Vanagon (Cheap, Do-It-Yourself) Trip Computer Installation

4/1/02

Here is a project I am working on for the vanagon camper.  I have adapted an inexpensive bicycle "cyclo-computer" to become a powerful trip computer. It senses speed from a sensor I installed fairly easily on the front left wheel.  It tells your current speed, down to .1 mph.  It tells your average speed for a trip, your maximum speed, your trip distance down to .01 miles, the time you have been moving, whether your current speed is faster or slower than your average.  It has a time of day clock, it turns itself off when you are not moving for a few minutes, starts automatically when you start driving.  It has a function that will scan automatically through all of its readouts.  It comes with 2 mounting kits so you can use it on 2 vehicles, or even on your van and your bike.  It can switch easily from the configuration of one vehicle to the other.  It can read in 12 or 24 hour time, miles or km.  You calibrate it to the circumference of your tires, down to 1 mm, so it has the potential to be very accurate. I bought the kit from Bike Nashbar here. It was about $15 with shipping.  The speed sensor is basically a magnet and a reed switch.  I am currently (4/1/02) testing it out, and so far it is working quite well.  I have read up to 75 mph on it.  There is a bit of a lag in the speed display at times.  I think it only updates the speed every second or two, so sometimes it is behind what the speedometer is reading if you are accelerating or decelerating significantly.  (7/14/02)  The magnet came off teh hub while driving.  Created a new magnet mounting system, seen below.