The Light

I have made a shift light that works from the stock rev counter. I have a very bright orange LED and ultra bright red LED
for up-shifts. I have set the orange LED for about 8200rpm, and the red LED to light at about 8400 rpm. The idea is to
change up when you get the red light, with the orange light being warning. The shift lights are still very useful when
concentrating in traffic (race traffic, not the other kind), and I hardly ever look at the rev counter. When I first made the
shift light I used a green light for down-shifts, and no orange light. I found that I couldn't see the green light very well,
and didn't use it anyhow, so I added the orange light in it's place.

Circuit Diagram
Circuit Description

The light runs straight off the back of the stock rev counter, which provides +12V, GND and a pulse from the ignition. A
2917 frequency to voltage converter converts the ignition pulse to a voltage proportional to revs, adjusted for
temperature and supply voltage variations. A two pole Butterworth filter helps to reduce ripple. A 358 op-amp
compares the output to two fixed voltages, one for each light. The op-amp is wired so that each output goes high when
the 2917 output voltage exceeds the reference voltage for the light. It is fairly easy to change these so that there are
two up shift lights or one up, one down.

The above circuit diagram was made to mount the components on strip-board, so there are some strange connections in
order to make the circuit board as small as possible. There is a connection to pin 6 on the LM2917, which is unused. This
connection is just in order to connect the two resistors and capacitor on pins3, 4 & 5 together.

The light is stable (i.e. it comes on at a set rpm despite variations in voltage or temperature) but is inclined to flicker a
few times in the higher gears when approaching the limit. To me this is quite useful, but ideally the light shouldn't do
this. The flicker was much worse before I used the Butterworth filter.

Warning

I don't guarantee that this light will work on any other car than mine, but the triggering mechanism of the 2917 is fairly
tolerant so the circuit should work in almost any Honda with fuel injection and electronic ignition.

Circuit Construction

I used plain resistors and capacitors - I think the resistors are all 1/4 watt 5% tolerance. 1% tolerance might be better,
but the circuit should still work OK with 5%. The capacitors with a + on one side are electrolytic polarised capacitors, the
others were greencaps. These are all common components and should be easily enough to purchase.

The components are:

 ICs: 1 x LM2917, 1 x LM 358N

 Resistors: 1 x 470 ohm, 1 x 10k ohm, 1 x 20k ohm, 2 x 1k ohm, 1 x 100k ohm, 2 x 120k ohm.

 Capacitors: 1 x 1 uF polarised, 1 x 0.47 uF polarised, 1 x 0.05 uF greencap, 1 x 0.022 uF greencap.

 Pots: 2 x 2k ohm 10 turn linear trimpots.

 Leds: 1 x super bight red led, 1 x superbright orange led.

 Misc.: 1 x 14 pin IC socket, 1 x 8 pin IC socket.

Strip Board Diagram

This is probably the easiest way to construct the circuit, unless you want to design and make your own printed circuit
board. Strip board has rows of copper strips on the bottom of the board, for the diagram below these run horizontally.
The strip board makes you place all components vertically, and use some jumper wires, but has worked well for this
circuit. You will need to cut the strips underneath the IC sockets.

The connections are:

 Tach - from rev counter pulse

 GND - from rev counter GND
 +12V - from rev counter +12V
 Adj+ - 7.5V to variable resistors
 GND1 - to variable resistors GND
 Adj1- to variable resistors
 Adj2 - to variable resistors
 GND2 - to LEDs
 LED1 - to LEDs
 LED2 - to LEDs

I also used strip board also for the two small sub-boards containing the variable resistors and LEDs. It would be possible
to make the whole circuit on one board, but I wanted the LEDs in the peak of the instrument panel cover, and the
variable resistors somewhere where I could get at them easily for adjustment.
I placed the main circuit is a small plastic box behind the dash. The variable resistors are glued to the inside of a blank
switch cover in the dash, with small holes drilled in the switch cover so that I can adjust the rev thresholds with a small
screwdriver. The LEDs sit inside the instrument panel cover at the highest point, with two small holes drilled so that I
can see the LEDs . I recommend using connectors to connect the sub-circuits to the main circuit, as this will make
installation and maintenance easier.

