12-05-2013, 07:54 AM
(12-04-2013, 10:27 PM)Lord Popgun_imp Wrote:(12-04-2013, 10:08 PM)The ferret_imp Wrote:(12-04-2013, 04:51 PM)ingobohn_imp Wrote: The bars on my fuel gauge disappear relatively reproducible with each 50 km.
Hmmm doing the conversion 50 km equals 31 miles 120.66 yards ..interesting
Hmmm doing the conversion 50 km equals 31 miles 120.66 yards ..interesting
If you take the fuel pump out of the tank and look at the assembly, you will see the float arm is attached to a wiper that sweeps across a small circuit card with contacts etched onto it. As the fuel level decreases, the float drops and the wiper moves to a different contact. The contacts are equally spaced (if I remember correctly). The float drop is not linear due to the shape of the tank so our bars do not work as we would like.
(I have pictures of it, but still don't really know how to post them. If anybody is that interested, I can email them to ferret and he can post them.)
Being an electronics tech. (but not an engineer) my thought was they could have spaced the contacts differently or maybe I could trim them some to be narrower or whatever, and maybe adjust the bar operation. BUT, too much work and I really don't feel like messing with that.
I think Honda could have done this, but, that adds cost in design and manufacturing. Or maybe they just didn't think of it.
Therein lies the problem. Had Honda wanted to make the fuel gauge display linear, they could have adjusted the spacing between the contacts to account for the tank shape. Doing so would have resulted in each block representing an equal amount of gas.
I'm sure there were cost and manufacturing issues that went into the decision. Unless the gauge sender's part number is unique to the CB1100, it wouldn't be feasible to customize it to the CB1100's tank shape and volume.
Realistically, were talking about a bike fuel gauge. I'm satisfied that when all bars are showing, I've got plenty of gas. When few bars are showing, I have less gas. The important part is that the flashing bar warning is accurate (at least on my bike).
This is the first bike I've owned with a fuel gauge (and without a petcock). I was a bit apprehensive about it at first, but practically speaking, I manage my fuel pretty much the same as on previous bikes.