tach repair

[velofish]

I'm thinking of sending my tach off to Palo Alto speedos for a repair. I have heard that it may just break again anyway.

 

If you had yours repaired, did it last?

 

Thanks,

fish

[Guest ratchethack]

Fish, I reckon you're talking about the Veglia, which would've come with your '00 Sport.

 

Well, after PA Speedo gave mine their best repair job twice and it didn't stick nearly 3 years ago, they sent me a new one, which has lasted 12.5K miles and counting. . .

 

Sad story in a nutshell here:

 

http://www.v11lemans.com/forums/index.php?...09&hl=tach#

 

Helmut informed me that after their experience with mine, they would no longer be servicing the Veglia tachs by Guzzi. But I would check with them in case they've reconsidered. They're the best. (415) 323-0243.

 

The best course of action depends on wots wrong with it. At least one guy on this Forum has done repair to the hair-fine spring -- possibly Gary? I tried Carl Allison's ground path check (search), but wound up loosening wot had been a perfectly solid ground path thru a staked stud in the case before I meddled with it, then wired-in redundant grounds.

 

Alternately, Al's comment in the thread at the link above may be a better option after all: Ebay for a used instrument.

[velofish]

Thanks, ratchet. I will give Palo Alto a call to see if they changed their minds.

 

Actually, the tachs been busted for over a year now-- not that hard to get used to, I just rev it up til it's smooth .

 

I tried the extra ground trick with no luck, and I'm sure any attempt on my part to open it up with my ham hands will be unsuccesful.

 

ebay here I come.

 

fish

[richard100t]

There was a thread here somewhere earlier about a digital speedo & tachometer. I thought it was pretty cool looking but others didnt like it. Anyway it was relatively inexpensive...under $200 I think. If someone can remember what the thread was maybe you can linkit here. Its seems like a good alternative to the crap stock one.

[luhbo]

Ratchet,

 

you've had the tach open after they had repaired it. Could you see what they've done? Any new parts soldered in or somewhat like that?

 

Hubert

[Guest ratchethack]

Ratchet,

 

you've had the tach open after they had repaired it. Could you see what they've done? Any new parts soldered in or somewhat like that?

 

Hubert

Hubert, I inspected my repaired tach very carefully looking for "witness marks" of any kind (twice) and could not find any evidence of replaced items or anything else.

 

IMHO the instrument repair business tends to be somewhat proprietary WRT their knowledge, and this isn't all bad -- being otherwise could open them up for unwanted liability and create havoc for customers at the same time.

 

Comes a point where it's wise to rely upon the reputation and expertise of the Pro. It's a different point for every person, and I'm very much a "hands-on" kinda guy not generally afraid of taking on lots o' different kinds of challenges when it comes to hardware. But when I reach a point where I'm over my head and out of my depth experience-wise, I want a Pro to take ownership of the responsibility and am mindful of wot that's worth. . .

 

YMMV

[Bbennett]

Palo Alto Speed no longer works on the white faced Veglias

 

I attempted to fix mine myself, was able to get off the metal rim etc. etc. but never could get it to actually work again.

 

Finally ordered another from MGCycle - took awhile to arrive but it works great. I really really missed having a tach.

 

I have an '01 and the new tach has a slightly longer barrel and thus sticks up a little from the instrument panel. Nobody but somone on this forum would notice, i have chalked it up to "character" and moved on

 

Bob

[luhbo]

Hubert, I inspected my repaired tach very carefully looking for "witness marks" of any kind (twice) and could not find any evidence of replaced items or anything else.

....

 

Thanks, that's what I've somehow expected. If nothing is broken inside then there's nothing to be repaired. The mechanical part is as simple as it could be. The electronics are more or less only one IC, which is unfortunately not available on the market. Besides that it's most unlikely that these ICs are the culprit. On the picture you can see the rest of the pcb. My guess is that the capacitors give up one day.

 

BTW, one of the three cables is ground, so people should not spread that it could be a ground problem. The housing has to be grounded only because of the bulb.

 

[Guest ratchethack]

BTW, one of the three cables is ground, so people should not spread that it could be a ground problem. The housing has to be grounded only because of the bulb.

Carl Allison had identified two separate ground paths many years back -- one for the bulb and one for the instrument. As you noted, the instrument ground has a separate wire from the harness. IIRC, this is the one that is subject to interruption and in many cases, a faulty tach can benefit from a redundant ground path wired in.

[luhbo]

Yes, the separate, redundant ground wire is something on what especially you insist. Nevertheless there is no reason for it. Not with this type of Veglia tach.

 

Of course it could be that Carl meant to add a separate ground somewhere in the harness. Or it was a problem once with his bright red bug swatter. These had ground problems with the complete front, including the regulator.

 

Hubert

[Guest ratchethack]

. . .redundant ground wire is something on what especially you insist. . . .

Hmmmmmm. Not sure how mentioning that a faulty tach can benefit from a redundant ground path and I'd done this myself gets mistaken for insisting that it must be done (or anything close, for that matter) . . .