Silverwing speedometer question?

I bought SW in Canada and brought to US. First what bothers me - speedo in canadian version is in KM. My question is:
Speedometer on SW is mechanical or electronic? If it is mechanical, I guess, I can install mechanical speedometer cable converter(it is small devise goes on top on the cable and converts cable rev rate from km/h to MPH, popular in UK)

If it is electronic, it maybe programable from km/h to MPH?
Does anybody know how to switch to MPH?

Thanks
Andrius

It reads from a sensor on the rear wheel, via wire. If you look at the pictorial on changing the belt, you will see the wires at the top of the variator casing once the cover is removed.

Perhaps you can make something to paste onto the speedometer that will indicate mph without covering up the speedo needle. Print a photo of the dash and tape it in place?

Thanks

Speedo doesn't bother me that much, it has km/h on top and smaller mph below, I would really like to change odometer to miles, all road signs and distances counted in miles

Because speedo and odometer are digital, I assume, it should be some way how to switch between km and miles

When I was looking at odometer at different angles, I was able to see word "miles" above km, it means they use same display for both US and Canada models

Local Honda dealer doesn't have any clues, how to change modes
I made couple calls to mechanics in Europe, unfortunately they are not familiar with this model, but I was told they had few bikes imported from USA and switched from miles to km just by clicking some buttons, like holding "reset" for 30s. or etc.

Anybody from Britain imported SW from EU and had same issue?

I was unable to find anything in the owners or shop manual on this question. I hope someone can answer your question. It might take a speedometer from a wrecked bike or maybe a Canadian who bought a USA bike. Have you tried calling a dealer along the USA-Canadian border? Another thought is to check with a "scooter shop." They probably know more than the Honda shop.

Just put marks on the speedo glass at suitable places - 30, 40, 50 MPH, etc.
Use sticky-back plastic or even a chinagraph pencil (which I did on a van I had after I'd changed the real axle ratio).
Some years ago, Ride magazine gave away sheets of stickers, including sets of tiny stick-on numbers for that very purpose.
My speedo and tacho are in KMs; when I go to the UK I either use my GPS as a speedo or now remember equivilants.
The tacho doesn't matter too much; when I return from a trip I do conversions on my PC and check the handbook for Service Intervals, e.g. Belt Change @ 25.000KM/16.000M.

This is a good site for conversions:

http://www.campbellsci.ca/CampbellScientific/Conversions.html

LTU-013,

Welcome to the forum, I'm sure you posted in the introductions and I've missed it - been away for a while.

As to your real concern:

If memory serves me correctly I do believe there is at least one DIP Switch on the board from which the displays are driven. Unfortunately I do not know the switch positions or even if thie switch would control the display of km/mi. It is likely that it is not a function of the switch or the board, but most likely an ECU function with a specific firmware for KM bikes versus US or GB Mile biles.

Not much help, but maybe yours is a question best posed to the technicians of Honda USA or the engineers in Torrance, CA.

a GPS should be the cheapest way to go. (c/w Dennis mount)
I believe you would have to change out the instrument cluster in order to solve your issues.

Thanks for all suggestions.
I just don't want to put any stickers or marks on screen, would like to keep that as clean, factory looking, as possible,

Looks like I'm down to two options - to find used speedo and odometer, but once again it is not clear if speed sensor should be changed also?
Or, after all searches and hours on google, looks like I have other option:
speedometer calibration device - speedoDRD or speedohealer
it is small box spliced into speed sensor wire to correct speed sensor signal Correction rate can be up to 99% plus or minus from existing signal

Just don't want to spend money, before will know for sure it is impossible to do in simple way, still hope it can be just some way to switch like in any digital thermometer you can switch between F and C, or any GPS km/h to mph

Will try to call Honda USA, but doubt if they know anything about that

Thanks for your help

I visited a Goldwing site to check on this and did not see anyone with a way to switch from one to the other. The only one was a special travel package which is probably a GPS system/ One poster with a MPH speedo did relate seeing a curve ahead warning of 70 and he was only doing 75. Then he realized the signage was for KPH. OOPS My bet is there are some lawyers involved in this somewhere.

x

My 03 Tracker came from a US auction.The dealer had to change the odometer display before they could sell it to me .That could be your only way to go.

z

I'm not worried about speedometer too much, it would be nice to have odometer in miles
And as we all know, SW has odometer and trip meter on the different display

It involves a lot af changes and parts to change both, new most likely will cost a lot, Honda parts are not cheap, used one will have different odometer reading, I doubt, I can get used one with low miles,
Another issue, if I would get with lower, than existing miles - how to handle title issue, I cant go and do inspection with lower miles, than I had before and also, I don't want to have odometer with way more miles (resale value)

I'm still looking and hoping to find a way how to do that electronically
hope it exist

There was Swing that was being parted out a few month ago,with very low miles on it .It was on this site. Might still be around.

