Using the Gates Tension App.

[Luddite]

Very garage-friendly weather today so I thought I'd get a couple of jobs done on the Evo so it's fresh for those imminent Spring rides.

The first task was to change the oil (Motul 7100 10W40), filter (K&N KN153) and also check and clean the gauze filter. I can definitely recommend the K&N filters with the hex heads - they really make the oil change a breeze and allow you to easily torque up the cartridge to the recommended figure (11Nm).

Anyway, to get to the gauze filter, you have to remove the exhaust mid-pipe, which also gives you access to the cambelt covers, so it made sense to check the belts at the same time.

The current belts are genuine Ducati and are now three years old. I hadn't planned to replace them, (I've been changing at four year intervals), but it's certainly worth regularly checking their condition if you're going past the recommended two year intervals. Of course, since Maggsy helpfully alerted us to the new five year service intervals http://www.ukmonster.co.uk/monster/s...ad.php?t=58960 regular checks should definitely be on your service schedule as a lot can happen in five years!

Visually, the belts appeared perfect and the tensioner bearings are still nice and smooth. As for belt tension, usually I use the allen key method - but not today. I have finally entered the digital age (kind of!).

My faithful old Windows phone finally gave up the ghost the other day and, since there seem to be fewer and fewer apps and sites that will work on it now, I decided to bite the bullet and get an Android phone instead.

One benefit of this acquisition is that I can now use the Gates belt tension app. Both Ducati and Exactfit give recommended tensions in Hertz so it should be a useful tool. Some reviews of the app suggested it was hard to get consistent results. The Gates app uses the phone's mic to pick up the sound waves given off by the belt when it's 'plucked'. It then analyses the sound and displays the frequency in Hertz. Being audio based, it is susceptible to interference so a quiet testing environment is essential. I believe even old fluorescent lights can emit a low frequency buzz, which can confuse it, so be aware. (The genuine Ducati tester uses an infrared beam to read the frequency so won't suffer from that sort of interference.)

To give the best chance of consistent results, I bought a cheap remote mic and made a bracket to hold it in a rubber grommet.



The bracket is attached to the engine using the cambelt cover mounting screws and holds the mic dead centre between the relevant pulleys and 1cm from the belt itself. It keeps your hands free to check the tension and seemed to work as I got five similar readings on each belt. They were within 2Hz on the horizontal and 4Hz on the vertical.





The operating range is pretty wide. Ducati's recommended tension for new belts was 140Hz but the current thinking is that this should be 110Hz max. Tension for refitting used belts is given as 100Hz. (For comparison, Exactfit recommend 99Hz for their new belts.) Ducati say used belts don't need adjusting providing they are 70Hz or above, so I'm not going to make any adjustments this time.

Note that, in checking the tension, you don't need to use the cam-locking pins or loosen the floating pulleys; that's only necessary if you're actually fitting new belts or adjusting their tension. For checking, just position the horizontal and vertical cylinders in turn at TDC on compression when carrying out the check.

[buzzer]

I like the bracket idea!

I have used the gates app as well... and found it very good. I did however have some very mixed results at first until I realised that I had a background frequency in the garage of 50hz...

turns out it was the fluorescent strip lights in the garage buzzing at 50 Hz!!! the microphone must be very sensitive!

[Nasher]

Luddite, I've been struggling for a couple of hours now to tension the belts on my M1000.

I've downloaded the Gates app and it looks nothing like your images above.

I get the option of Bicycle or Motorcycle and that's all really, ands it looks like it's aimed at final drive belts not cam belts.

From doing some tests it appears the 'ping' from the cambelt isn't long enough to register.

Are the different Gates belt app available?

Thanks

Nasher.

[Luddite]

Hi Nasher.

Sorry you're having problems. My Gates app. automatically updated and now the display looks like this:



rather than the pictures in my earlier post. As far as I'm aware, this is the only version of the app. available and I believe it still works in the same way but now also gives an average of three readings.

It is quite sensitive so make sure you're in a quiet environment and switch off any florescent lights. Hold the mic steady midway between the drive pulley and tensioner and about 1cm from the belt.

If you'd like to try my external mic (3.5mm) and bracket, you're more than welcome.

[Nasher]

Luddite hi.

Yep, mine looks like that.

What I'm finding is that I can't get it to register any noise that has a duration of less than @1 sec.

So it won't register a click of my fingers right beside the mic, but will register me talking 18" away from the mic.

Or it will register me dragging a fingernail across a tabletop if I do it for more than a second, but not a shorter length of time.

There are now also very few settings to play with.

Nasher

[Nasher]

I've got an external mic for a mobile at work, and I'm actually in the office tomorrow, so will give it a go with that plugged in, as it could of course just be my phone.

Nasher.

[Luddite]

I think using an external mic gives you the best chance of getting reliable results.

I couldn't check the new app. on my Evo belts because the bike's back together again but, as I have some old belts lying around, I 'mounted' them between two aerosols to test the new app.

It seemed to work ok for me with the 'twang' registering for about half-a-second.

[Nasher]

Thanks Luddite.

It's not working for me on my Huawei, and I've now tried it with Lady Nashers Sony, and my lads Samsung, all with the same result.

There is no background noise in the garage, and I've tried turning off the Fluorescent lights etc.

It's as if there is a duration adjustment required, but the App has very little to change now.

I'll hopefully try tomorrow night with the external mic, but might also try to download another App that measures frequency.

Nasher.

[Luddite]

That's strange, Nasher, it seems to be ok on my cheap and cheerful Sony. I'm no tech expert, (hence the name!), but I wonder if you manually have to go into your phone's settings and give the app. permission to use the phone's microphone?

If you want to try my phone, mic, bracket combo, let me know as I'm only 20 minutes or so from you.

[Nasher]

Thanks Luddite you are really kind.
I might need to take you up on that.

You do indeed need to give the App permission to use the Mic, but I've done that and of course it will measure longer sounds.
I've had a good look through the phone to see if there is a sensitivity adjustment for the Mic, but can't find one.

[Luddite]

Frustrating!

I was fully anticipating having the same problems as you when I tried the app. so was pleasantly surprised when it worked without issue. Technology, eh? Don't you just love it?!

[slob]

remove/purge app from phone, restart, reinstall?

[Nasher]

I've uninstalled it and re-installed it probably 8-10 times on my phone whilst trying different things, and at least 3 times on Lady Nashers phone.

I downloaded other Frequency measuring App, which worked fine, but was a real time readout that changed so quickly I couldn't read it.

Nasher.

[Mr Gazza]

Could you have inadvertently got hold of a pirate copy of the app?

[Luddite]

It might be worth dropping an email to carbondrive@gates.com describing your problems and see if they have any suggestions.