Winding odometer forward
Discussion
Sure this must have been covered before but searching brings up very little.
The battery in my odometer (early Chimp) died so I have carefully disassembled the gauge and replaced the battery. Only issue is that the gauge now displays 0 miles which is obviously incorrect.
Does anyone have a schematic diagram for said gauge or have any experience winding it forward? I could make a simple pulse generator but even if it sits at 180mph it's going to take over 12 days to reach the required mileage.
Last battery replacement seems to have been 2004 so it's done pretty well!
Gauge looks like this?
The battery in my odometer (early Chimp) died so I have carefully disassembled the gauge and replaced the battery. Only issue is that the gauge now displays 0 miles which is obviously incorrect.
Does anyone have a schematic diagram for said gauge or have any experience winding it forward? I could make a simple pulse generator but even if it sits at 180mph it's going to take over 12 days to reach the required mileage.
Last battery replacement seems to have been 2004 so it's done pretty well!
Gauge looks like this?
Ok... So I solved the issue.
If anyone else wants to try this them selves here are some pointers...
You need to remove the gauge from the car and carefully bend the bezel all the way around the gauge to allow it to pop off. Be careful not to damage the glass! Once its off you can undo the two nuts and two screws on the back and lift out the workings.
Once its open you can simply replace the battery. Available online. I got mine from maplin down the road at a cost of £3.99
Ok, so the odometer now reads 0 miles.... you can quite easily wind the mileage forward by hand but it will take you a while... Using a short length of wire to connect the + side of the button battery to the pin circled in the image will step the mileage forward.
It's a bit tedious doing this by hand so I built a very simple astable frequency generator based on a 555 timer. I guess the 5 components needed cost me about £1.50... The circuit kicks out an on off signal between 0 and 5V at around 1Khz. Allowing the odometer to wind forward to 60K miles in about 4 mins.
And that folks is all there is to it... Whilst I had the bezels off I sanded them and repainted before re-assembling. Take care to fold the back of the bezel into place again once they are painted.
Job done
If anyone else wants to try this them selves here are some pointers...
You need to remove the gauge from the car and carefully bend the bezel all the way around the gauge to allow it to pop off. Be careful not to damage the glass! Once its off you can undo the two nuts and two screws on the back and lift out the workings.
Once its open you can simply replace the battery. Available online. I got mine from maplin down the road at a cost of £3.99
Ok, so the odometer now reads 0 miles.... you can quite easily wind the mileage forward by hand but it will take you a while... Using a short length of wire to connect the + side of the button battery to the pin circled in the image will step the mileage forward.
It's a bit tedious doing this by hand so I built a very simple astable frequency generator based on a 555 timer. I guess the 5 components needed cost me about £1.50... The circuit kicks out an on off signal between 0 and 5V at around 1Khz. Allowing the odometer to wind forward to 60K miles in about 4 mins.
And that folks is all there is to it... Whilst I had the bezels off I sanded them and repainted before re-assembling. Take care to fold the back of the bezel into place again once they are painted.
Job done
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