My EGT/CHT Story

 

Introduction:

 

As long as my bike was stock didn’t seem to have a problem. Set up everything as per the service manual and it ran fine. But after a few miles one engine would start acting up. I would get it checked and sure enough there was excessive wear or seizure marks on one side. This got me wondering why is it that both cylinders never fail together. Why is it that its always one side having more wear and tear than the other. Obviously the factory jetting recommendations and turn air screw out 1.5 turns wasn’t working. For some reason one cylinder always seems to go first.

 

If this was happening on a twin. Then the same must apply to a single. Yet I put it out of my mind.  Soon we where looking for more power from our bikes. It starts with the simple things like tweaking the carbs for more power. Playing around with the ignition timing. Shaving the heads, changing the air filters. To eventually porting the motors. We soon found that engine life on modified bikes was drastically lower than stock bikes.

 

First we started sizing up a lot of pistons. This was fixed by increasing the clearance given during rebore. So no more seizures and power started to climb and climb. But soon we encountered another problem. The pistons where now getting holed. So no more seizures but melted pistons crows just as bad. We fixed it band aid style by jetting really rich. But with this we lost power.

At around this time I decided it was time to get an EGT / CHT to help. Early days involved running around with a glass thermometer in one pocket. This was later changed to a cheap electronic temp gauge that was capable of reading up to 150c. And at best we could only measure the temp on the outside of the bend pipe or the engine head fins. After the bike was stopped.  This is no good as it takes a considerable amount of time for an increase in the engines temp to reach the outside fins of the head.

So we finally decided to go with a conventional EGT / CHT design. This was with a thermocouple and a dial gauge type setup. The first thing I noticed was that it took a long time for the gauge to register any change in temp. Another problem was that accuracy was woefully inadequate. Because the output from the Thermocouple is not linear. And because each thermocouple doesn’t give the exact same reading we realized that a better way was needed. As my father is a pilot I had an opportunity to study the instruments on the Jet and the Palatus aircraft. The temperature probes used in the Aircraft seemed to be responding much faster and with much more accuracy than my gauges. All this while we continued to hole, size or break pistons.

 

It was at this stage that we decided that the only solution was to go digital. We needed really fast response time, with as much accuracy as possible. Digital was the only route left. As this is what the aviation industry was using and it was the most reliable and accurate.

 

We have now completed our Digital gauges for any application. The gauges are so accurate that they can be used for sensing body temp with an accuracy of 1/10th of a degree to measuring temps in excess of 1000c. This level of digital accuracy was made possible by very special ICs and processors that have only just been released into the market. We are confident that nobody else is using these special components.

Out of respect to all the many engines and pistons destroyed in the past we named this new product the piston saver.

 

Piston Saver Available Options:

 

All models come with two display options. LCD or 7 Segment LED Displays. All models can be safely operated between 0-1000c or 32-1800F. You need to mention if you want the results displayed in Centigrade or Fahrenheit.

ECONOMY Engine Management system.

  1. Economy Model.: 1 Line LCD 1 Sensor Price Rs 1800/- or 60$
  2. Economy Model: 1 Line LCD 2 Sensors Rs  2800/- or  90$
  3. Economy Model with LED Alarm Light. Add 10$ per sensor. i.e. Red LED will glow when temp exceeds preset temp. (You tell us what you want the preset to be).
  4. Economy Model with  Tachometer Function. (Can toggle between Tacho Mode or Sensor mode) 3500 or 120$
  5. Economy model with 2 Line display to you can view both Tacho and Sensor Data 140$
  6. Option for toggle switch to switch between C/F add 10$ Or Rs 400/-
  7. Option to have engine killed or miss every other spark after presets are reached add 10$ or Rs 400/- for switch.

 

RACING MODELL / Complete Engine Management System:

 

  1. Available with 2 or 4 Sensors: Available with 4 Line LCD Display.
  2. Standard options include.
    1. Toggle between F/C
    2. Toggle between Engine kill or not kill when preset limit reached.
    3. Ability to set / program own preset values. For each sensor.
    4. Ability to store and later display max values reached during a run.
    5. Ability to store and later display max RPM reached.
    6. Ability to display all values at once on 4 Line LCD Display.

 

Price for 2 Sensor Model with Tach: Rs 8000/- 200$

Price for 4 Sensor Model with 4 Line Display Rs 10,000 or 250$

 

Prices subject to change without notice:

All units are Digital and Calibrated before being sent out. They will maintain their accuracy no matter what Thermocouple is used. As system has inbuilt tests to adjust to thermocouple changes.

Custom Units with 4-12 sensors can be developed on request. You will note that our costliest 4 Sensor units are priced cheaper than most analogue twin sensor units. This is to encourage every engine owner to buy and use one.

 

Do I need an EGT/CHT

 

Q: I run a stock motor do I need an EGT or CHT?

A: Your engines number one enemy is heat. By controlling the amount of heat the engine experiences you can prolong engine life. Reduce wear and tear of components inside the engine. And you can improve the fuel economy by tuning the carbs right.

 

Q: How will it be mounted:
A: We provide a small metal rectangular box that can be mounted to the handle bar.

 

Q: How is it powered?

A: It can be powered by a 12 Volt DC Bat on the bike or from the direct output of the lighting coil. Operating range is 9-14 Volts d/c. The unit will have an inbuilt Rectifer to convert any lighting coil output to d/c it will also work with a 9 Volt Bat.

 

Q: Is the LCD Backlit.

A: Yes it is.

 

Q: How do you achieve such fast response and accuracy.

A: We are using state of the Art digital components and a 16 Bit CPU. This unit is on par or better than instrumentation used in Aviation

 

Q: What info do you need from me when ordering

A: We need the Make and Model of your engine. We need to know how many sensors you want. What options you want and what type of display you prefer.

 

Q: I have a old analogue unit can the sensors from this unit be used with your system.

A: Yes if they are type K they can be used.

 

Q: I already have an Analogue unit with two sensors. Do I really need a digital unit.

A: Well the first thing we learnt while doing this project is that the analogue units are really in-accurate. The results are at best a wild guess compared to the accuracy and speed at which the digital unit works. Your Dial gauge analogue units are basically just a micro volt coil that displays the voltage output from the Thermocouple. As you know the output from Thermocouples are not lenier. To accurately translate voltage received from the sensor you need a look up table. You also need to perform what’s called cold junction compensation. Without these two items the unit your using is a real waste of time and was probably built in China for 2$. That’s what a micro volt coil costs.

 

Q: What’s with all the hype about accuracy and speed. Isnt it over kill.

Ans: We kid you not. This unit can not be beat. It has a digital resolution of 12 bits. An accuracy of  0.25c.. a conversion time of .17seconds. A 40 pin CPU / Micro controller. And exhibits a thermocouple accuracy of 8LSBs. Try and find a unit with features like this anywhere.

 

Ps: Latest news is all units will come with an inbuilt Digital Tachometer. In addition to the red warning LEDs we will also Flash the complete display. And offer a buzzer option.