Want to add new tachometer, possible whole new LCD display?

[Arahant]

Hey Guys,

I just got the rc 390 a couple days ago, I love it... one of things I don't like though is the tachometer on it... its so small and hard to see, and even if I can see the rpm's going up its hard for me to see the little numbers. I am new to riding so while more advanced riders might not care, and just go by ear... or just better be able to gauge it... I'd really like to be able to see the tach clearly, the numbers clearly.... and not have to look so closely when I'm riding because as a new rider I need to pay more attention to the road.

So yeah, I went looking to see what was out there for the RC 390... as any of you who are not new to this bike are probably not suprised, there is nothing specifically for the RC 390... to new I guess, maby there is other reasons to.

I however came across a couple sites that sold a multitude of different tachometers, both analog and digital, both just standalone tachs aswell as whole multi gauge assemblies sort of like what is already on the bike. They are all "universal", basically meaning I need to do my research to find out how well a universal aftermarket tach or full gauge set will hook up. I am not an expert but I assume that when it comes to gauges, especially modern bikes, that they are all mostly the same when it comes to how they are wired... they may have different routing, or different color schemes for which wire goes to what based on the manufacturer, but if you know what that is you can wire up a new gauge.... does this sound correct?

Honestly I don't mind the speedo part of it, I can see the speed clearly and I'm fine with that, im fine with the fuel and other stuff, its really just the tach. So my options are, just get a standalone tach w/shift light and mount it somewhere, probably just above the regular gauges. Or buy a whole new assembly, some of the universal ones I was looking at looked way more like what I would want, with an emphasis on a large tach thats easy to see, and inputs for speed, coolant temps, oil temps, etc etc... basically everything that would be on the stock display.

Some of them even look more or less the same shape although I'm sure some custom mounting might be required, I looked through the forum but didnt see any mention of replacing any of the gauges, but I did read some reviews of the bike that also mentioned not liking the tach... no offence to people who don't mind it though.

So basically I want to know is how hard would it be to either add an extra tach, I like the analog style round ones where it has a physical needle.... or even a full new gauge assembly...? If I were to do it I would take pictures and do a write up if it would help anyone.

Want some opinions, thanks!

 

[Fasteddy]

I would think more about adding a tach, The combo instrument is a bit more complicated then it may seem as it communicates on the CAN data bus / analog inputs - outputs / pother data signaling to and from the ECU. I have been doing some research into adding a better display for RPM's.

 

[micahpearlman]

You can add an inductive tach. All you do is wrap a wire around a spark plug lead and it detects the current through the principal of induction. I've used the trail tech one but there are cheaper ones on eBay as well as more expensive ones.

Trail Tech || TTO Tach-Hour Meter - Orange


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Arahant]

Ok thanks, I will look more at stand-alone tachs, it shouldnt be to hard to attach one... it could share the same wire that goes to the tach on the current display couldnt it? that wouldnt throw an error would it?

The trail tech one looks like it would be better then stock, but I would prefer to get one that is more analog looking, like with a needle. I'll have to look around and see.

 

[Fasteddy]

Ok thanks, I will look more at stand-alone tachs, it shouldnt be to hard to attach one... it could share the same wire that goes to the tach on the current display couldnt it? that wouldnt throw an error would it?

The trail tech one looks like it would be better then stock, but I would prefer to get one that is more analog looking, like with a needle. I'll have to look around and see.

FWIW, You likely will not be able to use the signal / data to the combo instrument, most tachs connect to the coil wire (black) but are not made for a single cylinder four stroke. The number of cylinders / 2 or 4 stroke are all factors in calibration of the tach.

There are two power accessory feeds, one ignition switched to power it tucked in the wiring harness between the steering head and the battery box.

From looking on the web I don't see any analog tachs that would be viable, lots of people looking though. The V twin versions would work but would read by half.

 

[Arahant]

K thanks that is helpful to know, I will know to look for one especially for single cylinder... Maby i should check out options for other single cylinder bikes..

