so sure you need a large reseller of these if you continue to promote them here and other places, I think the word would get around after a while and when the business picks up, it couldn't hurt to have a bit of a professional look.
 
I think everyone is rooting for success with this and the other pieces you've done. (y)
It's a niche market that's been a wasteland for way to long.
You might contact Custom Rewind in Alabama and let them know you will have these for sale, they're a small mom & pop shop that does the stators and pickups. https://lomyu.com/en-view.php?seo=custom-rewind-193145
 
Over here in the UK we have this place:

Home - Rex's Speed Shop (rexs-speedshop.com)
And it's a nice piece, I have one on my T1. The only issue I have with it is the mounting. You bolt a supplied piece of aluminum to the original holes and then zip tie the CDI to that plate.
Frank has gone to the trouble of getting replica cases made so they will look and mount just like the original.
 
I think everyone is rooting for success with this and the other pieces you've done. (y)
It's a niche market that's been a wasteland for way to long.
You might contact Custom Rewind in Alabama and let them know you will have these for sale, they're a small mom & pop shop that does the stators and pickups. https://lomyu.com/en-view.php?seo=custom-rewind-193145

Yes, I think that's a good idea. My dad has a friend who goes to the large cycle swap meets every year. He travels for that and brings parts back for me and others. He was suggesting I give him some to bring out there at some point which might not be a bad idea.
 
And it's a nice piece, I have one on my T1. The only issue I have with it is the mounting. You bolt a supplied piece of aluminum to the original holes and then zip tie the CDI to that plate.
Frank has gone to the trouble of getting replica cases made so they will look and mount just like the original.

Yeah, I don't agree with the looks. My guess is they found a large stock of some type of case cheap and did that instead of having one made up proper. The case does drive up the cost quite a bit. Easily $50 in the cases themselves.
 
Yeah, I don't agree with the looks. My guess is they found a large stock of some type of case cheap and did that instead of having one made up proper. The case does drive up the cost quite a bit. Easily $50 in the cases themselves.
I intend to take a comparison photo of the 2 units. Yeah, the plastic case is a cheap enclosure.
 
Also, rex only has a cdi for the manual version of the 400. Nobody made one for the automatic until now. I know the pain of trying to source one for the automatic. You can swap stator from manual bike and use that but you lose the 7.5 degree timing at idle. You lose the starter inhibitor and side stand safety too.
 
I intend to take a comparison photo of the 2 units. Yeah, the plastic case is a cheap enclosure.

I didnt know it was plastic. No wonder its cheap. I figure the resistors are most assuredly whatever cheap no names they could get surface mounted onto a board from China. It can work, but I'm a stickler and want to use automotive graded parts from reputable suppliers. When possible I frequently use overrated components as well. The AEC spec usually has 105C rating as opposed to 85C among, flame retardant coating and other things that I think are important for what is essentially an earlier discrete computer that is directly mounted above an engine exposed to constant heat and the elements.

If its plastic is it potted? Can you open it? I know some TDIs like on the XS650 were plastic cases and no potting compound you could easily reverse engineer that. But they mounted it under the bike. Its good and bad. Bad because something could hit it from underneath but good its away from heat.
 
Received the CDI in the mail today. I'll follow up when I've got it installed; hopefully this weekend. Thanks Maraakate!
 
Received the CDI in the mail today. I'll follow up when I've got it installed; hopefully this weekend. Thanks Maraakate!

Thanks for rolling the dice and being the first to take a chance. Really eager to see a video of it installed and running!
 
That makes 2 CDI's delivered today, MT version arrived on time. Looks great. Can't get any testing done until Wed but I'm going to set up and see how it does from dead cold start tomorrow.
 
That makes 2 CDI's delivered today, MT version arrived on time. Looks great. Can't get any testing done until Wed but I'm going to set up and see how it does from dead cold start tomorrow.

I know you know this, but just gotta say it anyways. Make sure you isolate the bottom of the board on a piece of wood or in a plastic case or something so it doesn't short out on the frame. If it touches the frame at all at any point the party is over. You can even put some wraps of electrical tape around the whole thing if you want to. And don't forget pictures/videos!
 
I know you know this, but just gotta say it anyways. Make sure you isolate the bottom of the board on a piece of wood or in a plastic case or something so it doesn't short out on the frame. If it touches the frame at all at any point the party is over. You can even put some wraps of electrical tape around the whole thing if you want to. And don't forget pictures/videos!
I think I have a small plastic case it'll fit in but in any case it'll be insulated from any metal contact. Pictures I can do, I'll try for video.
 
I forgot to mention, according to notes that were given to me a while ago the CB250T, CB250N and CM250T use this same CDI. The difference is that there is no change relay, so the light blue bullet connector is absent on the harness, this also means the Green/White bullet connector is gone too. Orange coil (7.5 degrees) wire is missing on the stator and instead it is grounded on the stator. Brown (for 15 degrees) has been changed to light blue on the harness.

