Acewell Speedo

[Adrian]

A short story about an Australian company that went beyond the call to help me. The company is S3 Performance.com.au – who sells – amongst other things – Acewell speedos of all different styles.
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In November 2016 I bought from then an Acewell 4553 ABS11 unit. This was stuck on a shelf when it arrived as I was still a ways from starting the rebuild of my old BMW R65.
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I finally took it out of the box a couple of weeks ago. Looking thru the instructions I realised I had bought a unit that was way beyond what I needed for my Beemer. Things like lap timing – fuel level – recorded times - air temperature – engine temperature and stuff like that – and it had 4 plugs hanging off the back of it. Clearly I had made a huge mistake.
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The unit I should have ordered is an Acewell 2853 AB. It has all the idiot lights I need  and a speedo and rev counter too of course. A much more sensible unit for an old BMW.
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To cut a long story short – I contacted them last week and asked if I could do a swap for the 2853 – which is $120 AUD less in price – and as it was my fault I would suffer the loss on the difference in price. So this is about 8 months ago.
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They emailed to say it was okay to do a swap – so I mailed the 4553 back to them. Today (Monday) Linda phoned to say not only is the 2853 unit being posted today but also that they are going to refund me the difference. Which has been done already.
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So if you need a company to trust and who give fantastic service – I highly recommend these guys – and they’re Aussie too [ch61514]


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[peteremc]

Good to hear about service like this and that it still exists.

I fitted an Acewell 2853 about 1,200 klms ago and it works OK. Unfortunately, the idiot lights are not bright enough to really see which ones are on during daylight hours. No big deal yet, just a bit annoying when it's not bright enough to remind you when you occasionally leave an indicator on - and a brighter light could come in handy if you start to lose oil pressure.

You will also need to fit a separate generator warning light as the 2853 doesn't accommodate one, but I guess you know that by now. I'm also still trying to sort out how to stop the tacho (digital and graphic displays) from fluctuating. I think it may just be fewer turns of the sensor wire around the plug lead and I'll get to it one day soon.

[marcmax]

I've been running an Acewell 2853 for almost two years now and I am very happy with it. I agree with Petermc about the idiot lights although it is not so bad for me as I have a "S" type fairing with a smoked plexi windscreen. Makes it a bit easier to see but there are still times when the sun is at my back, etc. that it is almost impossible to tell which light is lit.

I have not had any fluctuation with the tacho but I connected mine directly to the wiring harness for the original tacho. No Problems.

What I would like to do is find a way to stop the fuel gauge indicator from flashing. I am sure a suitable resistor wired into the circuit would solve it but to be honest I have gotten used to it and that is just one of those things that may never gotten around to.

[Adrian]

Thanks guys - and marcmax I intend to use the tacho wiring also. I'm going to it the clocks so the bike looks standard but I wont be connecting them. The unit can fit on the left side of the bars or I might make a small plate.
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The bars are non standard as I fitted the high bars from an R80 years ago - old age back problems :-)
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But I hadn't thought about the generator light - how is this done - thanks ......

[marcmax]

I used a small LED inserted in the opening for the steering tube. The LED doesn't provide enough resistance for the charging system to activate so I added an in-line resistor per a post by MontMil who used to be a regular on the forum. Actually once the resistor is in place you can connect to any idiot light you want for a visual indicator of the charging system as it is no longer needed to energize the charging circuit. Or you can go without, although I prefer to have some sort of visual reference.

http://www.bmwr65.org/YaBB2.612/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1358360890

[peteremc]

I wired in one of these:
https://www2.munichmotorcycles.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=2681_3102_3098&products_id=5692

Or there's a better looking (and, of course, more expensive) item.
https://www2.munichmotorcycles.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=2681_3102_3098&products_id=6121

Durable item, really simple to fit (requires a hole to be provided somewhere), nice and bright.

[Adrian]

Thanks guys - just what I'm looking for :-)

[Adrian]

[Marcmax --- I assume that once this is done I can buy any 12 volt led or similar from my local electronics store and just connect to the original wire that normally goes into the back of the tacho
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Peteremc -- the info on the Munich site is non existent - but I assume that this is a direct replacement for the tacho light and doesn't need the resistor setup described above - is that correct?
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Thanks guys .... Adrian

[peteremc]

Sorry about that. Did those links not work?

If not, go to Munich Motorcycles and down on the left is the "Quick Find". Search for 620010RX (which I used) and/or 620010RRD (which is another possibility).

620010RX says:
R2V 70 > 96
12V X 4W
**FOR USE AS CHARGE INDICATOR LIGHT IF INSTRUMENTS HAVE BEEN REMOVED
** WILL NEED BRACKET OR HOLE TO BE MADE TO BE FITTED

620010RRD says
/5
RED
ALSO CAN BE USED AS CHARGE LIGHT ON R2V MODELS.

Neither of these will require a resistor. Just plug to  existing wiring for warning light and away you go.

Good luck.

[Adrian]

Thanks peteremc - I found it okay on Munich - it's been added to my (hopefully) final list of parts to finish off the rebuild - Adrian .....

[marcmax]

Hi Adrian. Once the resistor is in place you can use any type of indicator you want, LED, incandescent bulb, buzzer, etc. The resistor is doing the work of energizing the charging circuit. The indicator is for your benefit.