 

[Arahant]

So I'v been doing abit of research on getting another tachometer... here are a couple things I'v thought of/come across. I emailed speedhut asking if any of their tachometer's would work in this bike, single cylinder, 4 stroke...they said their tachometer's would work in the bike... their revolution and legacy tachometer lines.. so I'm seriously thinking of getting one of their tachometers, you can design/change some of the features to your taste. The ones I was looking at also could come as just the tach, or as well with a GPS speedometer, I'm thinking that its possible that the stock speedometer is abit off, and if you were to also change the sprocket I'm thinking that would definitely throw off the speedometer reading(Tell me if Im wrong). I'v seen some demo's of the GPS speedometers on the track and they seem to work pretty good, very responsive.

I'v attached a couple images of the gauge that I put together that I'm thinking I will likely order. One is what it looks like during the day, the lighter color one is at night.



In anycase I'm also starting to realize there isn't a whole lot of room where the lcd gauge cluster is now, so I either remove the whole thing or find some space to mount it, they arn't very deep and speedhut sells different styles of mounting brackets that could work.

The other thing I was thinking of, is what about the duke 690 cluster? it looks really good, has same/similar functions as duke 390/rc 390, has single cylinder 4 stroke engine... only problem is.. it has 9k RPM redline... not sure if the needle will go past it and if you could modify it... seems like a hassle but if that was the only thing needing modifying it could actually be pretty good. What do you guys think?

 

[Treachery]

I like all those options. The 690 cluster looks good, but I don't know how well it'd fit in there, and as you say, the redline is different. Keep us posted, and ups for the effort!

 

[Arahant]

I forgot to mention the one I'd order would be 12k RPM limit, they told me in email just to add it in the notes. I forget what redline would be with a Power commander, but I think its atleast 11k.

 

[Arahant]

So yeah I'm likely going to order the tachometer very soon, just trying to get a better understanding of how I"m going to mount it first. One thing I'm starting to realize as mentioned before, is there really isn't much room around the stock cluster. The tachometer which I posted images of, is 4.5"... now its customizable but if I were to shrink it down to like 2-2.5" which is what I think I"d have to go to fit it underneath the windscreen, then everything is gonna be to small to see. If I did that I'd be better off getting one tachometer with no speedometer built in, and perhaps another gauge on the other side that was a speedometer, if I felt I needed one.

I normally wasn't thinking of getting a speedometer, especially cause I didnt want to have to deal with trying to hook it up and then deal with calibrations to get it to read the accurate speed, but I like the idea of GPS speedometers, especially if I replaced the sprocket for more low speed power.

One thing I was thinking about is those racing windscreen's that most of us have probably seen for sale, they refer to them as "bubbles" I think its possible that they might provide more clearance under the between the gauge and the screen... but looking online I havn't been able to find a good picture of them from the riders perspective to see how much room there is.... all the pictures I see are action shots facing the bike, or studio shots facing the bike. But perhaps this could be an option for getting abit more room, if you were ok with having abit less sporty of a look.

I still havn't gone through all of the functions of the stock LCD cluster, so I don't know about everything I'd be missing if I were to take the whole thing out, at first glance it seems like most of it could be easily replaced with some of the gauges from speedhut as they have some pretty good functions.... but it all comes with a cost... I imagine most people would ONLY want the tachometer to keep costs down. There is also the issue of what kind of errors you might have with the ECU if you took the whole cluster out, could be a huge PITA.

I will likely learn all I can this week and order the gauge by the end of the week. I'd certainly be interested in anyone's thoughts/idea's on the best way to mount a tachometer to the bike currently... the one's I'm looking at from speedhut, come in sizes from 2" to 4.5".... in mostly half inch increments.... and are only about 1-2" deep... IMO the bigger the better for a tachometer, just a matter of room...

BTW I have no affiliation with speedhut, and I"m open to any manufacturer.