It doesn't matter if you switch the read and orange LEDs around, as the activation revs for each will be set later. The
polarity of the LEDs is important however, but won't destroy them if you hook them up incorrectly.

Connecting to the rev counter

Honda rev counters provide all the necessary connections for the circuit in one place, and have screws in the back to
make it easy to connect wires to them. The rev counter has three screws at the back, which pass through the plastic
circuit behind the instruments. The screws are labelled in the picture above from the view point of looking at the back
of the rev counter. Make sure that you check the connections with a multi-meter to ensure that you have correctly
identified +12V, GND and the pulse.

Adjustment

Adjusting the circuit to the correct revs is easier than most people think. Increasing the voltage from the variable
resistors will increase the activation point linearly. e.g. if you find that adding one turn to the variable resistor increases
the activation point from 2000rpm to 3000rpm, then one turn will also increase the activation point from 7000rpm to
8000rpm.

To adjust the circuits I usually just set the LEDs to light at 3000-4000rpm (maximum permissible revs while still in the
garage), then road test and increase the activation point by about 1000 rpm at a time. Once you get up to 6000-7000
rpm you will be able to guess fairly accurately how much of a turn will set the activation point to exactly where you want
it. A few more runs and you should be able to get the activation point to within 50 rpm of where you want it. It all should
only take 10 minutes. Don't attract too much attention doing this (I once got a warning from the local police for
'excessive revolutions' for repeatedly running up to 9000 rpm in first gear :-) )
Adding more lights

Want a sequential row of lights like the touring cars? Add more op-amp and variable resistor combinations:

1. Substitute a LM324 (quad op-amp) for the LM358 (dual op-amp).

2. Add two more variable resistors.

3. Add two more LEDs. The only trick is the wiring for the LM324. I'll need to consult a specification sheet for the LM324
and show the exact wiring.

4. Do a bit of re-wiring.

Op-amps

Diagrams on the LM324 and LM358 op-amps are below.

Datasheets on the LM324 and LM358 are also available from National Semiconductor web page. One thing I noticed
from the datasheets is that the LM358 is rated at sinking 40 mA. An ultra-bright LED pass close to 40 mA (depending on
the resistors use use), but I figured that your engine will blow if you keep the LEDs on long enough to destroy the op-
amp, so it's not worth worrying about yet.

Points Ignition

Cars with points ignition seem to work with this circuit, but the suggested circuit for points ignition (from the spec sheet
for the LM2917) has some changes:

1. Modify the input (from the rev counter or points) to include an extra series resistor (20k is suggested).
2. Change the value of the input resistor from 20k to 10k.
3. Remove the capacitor on pin 1.
4. Add a 0.02uF capacitor to ground on the input of pin 1.
1. I recommend that you try my circuit, and change it if necessary.
Trouble Shooting

Steps to follow if the shift light doesn't work when you construct it:

1. With the engine running check the input to the circuit (rev counter input) for a pulse. An oscilloscope is ideal,
otherwise check that the input has an AC component to it, which should rise with increasing revs.

2. With the circuit powered up check that you get 7.5V at pins 8 & 9 - this is set from the internal zenier diode in the
LM2917.

3. With everything connected together check for a voltage on pins 5 and 10. This should rise as the revs increase. If it
does not then you will need to adjust the capacitor on the input to pin 1. I used a prototype board to try out many
different capacitor/resistor combinations, and picked the ones that gave the lease ripple on the output from the
LM2917.

4. Check the voltage fed into the op-amp from the variable resistors. When the output from pin 5 gets above the output
from the variable resistor the light should go on.

5. If everything checks out so far then you need to check the polarity of the LEDs. For testing I used two LEDs wired in
opposite polarity so one would light even if I connected them to the circuit backwards.

6. Have you connected the LEDs to ground, not +12V?