I read that bikes/scoots that are imported new by the manufacturer for sale in the US can be switched to read in kilometers per hour & kilometers BUT that bikes/scoots imported new by the manufacturer for sale in Canada cannot be switched to read in mph & miles.
The Canadian government wanted it that way.

Sounds like I'm out of luck with that idea of simply switching....

tinman - are you talking about wrecked one in Oklahoma with 100 miles?
that one was on ebay, here in the "for sale" section, a lot of people wanted to buy, but nobody did and finally that scooter went to scrapyard

x

Yes I was thinking of that one,but there was another and he was listing the parts that were still for sale.It was posted around Dec give or take a month. Also one that converted the motor to a cart for track racing.Not long ago,he was looking for information on this forum.

just convert in head---miles to km, km to miles easy----too bad US so far behind and not on metric system anyway.

Funny but as I recall Helix could be read in miles or km.

I do it every tank of gas.KL to miles =kl x .64=miles. LT.to gal.=LT,devided by 4.54=gal. Thank You

john grinsel wrote:

just convert in head---miles to km, km to miles easy----too bad US so far behind and not on metric system anyway.

Funny but as I recall Helix could be read in miles or km.

Yes, John - We here in the states suck with our lower taxes, cheaper gas, choices and non-metric system. If only all of us could ride with no underpants in Europe on our helix's....

On a mildly related note - I believe the original poster is not concerned with the conversion from metric to miles, but is looking for a way to change the displayed information.

Seems like it should be doable as the part numbers for ECU, display, and display circuit board are not unique to location, or are they? Seems like it should be possible to set something (switch, wiring, software) to make this possible.

I doubt the sensor is an issue as all it does is sense a signal, that signal then has to be interpreted and displayed based on geographic location.

x

Guys,

I'm originally from Europe, I'm good with math and have no problems converting km/h to mph, liters to gallons
It doesn't stop me from riding and having fun

My main concern, I will have to do inspection in few days, I registered scooter and have 7 days to do inspection
Would be nice to switch from km to miles and have odometer reading in miles, instead 10000 km it will be just 6000 miles

I would doubt guy, who will be doing inspection, will be counting or converting km to miles, most likely it will be just 10000 on the record

I was busy last few days, didn't have chance to call Honda USA, if they can't help, next step will be just to remove speedo and check if it is any switch on the circuit board

How hard is to remove speedometer/odometer?

x

bigbird wrote:

I think that until someone disassembles the meter and looks at the circuit board this speculation has run its course.
Time to get out the tools, LTU-013.

Okay, so I've got this "dysfunctional" meter panel on hand and have it stripped it down to just the circuit board. I've gone over the entire circuit with a big magnifying class looking for a way to change the Clock to read in 24 hour format as well as to see if there is a way to bypass/replace the imbedded Turn Signal Relay in the event that it goes bad. While I have seen a couple of locations on the board which are identified for ABS components or connections, I have never seen part of the circuit or terminals, etc which would allow changing from Km's to Miles.

That said, if the "Metric" & "US" meter boards are the same then possibly the Display Panel part of the meter assy is where the change is made.

Hope this helps

Tim

Yes, that helps a lot
I don't have to look at board
If it is not on the board
Most likely it will be just some play with two buttons at the front

Hope Honda USA can have some clues, if not, anyway I will try to remove speedo and check, maybe some secret switch is located on the speedo/odometer assembly

x

I don't know if boards are identical, but when I'm looking at odometer at different angles, I can see on the odometer LCD word "miles" above the km, it means display for sure the same, that is the main reason why I believe should be easy way to switch between km and miles

I would doubt Honda has different assembly line just because of that, way easier to make some switch or even use existing "mode" and "reset" switches on the front

Difference in speedo just the sticker in Canada km/h big numbers on top
small mph on bottom and the other way around in US

I think who cares how it reads out. And by the way, summer= no underwear if you ride a lot and are experienced. Bushes are better than southern toliets. I lived 40 years in countries with metric system=fine.

Not happy camper in south---too many idiots in their pickups/suv's, rode 500 miles yesterday, half backroads, had two suv's come over centerline on me bleached blondes on phone. Standards are low and nobody seems to care. Hope Speedo can be converted----or buy whole instrument.

I haven't been able to 'see' that "miles / km" indication you mention, but I did find out that if you rub the back side of the plastic display housing vigorously (i.e. create a static charge) that you can get the display to show momentarily. All the mileage #'s are 8's and the fuel display shows, but the fuel bars are blank and the time display shows "Am/Pm1888". So I guess my hope for a 24 hour clock display are for naught.

