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czakal
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PostPosted: 22:42 - 16 Oct 2011    Post subject: inaccurate speedometer Reply with quote

Hello people--been a while since I posted.
After a ride with my instructor I've confirmed my speedometer is indicating a wrong speed--at least 4mph more than actual speed (when I'm indicating 40mph, his accurate digital speedometer is 35 mph or so). I've heard that such inaccuracies are not uncommon, and I guess with a cheap Kymco like mine it's even more likely. Has anyone had similar experience? Is it easy to recalibrate the speedo or fix it some way (mine is an analogue type)?

Seb
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spyuggy
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PostPosted: 22:47 - 16 Oct 2011    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wouldn't bother mate, just adjust your speed with the 5 MPH error and you should be OK.
Good luck.
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kerr
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PostPosted: 22:47 - 16 Oct 2011    Post subject: Reply with quote

most are like that, every car iv owned has been like it. Wouldnt bother trying to fix it, could end up making it worse.
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Kickstart
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PostPosted: 22:48 - 16 Oct 2011    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi

Digital isn't likely to be any more accurate than analogue.

However a speedo running off electronic pulses (so pretty much all digital, but also quite a few more modern analogue ones) is easier to recalibrate.

If it is a cable operate one from the front wheel then it isn't really an easy job to recalibrate it (no doubt can be done by specialists).

Probably just easier to connect up a bicycle speed as well and calibrate that carefully, or mount a GPS unit on the bars.

All the best

Keith
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czakal
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PostPosted: 22:51 - 16 Oct 2011    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the quick replies. I'll consider the GPS option as I'd been thinking of it for a while (a half decent one might end up costing half as much as the Kymco...). How accurate are those?
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The Artist
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PostPosted: 22:56 - 16 Oct 2011    Post subject: Reply with quote

You have to ask yourself the question, is it worth it?
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Kickstart
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PostPosted: 23:02 - 16 Oct 2011    Post subject: Reply with quote

czakal wrote:
How accurate are those?


Depends on the unit and how it is used.

Very basic one will just work off comparing positions and calculating the speed from that, with samples once a second. With a bit of smoothing it will be pretty accurate in a straight line / gentle acceleration / on level ground.

Performance units will work out the speed from the dopplar effect on the GPS signal, and with far more frequent samples. There are a few around which use 10hz GPS engines. These should be very accurate.

Real high performance units would be very expensive. Understand a 100hz GPS engine is about £1k even before it is built into a useful GPS unit.

All the best

Keith
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czakal
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PostPosted: 20:51 - 17 Oct 2011    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd been thinking about one because I'm not so great at directions, but from what you say it's a bit too expensive. Not least because it's a bit difficult to mount a GPS on a smaller bike I'd think and that increases the chances it will fall off and get crushed on the road.
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Teflon-Mike
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PostPosted: 21:26 - 17 Oct 2011    Post subject: Reply with quote

czakal wrote:
Thanks for the quick replies. I'll consider the GPS option as I'd been thinking of it for a while (a half decent one might end up costing half as much as the Kymco...). How accurate are those?


Well, I have a pretty high spec GPS marine GPS reciever to plug into my lap-top, and you can get silly looking at the specs of them and the number of satalite locks they can read from at any one time, and thier sampling frequencies etc, and then the data-protocol that they send it to 'processing device' via... Ultimately the possitioning accuracy of my marine sender is greater than the plotting accuracy of most maps I use, and I have pretty high resolution OS maps for land use!

Snail-Trailing off Snowie's little GPS, if the track is within a lines width of the road, you are doing pretty well, but the Marine senders snail-trails aren't often much closer to the chart beneath them.

As for speed, well, my marine sender has told me my window sill was walking around my block at 4mph...... and that's an 'accurate' one......

Reason is down to the fact that on my windowsill, can probably only 'see' one or two satalites in the bit of sky between the houses.

this is called 'urban canyon' effect. Had similar issues in valleys in wales, between the mountain sides, and reciever location to maximise sky-view really makes a big difference.

