17 replies to this topic

[mrmeds]

Had one of these fitted at my request by mini specialist about 3 - 4 years  ago - but I get a weird flicking of the needle back and forth every so ften !. it sweeps back and forth when ignition is switched on , as part of normal process , so assume this random fli king is down toa bad earth of bad live connection.

It is wired direct to 12v ignition lead apparrently , ( white ) according to instructions , but i'm not sure whre the earth goes,/ Before I start dismantling my interior and trying to follow wires - does anyone have expierinc e of fitting one of these personally ?

 

Anyone got any ideas as to the most likely earth point itr will be wired into ? - Thinking it could be a bad connection with body work of ground , which may or may not be near the actual speedo ? Tried following the wiring diagrams but struggling to work  them out ?

 

 

[tmsmini]

Depending on which sensor you are using, it is possible that the shrink tubing they use to adapt to the speedo gear may be wearing out causing slippage.

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[Spider]

I doubt it's a bad power supply from your description. If power is removed for all but the very shortest of time, they do the 'dance' again on powering up. A very brief power loss won't be noticed.

 

I've come across similar issues (needle flickering etc) and found it was the sender. They seem to be poor quality and don't last, even taking in to account the issue tmsmini had above (and yes, I have come across that too). Most of this type don't have any type of bearing or mechanical support for the magnet / shaft and just seem to flog themselves to death. A friend even had one start to smoke. Some are only rated for 5 Volts and the in-line type that Mini Spares are (were ?) offering were only 1 pulse per rev. so they wouldn't register until you are doing around 15 mph.

I haven't yet found a suitable off the shelf sender. Ideally, they need to be a minimum of 8 pulse or more in a Mini.

[tmsmini]

I have had them wear out as well. They flop around in a wide arc after removal. It is hard to believe that one is not available that fits Smiths speedos directly and is made well.

[Spider]

I gave up and made my own;-

 

 

[dotmatrix]

interesting read as I have a new sensor from minispares on my shelf waiting for me to buy a smiths 80mm universal digital speedo.

Edited by dotmatrix, 17 March 2025 - 09:00 PM.

[Midas Mk1]

Highly recommend the haltech gps sender for these, super smooth and accurate.

[dotmatrix]

Highly recommend the haltech gps sender for these, super smooth and accurate.

 

also through a dense forest?

[Spider]

interesting read as I have a new sensor from minispares on my shelf waiting for me to buy a smiths 80mm universal digital speedo.

 

The ones that had early on that have the cable coming off at right angles work for a while, but I found not ideal as they are only 6 pulse. The later ones, with the cable 'inline' coming out the back were uselss as they were on single pulse.

 

 

Highly recommend the haltech gps sender for these, super smooth and accurate.

 

also through a dense forest?

 

 

The GPS pick-ups are just about junk to me, we have loads of tunnels around here and I've found GPS signal around tall builds quite hit and miss. They are also not legal here, like for the same reasons.

[evoderby]

Highly recommend the haltech gps sender for these, super smooth and accurate.

Fully agree, junked the crappy MS mechanical sender within a day…fitted GPS and never looked back. Legal? Well I guess my straight cut drops, maniflow big bore and 45dcoe are not exactly legal on drive by noise as well…especially when running tunnels  

[mrmeds]

thanks for the replies - the actual digital odomoeter dims in and out often when the flicking occurs, which makes me think it could be an earth problem.

Also just had a total engine rebuild , and I would have hoped someone might have noticed /tried to sell me a new cable if it looked knackered - they seemed to have rpelaced everything else !

[PoolGuy]

I gave up with the flakey offerings and got one from Sales Marketing, info here>>> https://www.theminif...ng-below-20mph/

[mrmeds]

Depending on which sensor you are using, it is possible that the shrink tubing they use to adapt to the speedo gear may be wearing out causing slippage.

i can see on minispares , that you don't need the shrink on post 1980 minis- mine is a 1989 

[mrmeds]

Well have replaced my main ground to battery - no change - and started looking at the rats nest of wires behind my dashboard trim - in p[rocess I managedf to mess up the smiths rev counter - so that it stopped working when lights put on - this appeared to be a dodgy earth connection where the wires are joined - so fixed this - will take speedo off on saturday to see if I can see any better- but looks like all earth connections go the main wiring loom in dash area.

 Should I be checking where this joins the body -- and if so - whre the heck is that !!!?

[mrmeds]

ok , out for an hour plus today , and speedo was fine for most of it. Then the numbers starting getting brighter /duller /slow flickering and hey preston , at same time , the needle started getting erratic- so definitely thinking earth or power problem - maybe as it gets warm resistance goes up in wire leading to symptoms appearing