From a very quick search, it appears this was a UK specific bike? I guess this means you COULD get this stator and make it work, but you'll lose the 7.5 degrees depending if you can fish that wire out of the stator. This also means if someone has that bike, they might be able to test my CDI with it. Just simply ignore the missing connectors.
 
I got Maraakate's CDI installed today on my 78 Hondamatic.
1 - u98bAt6.jpg
u98bAt6

Ignore the temporary kludge factor on my rear mount, please. The bolt sheared off with very little force applied :( Fortunately I got the forward mounting bolt off without as much trouble. Installation was otherwise pretty easy. Sorry to say I had the bike started briefly with the dying CDI before I swapped them out, so you won't get to hear a true cold start with the new one, but here is the first test:
I did a 15 min road test after this. I've been having a lot of trouble holding speeds above 60 for the past year. Today I was easily cruising at 60 and picked it up to 70 without troubling the bike too much. I call this a success. Thanks Frank!

On a separate but related note... does anyone know the purpose of the green grounding wire that attaches to the CDI's rear mounting bolt? It comes off of the main harness, not the CDI. Not trying to hijack the thread, I just figured this would be relevant to anyone coming later who swaps out the CDI.
 
I got Maraakate's CDI installed today on my 78 Hondamatic.
View attachment 17023
u98bAt6

Ignore the temporary kludge factor on my rear mount, please. The bolt sheared off with very little force applied :( Fortunately I got the forward mounting bolt off without as much trouble. Installation was otherwise pretty easy. Sorry to say I had the bike started briefly with the dying CDI before I swapped them out, so you won't get to hear a true cold start with the new one, but here is the first test:
I did a 15 min road test after this. I've been having a lot of trouble holding speeds above 60 for the past year. Today I was easily cruising at 60 and picked it up to 70 without troubling the bike too much. I call this a success. Thanks Frank!

On a separate but related note... does anyone know the purpose of the green grounding wire that attaches to the CDI's rear mounting bolt? It comes off of the main harness, not the CDI. Not trying to hijack the thread, I just figured this would be relevant to anyone coming later who swaps out the CDI.

Its an extra ground. I forget where it comes from exactly my guess is the headlamp bucket. That ground eyelet probably helps with EFI/RFI for the CDI. But that's more theoretical.

Glad to hear it works! Thanks so much for taking a chance on an unknown guy like myself and being the first to purchase a complete unit!
 
Glad to hear it works! Thanks so much for taking a chance on an unknown guy like myself and being the first to purchase a complete unit!

I know it won't be much help to you, but I bragged about your efforts on the ADVbikes.com site a couple days ago while discussing forum takeovers and how VS treated both us and you. I also made sure it was clear that you have both units available for those who need them. It's a site for all types and styles of bikes but mostly adv bikes, though many there have street bikes and wives/girlfriends who ride smaller versions so you never know.
 
I know it won't be much help to you, but I bragged about your efforts on the ADVbikes.com site a couple days ago while discussing forum takeovers and how VS treated both us and you. I also made sure it was clear that you have both units available for those who need them. It's a site for all types and styles of bikes but mostly adv bikes, though many there have street bikes and wives/girlfriends who ride smaller versions so you never know.

Thanks! Yeah, you never know. If you got a link to that thread I'd love to see it.
 
Thanks! Yeah, you never know. If you got a link to that thread I'd love to see it.

The discussion came about when I greeted a new member there with a comment about him joining a corporate-free forum. No need to read the whole thread, but the discussion basically started here (Austin is the guy who started Irate4x4 after VS bought his original Pirate4x4 site, and he started ADVbikes after seeing ADVrider get sold to VS)

https://advbikes.com/threads/another-refugee-from-advrider.1615/page-2#post-42100
 
STATUS UPDATE 09-16-2022:

* Had my friend move that mounting hole over 2mm so I don't have to file them by hand on the next batch. Changed gauge from 14 to 12 so I can use that grommet without having to slather silicone around it on the outside to prevent the potting compound leakage. Expanded the width by 3mm to compensate for the increased gauge so the PCBs fit.
* Ordered 5 more of the improved design. 6-8 weeks as always. If this batch of 5 is perfect all around then will do 10 next round.
* Once the 5 are here and are good will just make a few already assembled and ready to go to avoid the 2 week lead time. Ordered enough parts to do at least 20 boards. Need to get with Matt to get some bulk pricing for the harnesses and connectors as that's the stuff I need more stock of.
 
STATUS UPDATE 11-02-2022:

* New cases came in from metal manufacturer. Perfect fit. Don't need to modify anything! Will do another run of 5, then will order 10 for the next round.
 
Hey guys, hope everyone had a good holiday! Bikes have taken a back seat for me, except on days where it's at least 50F out. :)

I still have 3 cases left for this round. With spring looming around the corner now is a good time to get the parts you need and not be left hanging come April.
 
Back
Top Bottom