h a l f b a k e r yExpensive, difficult, slightly dangerous, not particularly effective... I'm on a roll.
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Simple device with two inputs, speed and & tach, plus a volume and a button for programming. Two outputs, one visual and one audio. Take the speed input and divide by the tach to produce each of the gear ratios which are displayed on an analog or digital gauge. It could be taught that after being
hooked up and driven in each gear. For audio output, no sound is made when the car is in gear or not moving. When the car is moving and not in gear, two tones are played, one to match the closest gear ratio and one that tells how to get to that gear. Low tone to signal RPMs too low, etc.
Question taken from previous two submissions from links.
Acoustic Clutch sync indicator
Acoustic_20clutch_20sync_20indicator
[MisterQED, Feb 19 2008]
Real Shift Indicator
Real%20Shift%20Indicator
[MisterQED, Feb 19 2008]
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Name changed to better describe idea. |
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Speed input / tach - Okay, 45 mph/2500. What a terrifically useful number....Nope, you need to incorporate the gear the car is in. to make these numbers useful.
What's your plan on how to determine which gear the car is in easily?
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Alternately, you can take the RPM on each side of the clutch and do the math by those, but those data are even more difficult to come by unless built into the tranny from the manuf.
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Wow, three people have copied my idea. I feel honored? :)
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Easy, when you first plug the thing in, hold down the button to put it in "program mode". Then start driving. Each time you put the car in gear, push the button to program the correct ratio for each gear in order. Once you have gone thru all gears, push and hold the button again to exit "program mode". Now when ever the ratio matches one of those settings the car must be in gear or matching the gear. |
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So you would then start off with silence (zero speed), drop the car in first, release the clutch, as soon as the car started moving your would hear the low tone for first gear and a rising low tone for the incorrect speed match. Once the clutch locked up, silence again. Once you were ready to shift again, push in the clutch, let off the gas and you would hear the tone for first gear and a rising tone for the unmatched clutch, then it would shift over to the higher base tone for second gear and the unmatched clutch tone would rise from low but getting higher until it matched and then silence as you dropped it into second. etc. |
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//Wow, three people have copied my idea. I feel honored? :)// You should be. You asked the right question, which I usually find is harder than finding the right answer. |
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Many older cars had these features built in. Loud engines, noisy weak syncros, harsh clutches and soft suspensions all gave the driver immediate feedback on shifting performance. Improvements in the gearbox have allowed for really ham fisted behavior. Do kids these days lack the vestibular sense? What about teaching driving as an art rather than attaching yet another gadget? Anyway it still gets my vote because it could be used initially to teach people who are not in tune with devices. |
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//then it would shift over to the higher base tone for second gear// |
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What if i were shifting from 3rd gear to 5th gear (as i frequently do), or from 4th down to 2nd?
Unless I'm mistaken, you're trying to remove the need for the system to sense the gear the user will be in by assuming what it is. What happens when i'm crusing along at 55mph and then there is a traffic jam that slows me to 20mph? I will go from 5th gear straight down to 2nd. How will the system know which gear to generate a tone for? |
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You could go from first to forth or whatever. I used to do this in my old 67 Cougar, but it ate the clutch. The system knows the gears by their ratios and assigns a set tone for each gear in order, so first gear is assigned an A note, second a B, third a C and forth D. Let's say first gear is 2MPH per 1000RPM, second is 6mph per 1000RPM, third is 14 and forth is 25. (And yes, I think this was a close approx of what it was, being a early muscle car with 4.11 rears that got crappy mileage, but could almost lift the front tires off the ground off the line.) |
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So you start off raise the RPMs up to 1500 and drop the clutch. You would hear the A note because the system knows ~0/1.5 is closer to 2(1st) than 6(2nd). You would also hear the low tone signaling that you are going to slow for that gear. As the clutch grabbed, the background note would raise till both went silent as you reached 3mph/1500rpm. You then gun the gas and get up to 10mph/5000rpm. You hit the clutch and cut the throttle and hear the base tone switch from A with high and rising clutch tone switch to a B with a low and rising clutch tone, then silence as the two match second, then a B with a high and rising clutch tone, switching to a C with a low and rising clutch tone, then silence the engine reaches 700 RPM and you drop into third. |
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Go into any gear you want. The system only knows what the matching points are based on speed/RPM. The system then guides you to them using a base tone based on the closest gear and a second tone to tell you which way it is from where you are. Once you are there it goes silent again. |
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I can go from 3rd to 5th because i know what my ratios are pretty well, i have the engine rpm down just right when i get off the clutch.
Back to your idea: I have read it some six-hundred times and i believe i now understand what you are doing. (i just erased two paragraphs of writing which basically said i had no idea how this was supposed to work)
You've got the system making a tone for the current wheel RPM. The system, when the clutch is depressed, will make a tone based on both the current engine RPM and the gear that the current engine RPM lends itself best to.
As the engine RPM rose or lowered, the tone would change to indicate what gear would be close to working at the current rates, and it would match when the rates were perfect.
This would theoretically work to replace a need to determine what gear the user wishes to enter, as it would tell you which gear you could currently enter given the conditions, as well as how well matched you are to that gear.
I believe that learning to work with these sounds would be just about as difficult as learning to work with the engine sounds that are already there. It would also be more difficult if you like music, or if, like me, you have a convertible.
This could be bakeable instead, as a visual readout, with a number (the gear you are closest to) in the middle of some LEDs which represent if you are high or low for that gear. Then, as your engine RPM rises or lowers (and your road speed as you coast), the number in the middle would change appropriately. |
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Congrats on the convertable, I drive a BMW Z3, so I can relate. As stated there would be two outputs, one gauge plus audio. I visualized the gauge as a tach gauge (just numbers 1-6), except the numbers would display what gear you were in or were near to, but digital displays are doable also. I just don't like them as much as they must be read and not just glanced at. I like the accent the audio, because sound is less distracting and allows you to keep your eyes on the road. If you are worried about hearing the tones, just up the frequency as high freqs cut through background noise better. |
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I had a 96 GMC Sonoma which had a "shift"
light on the dash which lit up when I
reached a "shift point" I hated that thing. |
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No annoying lights, just a gauge that looks like a tach. Doesn't make a sound unless you are shifting and if you don't want that, just turn the volume off. |
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This doesn't tell you when to shift, but how to correctly time a quick shift and save your clutch. |
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Ah. I see. Well done then. |
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