On another note; a while back I did find out that if you inadvertently ride off with the parking brake light still ON the Trip & Total odo readings will not accumulate. Dunno what that may mean for your project. But it might be worth a try when you are playing with those reset buttons.

Please keep us posted on your progress.

If you ever do get the Miles/Km thing resolved I might be persuaded to part with the speedo plate from this meter panel I'm playing with.

Tim

LTU-013 wrote:

I don't know if boards are identical, but when I'm looking at odometer at different angles, I can see on the odometer LCD word "miles" above the km, it means display for sure the same, that is the main reason why I believe should be easy way to switch between km and miles

I would doubt Honda has different assembly line just because of that, way easier to make some switch or even use existing "mode" and "reset" switches on the front

Difference in speedo just the sticker in Canada km/h big numbers on top small mph on bottom and the other way around in US

x

I will keep you posted on my progress
if you look at the odometer LCD, when it is off, at some angle it is possible to see word "miles" above km, actually for you it is opposite you already have miles, it means km will be bellow

I will try to put on parking brake and ride a bit just to see what will happen

Oldgoat mentioned, Canadian government didn't want to be possible to switch km/miles - it means it can be hidden or maybe require some soldering

My next step - call Honda USA on Monday
if they can't help, next step will be speedo/odometer removal and check for any switches, maybe they have something on the LCD assembly
And if all those steps not working - last one will be speedoDRD or speedohealer installation, or will be looking for some used speedo/odometer assembly

Anyway thank you all for help, I knew it will be the right place to ask

It is nice to have so many people willing to share all experience, accumulated through miles and years of riding

LTU-013 wrote:

>> I will try to put on parking brake and ride a bit just to see what will happen.
<<<>>>
My next step - call Honda USA on Monday
if they can't help, next step will be speedo/odometer removal and check for any switches, maybe they have something on the LCD assembly <<

****

I don't think that riding with the park brake ON will do anything for you. I mentioned that because somehow that brake switch also effects the Meter Panel. Maybe if you use that switch in conjunction with toggling the other Reset switches you can change something. But just riding with it ON isn't going to do anything more than stop the odo from accumulating mileage.

I did get the chance to play with that meter display again and finally noticed that Miles / Km indicator. And also that display is a Liquid Crystal display and responds to finger pressure on the back side -not a static charge as I mentioned earlier.

Now, considering that the meter circuit board seems to be the 'universal' in that it has identifiers for ABS and HISS on the panel, and given that the display also seems to be universal, I'm going to suggest that the difference between the Metric/Euro and US market versions may well be within the external Wire Harness itself or the wiring connections at the 16 pin & 12 pin connector blocks to the Meter Panel.

If you can get hold of a good quality wiring diagram from a Euro market Silverwing -especially showing the wire terminal color codes & terminals at those two connection blocks and compare it with those on a US market SW then you may find a difference which would lead to the Mph / Km dilemma.
Maybe it's a jumper connection, or terminal wired differently.
The good thing to know is that Honda wiring color codes are pretty much standard within their product line. So, e.g. Orange and Blue are associated with turn signals and Green is ground.

While there are a total of 28 pins in the block, according to the wiring diagram in my Shop Manual, not all of them are used. Some connections locations are blank.

And also, my diagram seems to indicate that there are provisions for 30, maybe 32, terminals.

There are also some other differences in the Metric scoot harnesses. Some of them have a "Flash to Pass" switch (not sure what that does) as well as lights in those two little pockets in the top most part of the headlight housing (maybe they are Parking Lights). So try not to get too confused with the differences. You'll probably just have to tediously trace the various wires & circuits.

AFAIK there are no secret switches, and don't hold out too much hope for Honda's help. They hold their "proprietary" information quite closely. They'd much rather sell you a $500 part -like if the turn signal flasher burns out- then let you know about a bypass fix.

Tim

Tim, thanks
That is good point
It can be just one wire connected to different pin, and it would be enough to show miles or km

I don't have much hope in Honda, before I went to Canada, was reading a lot about regulations, how to cross border, and I knew, I will need something to confirm both Canada and USA selling same model, I was trying to get the letter from Honda - stating Honda Silwerwing FSC600A VIN.... is the same model as sold in USA, all I got: Your VIN is not in our data base, it was like it is not our business
Even, at some website, when you look at the contact phone number for Honda it says: USA VIN only

Anyway I will give them call tomorrow, will see, if they help me

Just found Russian forum for Silwerving, but don't have russian keyboard
Will try to get some stickers for russian alphabet and will ask those guys
You have to see, what kind of mods they are doing
SW with few hundreds of small lights, or all plastic parts completely covered with natural leather....
Take a look at the pictures:
http://forum.silver-wing.info/index.php?topic=263.0

one option to fix the speedometer is to get your government to convert to the metric system. let the 1800's go.
always get a kick out of your road signs with the fractions of a mile! the metric system is so easy. :lol!:

Wow, how did I missed that option

That would solve the problem

It will take some time to change road signs, but at least after that it will be like in rest of the world

1km=1000m 1m=100cm 1cm=10mm
1mile=1760yards 1yard=3ft 1ft=12in

Where is the logic behind that?
Or I'm missing something?

