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shift light

36K views 74 replies 22 participants last post by  TooClutchVW 
#1 ·
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmRe2nQElSE
just curious to how this could be done? I know the earlier stock models came with them, but they were far from accurate if they worked. Ive never seen this before, but it seems to have some type of control module for it. Any ideas?
 
#28 ·
Re: shift light (JonnyPhenomenon)

Quote, originally posted by Zender »

Raffi,
I think "transmission switch" main purpose is to "turn off" the upshift indicator if your on 5th gear (there's no 6th gear to upshift to). I also have "modified" the upshift relay with a small potentiometer to "move" the OEM shift indicator to a higher point (not stuck to the 2000 RPM upshift point on the "OEM stock"). I don't have the bottom LED hooked-up, but the OEM upshift LED works flawless. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif

You are right and wrong... the switch does signal that the car is in 5th gear so it disables the upshift light... most of us don't have a 6th (sadly, including me). The light, on the other hand, does not come on at a fixed RPM. The upshift light also uses engine vacuum to determine when you should upshift. If yours is coming on at a fixed RPM then I would check the vacuum switch that is connected off the throttle body... it may be disconnected or defective. For example, it I am holding the throttle at 4K in 4th the light will come on. If I apply more throttle thus increasing manifold vacuum the light goes out. If I let off the throttle and go back to cruise (manifold vacuum drops) the light comes back on.

Quote, originally posted by JonnyPhenomenon »

9/87 according to the sticker by the drivers side door latch.

As I suspected... your car is an early 1988
-Raffi
 
#30 ·
Re: shift light (EUROROC)

Quote, originally posted by EUROROC »

..... The light, on the other hand, does not come on at a fixed RPM. The upshift light also uses engine vacuum to determine when you should upshift. If yours is coming on at a fixed RPM then I would check the vacuum switch that is connected off the throttle body... it may be disconnected or defective. For example, it I am holding the throttle at 4K in 4th the light will come on. If I apply more throttle thus increasing manifold vacuum the light goes out. If I let off the throttle and go back to cruise (manifold vacuum drops) the light comes back on.
..

This is true...The modifications I made with the "up-shift relay" included the bypassing both 5th gear switch and vacuum switch. Mines is purely RPM adjustable (just like the aftermarket shift lights, but lights up the OEM LED.....not vacuum triggered like OEM). http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
 
#34 ·
Re: shift light (JonnyPhenomenon)

Quote, originally posted by JonnyPhenomenon »
yeah, mine doesnt have the upshift indicator either...
...anymore


http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif

It should be where the Water temp gauge area, and your water temp should be next to the gas level. Looks like VW was trying to save some $$$ It should look like this:
 
#35 ·
Re: shift light (Zender)

Quote, originally posted by Zender »

It should be where the Water temp gauge area, and your water temp should be next to the gas level. Looks like VW was trying to save some $$$ It should look like this:

not on 88's it shouldnt. that was the difference on most 88 clusters. i actually like it better. that upshift light is hideous
 
#37 ·
Re: shift light (JonnyPhenomenon)

Quote, originally posted by JonnyPhenomenon »

..say, whats that yellow light in the middle supposed to be for?
blinker, battery, ????, oil temp, high beams...

That's the Stock OEM shift light.....I like to add the Autometer LED shift light on the right side...:
 
#39 ·
Re: (86roccophoenix)

OK. here is an updated diagram of the required circuitry. I still havent nailed down the values for R1 and R2. Ill add potentiometers in there and provide the values once I dial them in. I was going to build this on the bench and provide the tach signal with my jimstim, but I fried my jimstim cpu. (OOPS!)
turns out that even if the JimStim is OFF, if its plugged in you can still fry the cpu if you arent careful and set it on top of your MS case.
anyway, I got a new jimstim cpu on the way, and Ive ordered all the parts needed for the redline indicator circuit. Once I have it built, I will post up some more info.

Note: I make no claims to the validity of this circuit. this is only a preliminary sketch. I am quite certain there will be some revisions to the schematic before its fully operational.
 
#40 ·
Regarding the values for R1 and R2: one is for LED brightness, and the other one is the "reference adjust" value that should determine when the lights come on, and when they hit red.
Ive also left out LED #1, my thought was that if the rpms are at zero the lowest LED might still light... unlikely, but I wont know how this thing really behaves until I get the parts in. you can only get just so much information from a datasheet....
 