For ALL they 'hype' that they 'can' be accurate to within a diameter of a few metres, that is still not all THAT accurate on a real road, which might only be two meters wide..... pretty damn accurate on a global scale, when you think they are measuring things over thousands of miles, down to a couple of meters..... but still.

Generally they are accurate 'enough'. The gps recievers in proprietry sat-navs are not hugely sophisticated, nor the most accurate, but they are 'adequete' and difference in hardware between them and higher end recievers doesn't make them that much better in real woirld situations where you get Urban canyon effects, or you are in satalite cross-over areas.

In a car, conventionally sited in the front widscreen, thier 'sky-view' is atrociouse, the car's body often masking anything up to 80% of 'sky view'.

Mimicking it with the Marine sender, I have placed it on teh roof of my car and got twelve 'good' satalite locks with strong signal strength; bringing it inside the car and putting it on the dash-board, where a SAT-Nav would wit, dropped to three. That was in Honda Civic with quiite steeply sloping windscreen, giving a fair proportion of sky for it to see. Same test in my Range-Rover, with almost vertical windscreen, twelve sat-locks outside the car, inside on the dash, was getting no aquesition error or a very weak signal off just one or two sats, not enough to get a 'fix' from.

Speed calculations are based on comparing position data to measure distance traveled, against time base... way GPS works, means that there is a lot of room for calculation error.....

Possibly MORE than for empirical metrology, counting wheel turns as a mechaincal system driven from the front wheel.

However, most automotive speedo's are 'calibrated' to over read, and 10% + 2 isn't far off.

Speedo in the Chavic over reads against GPS by aprox 10%, on a clear open motorway, in 'flat' terrain, where both have nice stable reading.

Through town, GPS can get rather erratic due to canyon effects, and stop-start traffic conditions; and driving round Leicester inner ring-road, the radio interference caused by a metal clad department store (think it was John Lewis's or Debenhams) had both marine receiver and sat-nav in utter apoplexy as I approach it, then shutting down in disgust in the actual 'hot-spot' of radio reflection!

So, its a matter of 'accuracy' and 'reliability'.

GPS can be pretty accurate, but its reliability is in more doubt, depending on receiver positioning, and geographic circumstances.

Mechanical speedo, much more reliable; measuring off the front wheel, only thing that really effects it is tyre wear; but the accuracy is often not so 'close' on, to begin with.
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LordShaftesbu...
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PostPosted: 11:28 - 20 Oct 2011    Post subject: Reply with quote

Teflon-Mike wrote:


Well, I have a pretty high spec GPS marine GPS receiver to plug into my lap-top, and you can get silly looking at the specs of them and the number of satellite locks they can read from at any one time, and their sampling frequencies etc, and then the data-protocol that they send it to 'processing device' via... Ultimately the positioning accuracy of my marine sender is greater than the plotting accuracy of most maps I use, and I have pretty high resolution OS maps for land use!

Snail-Trailing off Snowie's little GPS, if the track is within a lines width of the road, you are doing pretty well, but the Marine senders snail-trails aren't often much closer to the chart beneath them.

As for speed, well, my marine sender has told me my window sill was walking around my block at 4mph...... and that's an 'accurate' one......

Reason is down to the fact that on my windowsill, can probably only 'see' one or two satellites in the bit of sky between the houses.

this is called 'urban canyon' effect. Had similar issues in valleys in wales, between the mountain sides, and receiver location to maximise sky-view really makes a big difference.

For ALL they 'hype' that they 'can' be accurate to within a diameter of a few metres, that is still not all THAT accurate on a real road, which might only be two meters wide..... pretty damn accurate on a global scale, when you think they are measuring things over thousands of miles, down to a couple of meters..... but still.

Generally they are accurate 'enough'. The gps receivers in proprietary sat-navs are not hugely sophisticated, nor the most accurate, but they are 'adequate' and difference in hardware between them and higher end receivers doesn't make them that much better in real world situations where you get Urban canyon effects, or you are in satellite cross-over areas.

