Well here it is at last ….. the green LCD Caponord instrument panel. A hot brew and an early start on a cold wintery day, had the panel off the bike and in the warm workshop by 8am. While the soldering station warmed up, I separated the cases, eased the needles off and surprised myself that all this only took a couple of minutes – no hassle with the needles at all, which is unusual!
Next, the six diagnostic panel and two odometer blue LED’s were replaced with green versions, this isn’t difficult but you need to make sure they go on the right way round or they won’t work! The LED specification I used is:
3.2-3.8v 20ma 1000mcd green PLCC-2 SMD LED
Then I removed the old 24C02 chip and read off the data and saved it. I modified the file and wrote it to a new chip and soldered it in place. Back out in the cold I plugged the board into the bike and got ready to switch on. Would it, wouldn’t it ….. blingy lights or a puff of smoke? Hoorah – we have bling!!! The case was buttoned back together after giving the clear lens a clean and checking the rubber seal was OK. All in all, about an hours work, time for another brew then.
So is it just a bling-thing or is their anything worthwhile about changing the LED’s? Personally I prefer it in green, the contrast between digits and background is better making it easier to read the display on the move – sadly the photographs don’t reflect how good they really are. Also the green LED’s are brighter than the blue and that certainly helps. Keeping the blue LED’s behind the analogue gauges adds a nice touch, balancing out the green.
Well here it is …. the third quarter data for 2012. Including mine (August 2012), the UK has a total of 13 registered Caponord Rally-Raids – that’s a loss of three in the last year. Will 2013 see us drop into single figures? For those not familiar with UK registration, SORN means “Statutory Off-Road Notice” ….. in other words the owner has declared the bike will not be used on the highway, so probably garaged, untaxed and stored for winter. Hence the seasonal fluctuation you see on the graph.
On a previous post I mentioned a visit by Mike081. During his stay I said that I’d like to get hold of another instrument panel at some point, so I could look into the circuit and programming in more detail. It just so happened Mike had a board lying around and he promised to sent it over. Well, true to his word, a Mk2 Caponord board was sat on the post-box when I got back home the other day. Cheers Mike!
I’ve already got a voltmeter in the right hand fairing and although I wouldn’t be without it, I have to say it suffers from a couple of drawbacks.
Not a major update, more a bug fix and more Triumph map support added. TuneECU is still the ECU software of choice for the Aprilia Caponord and hasn’t added any new features for us since the beginning. Each new version has primarily focused on new Triumph models and addressed a few minor bugs – only one of which has been relevant to the Caponord so far.
So here we are at seven thirty in the evening with two Capo’s stripped while we try to jump start Mike’s bike. After a couple of false starts we get it running, but he can’t use the lights so he follows me home glued to my tail. The poor thing has a battery voltage of 11v and a total lack of charging system. 24hrs later we had the Capo up and running again no problem. A new battery, 30A fuse and a quick tinkle with his mapping has the Capo purring like a fine Swiss watch. We decided that the next day would be a ‘test’ day in the Gran Sasso mountains.
In the end the ‘test’ covered about 220km and re-established Mike’s confidence in the Capo’s abilities; considering he’s 10 days into a 5 week trip that puts him in Barcelona next week and Morocco a few days later, he needs to have 100% trust in his bike. Although the low cloud was broody and the stiff wind on the chilly side, we had a great day. We even managed a coffee at Castel del Monte and a chat with a group of BMW GS riding Germans!