#44 ·
Re: FV-QR (TooClutchVW)

Quote, originally posted by TooClutchVW »
would there be a way to tie the shift light into megasquirt?

there is really no need to tie it into MS. this whole unit is going to be built in the cluster... it will work regardless of the engine management in use. it can easily be adjusted to light up at different RPM rates, so if your rev limit kicks in at 6400 or 9200 you can set it accordingly.
 
#46 ·
Re: FV-QR (Throttlepimp)

so I received all the parts for this project, I got my replacement cpu for the Jimstim and thats working good again. I mocked up the circuitry for the redline lights but it didnt work.
I broke the circuit down into three parts:
1: the voltage regulator is working perfectly.
2: the frequency to voltage is (appears to be) getting the signal from the jimstim tach signal, and is converting it to voltage. I can hook a meter up to it and turn the RPM pots and get a reading change.
EDIT: I take it back, this doesnt appear to be operating at all now. I must have read it wrong...
3: the led driver also appears to work. I feed it power, and I can adjust how many lights fire by turning the pots.
the trouble is that these things arent all working happily together. I think the problem lies with the frequency to voltage converter. its getting too much noise from the tach. if I hold me hands in close proximity to the circuit, the readings change. so I guess I will need to add some sort of noise cancellation or hysterisys to the design.
I am still trying to track down a supplier of the SAK215 chip. that one might be better than the F/V chip I used in this design.


Modified by JonnyPhenomenon at 4:58 AM 11-15-2008
 
#47 ·
Re: shift light (JonnyPhenomenon)

OK well. I am stumped. I got the LED bar thing working from the LM3914. thats working fine, taking a voltage signal and converting it into a row of lights. I can adjust the voltage that it turns on at just by turning a single pot.
the problem is that the stupid LM2917 freq to voltage chip absolutely refuses to do its job. I got the thing hooked up exactly as instructed to in the datasheet, and it friggin overheats.

its supposed to be able to handle a huge ammount of input voltage. like 35 volts, but it overheats at 12v. - can you tell this is frustrating me?
I built this circuit with the LM2917

it doesnt work. gets really hot. I have tried running the IC and the transistor seperately, so the collector on the tr4ansistor can have 12v, and the IC only gets 5v. but still no luck. I assumed I must have fried it, so I swapped in a new one, but still nothing. (whenever I do a project like this I buy extra IC's)
but theres some good news, I contacted the guy who posted this video on youtube and he responded! says hes been on here before, and said GinstK was the one who dialed in his Megasquirt, and said to ask him about the led shift light.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3641229
so now I just need to get GinstK to log on and see this thread....
 
#48 ·
Here I am!
Nothing special with this: it is simple Megasquirt feature used on this car. Megasquirt have programmable lower (side LEDs) and upper (center LEDs) switching rpms. Middle leds lights up in the middle between two proggrammed rpms.
Here is circuit from MSnS-E manual:

But in this circuit must be added two additional diodes in high and med output wires. similar like lower diode in left picture.
http://www.msextra.com/manuals...ftled
Gints
 
#49 ·
Re: shift light (JonnyPhenomenon)

Quote, originally posted by JonnyPhenomenon »
OK well. I am stumped. I got the LED bar thing working from the LM3914. thats working fine, taking a voltage signal and converting it into a row of lights. I can adjust the voltage that it turns on at just by turning a single pot.
the problem is that the stupid LM2917 freq to voltage chip absolutely refuses to do its job. I got the thing hooked up exactly as instructed to in the datasheet, and it friggin overheats.

its supposed to be able to handle a huge ammount of input voltage. like 35 volts, but it overheats at 12v. - can you tell this is frustrating me?
I built this circuit with the LM2917

it doesnt work. gets really hot. I have tried running the IC and the transistor seperately, so the collector on the tr4ansistor can have 12v, and the IC only gets 5v. but still no luck. I assumed I must have fried it, so I swapped in a new one, but still nothing. (whenever I do a project like this I buy extra IC's)
but theres some good news, I contacted the guy who posted this video on youtube and he responded! says hes been on here before, and said GinstK was the one who dialed in his Megasquirt, and said to ask him about the led shift light.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3641229
so now I just need to get GinstK to log on and see this thread....


The 8 pin version is horrible. I built it it and it never worked for me.
This is the circuit I use in my enrichment mod:


Extremely accurate and it does work every single time. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
 
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