I made a suspension datalogger

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Marmoot said:
I just made a suspension datalogger from Arduino board, a couple of ultrasound distance sensor, three days of swearing, and a few bruised fingers.

Read here for the prototype rest results:
https://1199s.wordpress.com/2014/06/14/building-motorcycle-suspension-datalogger/

(too bad I mis-synched the data overlay on the video slightly)

Early results look promising.
Click to expand...

Looks pretty cool to me.

My suggestion would be inverting the y-axis when graphing so that fully compressed is a filled graph and fully decompressed is empty. Right now it's kinda jarring that when the suspension is working its hardest (hard bumpy braking) is when the graph looks like the least is going on.

I don't know if that's how a potentiometer based log would look but if it is then never mind.
 
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Thanks.
It's not potentio, it uses ultrasonic pulses to measure distance.
The graph basically shows how much suspension travel I have left. When the line bottoms out, that's when the forks are also bottoming out.
 
Haven't seen it all yet as I am on my phone but my guess is because using a linear pot is a pain in the ass to find proper attachment points for. The front will require a drill through the bottom to attach and the rear requires a bracket to be attached from one of the 3 rear suspension points to hang it down for linear travel.

At least that's how mine are attached.

Also I think the setting for proper suspension travel measurement is much higher than 10mhz - maybe as high as 50 or 100mhz. Have to check but it was much higher
 
Poti allows higher resolution / sampling rate, but attaching it is a pain in the but. Anthem hammered it on the head.
At this point I don't need that high a resolution.

Ultrasonic sensor is very small, and only needs to be attached to one point (one bolt, or one very strong doublesided tape if you want).

And yes, somewhere down the line I want more data. Tyre temperature logger, and an indicator that can tell me when tyre temperature is up to certain level (so I can let loose) would be great. Surface temp only, though.
 
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Would be interesting to do a split screen with another GoPro suction mounted on the upper fairing pointed at the fork, to show what the bike is doing, the fork is doing, and then your bar graph.

NOLA
 
Marmoot said:
Poti allows higher resolution / sampling rate, but attaching it is a pain in the but. Anthem hammered it on the head.
At this point I don't need that high a resolution.

Ultrasonic sensor is very small, and only needs to be attached to one point (one bolt, or one very strong doublesided tape if you want).

And yes, somewhere down the line I want more data. Tyre temperature logger, and an indicator that can tell me when tyre temperature is up to certain level (so I can let loose) would be great. Surface temp only, though.
Click to expand...


Temperature isn't hard. I believe I have a surface temp mounted on inside of tire fender. Only on right side though and once it reaches 125 I think the light on my aim dash unit goes off. Ideally you would want one on the left and right to read tire temp on both sides but I am not at that level or need that amount if accuracy. Not do I actually need to know the tire temp while out there - just that its above a certain level.

But back to suspension - if you were to use linear pots - front is attached via a top clamp. Bottom is drilled thought bottom of axle/fork. For rear - you need a slight "L" adapter about 2.5 inches long that bolts though bottom of ohlins rear shock mount. I have my bike in the shop right now so not convenient to shoot the picture.

Another cool sensor is the rate of turn sensor which in believe is a gyroscopic sensor. That's a pretty cool one as well. Angle of turn is interesting but a bit difficult to capture as its usually a sensor that reads ground clearance and a math equation to compute difference between left and right clearance from ground that is measured at that point.
 
Linear pot is damn expensive :( while Ultrasonic sensor is $1 each, which was why I made this.

In theory, this system can do up to 50Hz sampling as it only takes about 14-20 ms to get reading. I'll probably go for 10Hz next time just to sync it with the 10Hz GPS datalogger file for easier dashware video sync.

NOLA: based on how my suspension was bottoming out, the travel range is accurate. But yeah, it would be interesting to see it on camera. I'll do that next time.
 
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Marmoot said:
Linear pot is damn expensive :( while Ultrasonic sensor is $1 each, which was why I made this.

In theory, this system can do up to 50Hz sampling as it only takes about 14-20 ms to get reading. I'll probably go for 10Hz next time just to sync it with the 10Hz GPS datalogger file for easier dashware video sync.

NOLA: based on how my suspension was bottoming out, the travel range is accurate. But yeah, it would be interesting to see it on camera. I'll do that next time.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that would be really cool to watch"¦

NOLA
 
I do have a separate video in my youtube channel showing the front suspension movement, but no data on it. It seems right...
 

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