Oh, I had a bunch of responses to peoples queries from the manufacturer which might be of interest. All reproduced with permission from Ecliptech.
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You don't need to match the revs against the tacho accurately. Some
people run without a tacho and just use a Shift-I. Matching to the
tacho makes sure that when you set your rpm points, the Shift-I knows
what your trying to program. Chris W hit the nail on the head with this
one. To be honest, you'll find most needle tachos to be rather
inaccurate (particularly at the top end), and often lag the actual
engine RPM on rapid acceleration. The accuracy of the actual RPM number
is not particularly important. The most important thing is to have
something that is consistently accurate.
Mwoodham has a good point too. The tacho signal from the ECU is not
always representative of the ignition pulse at a plug. It can be a
multiple. Either way, wasted spark or not, it's supported. You can
change the settings to 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 pulses per
engine revolution. Setting 2 is most common (default), and sometimes 1
and 4.
Chris W is right, in that most of these tachos operate by an average
reading. It can be averaged to produce an analog voltage, pulse counted
over a fixed period or also timed pulse of fixed count. These methods
are relatively slow to react to changes, and therefore not as accurate.
This is particularly true at lower RPMs.
The Shift-I uses a sophisticated algorithm to read the RPM, together
with an analog filter. The software measure "every single pulse",
accurately measuring the time between both low to high and high to low
transitions. It is pulse measuring, not pulse counting or pulse
averaging. It will detect a noise spike, reject it and still measure
the pulse as if the noise wasn't there! After the pulse passes the
noise filter, it then goes into a small buffer which ranks and picks
those most consistent. The result is a system that is very fast to
respond to engines RPM, as it is measuring ignition events, not
averaging to mask erroneous data. It was specifically designed to
respond fast, but not from a noisy signal. I'm quite proud of it
The noise rejection filter is user controlled. I don't like fully
automatic systems, as it could be unpredictable and/or unreliable
between various cars/bikes. So there are 7 sensitivity settings you can
pick from. Most people leave it on the default, 6. But if you run
direct from the low side of the coil, the optimum is usually 3 or 4. If
you get flickering, then just reduce the sensitivity. Display should be
rock stable.
Visibility was the key to this design. It was designed with 7 lights,
because it is the maximum you can comfortably recognize in your
peripheral vision. You don't have to look at the display to tell how
many lights are on. There are better things for your eyes to be looking
at ;-)
The automatic dimming function is probably more sophisticated than most
would realize. You can change the brightness at any time and it will
remember. In fact, it remembers what you set it to for the given
ambient light, and adjusts it's internal map. For example, changing
the brightness at night will not effect the brightness you set during the
day. As far as your concerned, you might adjust it once or twice and
then completely forget about the feature.
You can change the RPM range it shows to anything you want, down to a
resolution of 50 RPM. For example, lights start at 2,650 and flash at
6,150. Being digital set, you can make fine adjustments.
Water proof, no. Water resistant, yes. I=92ve only ever had one =
customer
that had one filled with water, due to it being on its side with the
bottom air vents exposed to a heavy downpour. 5 minutes with a hair
dryer fixed that. They are very robust! They are also coated with a
lacquer for protection against the elements. They should be mounted
behind a windscreen to prevent rain being forced in at speed. BTW not
that I recommend trying, but I have pictures of one running in a
fishtank!
The sensitivity setting is specifically to reject noise on the signal.
If too much noise gets through the digital filter (flickering), then
reduce it. This however is different to hunting around a point,
where a light may flicker as you hover around a particular RPM. This is
specifically addressed with the RPM Hysteresis. You'll need to
venture into the Advanced Settings Manual to see the details. By
now your probably thinking of that second cup of coffee before continuing to
read hehe. This hysteresis setting means that once a light turns on,
the engine RPM has to drop a certain amount before the light turns off.
A shift indicator that flickers isn't something you can rely on, hence
it was a feature designed in at the concept stage. In reality, its
probably a feature you won't even notice unless you look for it. If
interested, you can turn it off, or tweak how far the revs need to drop
before each light will turn off.
As for cost, please don't think its an 'economical model' because its
cheap compared to others. I'm an electronics engineer, bit of a nutter
when it comes to the technical specifics and love motorsports (from the
drivers seat). I have low overheads and no intermediate distributor and
then shop to add to the price tag. Oh... and it was initially targeted
at bikes, but was definitely designed for both bikes and cars. I'm just
not that good when it comes to marketing hehe... I'II get around to
making a separate gallery and updating the manuals when I have enough
pictures to make a separate car gallery (hint hint hehe...).