LTU-013 wrote:

Tim, thanks
Just found Russian forum for Silwerving, but don't have russian keyboard Will try to get some stickers for russian alphabet and will ask those guys You have to see, what kind of mods they are doing
SW with few hundreds of small lights, or all plastic parts completely covered with natural leather....
Take a look at the pictures:
http://forum.silver-wing.info/index.php?topic=263.0

Impressive mods on those Russian 'Wings.

Just a thought: Dunno if Honda Canada has their own version of the Service Manual, but maybe BigBird scare up a Canadian SW wiring diagram he can share with us. Maybe he can connive a friendly Winnipeg Honda dealer to xerox the diagram from their shop manual.

[x

Tomorrow, I hope to install russian keyboard and contact this guy:
http://forum.silver-wing.info/index.php?topic=192.0

he cut the speedo and odometer and installed volmeter and thermometer
looks like he knows thing or two about SW circuit board

x

I don't care about Russia, but because of glastnost my country had chance to sneak out from Soviet Union and gain independence

I'm from Lithuania

LTU... sometime about 50 years ago the US did pass a law that we going to adopt the metric system. ( http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/laws/metric-conv.html ) .. suppose to have been completed before now, but because of various things, it hasn't happened and it looks like it never will. "Where is the logic behind that?" ... simple... we have always done it this way and why change. I agree that there is no logic that can explain why some folks just don't want change.

Yes, I know it would be logistic nightmare for huge country to switch to metric, but if government, would waste less money on other absurd projects, at some point it would be possible to do step by step,
maybe just add km next to miles, on the road signs, like in Northern US states or in Canada border roads

I would doubt it would ever happen, unless they decide - my speedometer issue is too big to handle and will be easier to switch road signs...

x

I tried to post this earlier, but somehow it went missing.

bigbird wrote:

>>Tim, there is no "Canadian Spec" service manual or wiring diagram. The shop uses the same service manual as we purchase. It is the same manual for both the US and Canada. The part # for the US and Cdn meter panel is the same. It has to do with some external (and easy to do) modification.

<<

Terry

Can you find out the Wire Harness Part # for a CDN Silverwing?

The Wire Harness #'s listed for my '03 FSC600-D (non-ABS) SW are 32100-MCT-650 (listed for 2002 D, 03 to 2005 models) and for FSC600-A (ABS models) is 32100-MCT-950. There is also a 32100-MCT-680 Wire Harness shown for a 2002 model. I have no idea what the difference between the "680" and the "650" harnesses may be as the '02 model never had an ABS option.

Anyway, if you can find a different part # for a CDN version SW it may explain the difference between the Miles & Km versions.

And if you can get a copy of the Wiring Diagram for a CDN model from a local dealer --and specifically a close up view of the 16 pin / 12 pin connector block with the wire color (colour) codes & terminal connections it would be a big help too.

Tim

x

I would doubt disconnecting, will do the trick
in that case, when you replacing speedo assembly, would be tricky to set correct readings

Guys from Russia responded, they think firmware version for Canada and US is different, not sure if it is possible to change

I know stickers are not flavour of the month but I happened to notice that in the Motoring section of the shop on board the Cross-Channel Ferries are sheets of tiny stickers for speedo 'conversion'. I've not seen them before. They cost only £1.95.
It may be that it is in response to the tightening of regulations in Western Europe - the police are becoming less tolerant of foreign motorists breaking speed-limits and so on.
Also, packs of breathalyzers are now available there, too. (£5.99 per pack of two)

Just looked on the parts list for a big UK dealer, they have two listings for the speedo head, one in kilometers and one in miles. Couldn't find any part numbers however !!

May be worth trying www.powersportsplus.com. They are in the US, but I don't know their exact location.
Look on right side of screen, click on multiple part search. I found two part numbers on this site
37110-MCT-951, description, combination meter mph/kph, $323
37110-MCT-680, description, meter, $400
You may be able to call them to check for the right part.

I use this pdf site to find part numbers - it's listed as Silverwing FSC, but I've found that the numbers are the same for the FJS
http://www.servicehonda.com/hard%20parts/street/fsc600%20%2702-%2704/2002-2004%20fsc600%20silverwing.pdf

Hope this helps
Graham