In a car, conventionally sited in the front windscreen, thier 'sky-view' is atrocious, the car's body often masking anything up to 80% of 'sky view'.

Mimicking it with the Marine sender, I have placed it on the roof of my car and got twelve 'good' satellite locks with strong signal strength; bringing it inside the car and putting it on the dash-board, where a SAT-Nav would wit, dropped to three. That was in Honda Civic with quite steeply sloping windscreen, giving a fair proportion of sky for it to see. Same test in my Range-Rover, with almost vertical windscreen, twelve sat-locks outside the car, inside on the dash, was getting no question error or a very weak signal off just one or two sats, not enough to get a 'fix' from.

Speed calculations are based on comparing position data to measure distance travelled, against time base... way GPS works, means that there is a lot of room for calculation error.....

Possibly MORE than for empirical meteorology, counting wheel turns as a mechanical system driven from the front wheel.

However, most automotive speedo's are 'calibrated' to over read, and 10% + 2 isn't far off.

Speedo in the Chavic over reads against GPS by aprox 10%, on a clear open motorway, in 'flat' terrain, where both have nice stable reading.

Through town, GPS can get rather erratic due to canyon effects, and stop-start traffic conditions; and driving round Leicester inner ring-road, the radio interference caused by a metal clad department store (think it was John Lewis's or Debenhams) had both marine receiver and sat-nav in utter apoplexy as I approach it, then shutting down in disgust in the actual 'hot-spot' of radio reflection!

So, its a matter of 'accuracy' and 'reliability'.

GPS can be pretty accurate, but its reliability is in more doubt, depending on receiver positioning, and geographic circumstances.

Mechanical speedo, much more reliable; measuring off the front wheel, only thing that really effects it is tyre wear; but the accuracy is often not so 'close' on, to begin with.


Yeah I though speedos over-reading by about 10% was the norm?

Also, how does he know the instructor's speedo is more accurate?
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Kickstart
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PostPosted: 11:41 - 20 Oct 2011    Post subject: Reply with quote

Teflon-Mike wrote:
Speed calculations are based on comparing position data to measure distance traveled, against time base... way GPS works, means that there is a lot of room for calculation error.....


In basic units yes. And for marine use where generally things are not going that quickly that is probably fine.

If you want very high accuracy then you can get systems with VERY frequent updates plus ground locating beacons to improve accuracy. These are accurate enough to be used when evaluating tyres. Price would make you wince though.

Cheaper but still not cheap are things like the Driftbox I have. This is accurate and designed for performance testing. 10 samples a second. Remote aerial if needed (but in most cars get a good number of locks even mounted in the car). Uses doplar effect on the GPS signals for speed. Also contains a G meter.

Doug97 wrote:

Yeah I though speedos over-reading by about 10% was the norm?


Not unusual . They only have to be accurate to within 10% +8kmh, and must read accurately or high. So showing 38mph at a true 30mph would be legitimate. Actual amount varies. My RS125 speedo is a joke. Both the Jaguar and the 156 are pretty accurate, reading 1~2mph high at a true 30 (and doubt they would want to make them more accurate than that as then it would be too easy for different tyres / tyre wear to make them read low).

All the best

Keith
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McFlufferson
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PostPosted: 14:34 - 20 Oct 2011    Post subject: Reply with quote

The van I drive is 4mph out on average. The Jinlung scooter I had was 5mph out at 30 according to my satnav. This was confirmed by most speed signs I went past. That gap increased the faster I went. When the bike said I was doing 50 my sat nav said I was doing 42.

I just took it as it was keeping me on the right side of the law, at least.
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ClockworkJesu...
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PostPosted: 14:56 - 20 Oct 2011    Post subject: Reply with quote

On my old Chinese scooter, when it said I was doing 50Mph, my friend's Jog RR speedo said we were doing 40 - 45Mph. So that's 5-10Mph out, plus however far out his speedo was.

Way I saw it, if I slowed down to an indicated 30Mph on the speedo past a 30Mph speed-camera, there was no way in heaven it was going to flash me - since I was probably only doing about 25Mph.
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