Questionnaire closed for my product design class. Thanks for your input.

[lucas]

Hey all, I'm working on a project for my Product Design class.  It is a handlebar mounted garage door opener.

Here's how it works: you buy the plastic housing as a kit and you open up your keychain garage door opener and take the chip out of it and place it in the housing.  Then the housing mounts to your handlebar.  If you don't already have a keychain remote they are about $20 US to purchase online.

Here are some images of our prototype.  I have since painted the back black to match







Please click this link to answer 9 questions (the last 4 of those are optional).  Please forgive the funny wording it was created by an international student on my team.

Thanks for your input.

Lucas

[krsa2000]

The spacing between the handlebar grip and clutch handle is way off! No biker is going to want this placement. Back to the drawing board!

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[Kijona]

The spacing between the handlebar grip and clutch handle is way off! No biker is going to want this placement. Back to the drawing board!

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There is a difference between constructive feedback and untactful blathering.

[krsa2000]

Sorry... 😕
Just trying to keep it 'short & simple'.

I'll elaborate:

The positioning is a major design flaw, no point in further development till it is sorted.
The functionality of the bike shouldn't be compromised by little add-on gadgets.
(Design 101)
Slim down the housing and place it on the other side of the clutch perch. Riders would prefer to (maybe have to) reach for a button which they will use sporadically, then have twist their hand/wrist to use the clutch every single time.

There are plenty of aftermarket garage openers available for bikes, have a quick look around online and see what 'the competition' are doing...

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[krsa2000]

A few more points:
How do you activate the garage opener?
Did you take into account that various brands may have different button placements or even multiple buttons?
Does material used weaken the rf signal at all?

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[lucas]

It's a prototype for a class, and I was just hoping people would complete the survey.  I put the opener in the spot where the turn signal switch is on my bike for illustration purposes.  This is the spacing (as you termed it) I use everyday and it is comfortable for me.  It can be mounted anywhere on the bars where there is room.

You activate the opener by hitting the button on the front.  The plastic button presses the switch on the chip and then magic.

I did consider that different brands have different chips and I made an adapter so a genie chip will work.  The liftmaster chip is larger and fits and works without an adapter.

The abs plastic does not weaken the signal noticeably.  The opener I got the chip out of was abs.

Thanks for your feedback

[Big Rich]

Filled out the survey.

Lucas, going back to the mounting aspect: have you thought of making it with more mounting options? Those of us with clipons don't have as much space on the bars (as you know as well), so something that could be bolted on elsewhere might be of a greater use.

Oh yeah.... can you make the housing fit on 1" bars as well? In my experience, people with 1" bars tend to buy more farkles for their bikes.

[Daeouse]

submitted. . .

[lucas]

Thanks!

As for mounting options the only other option I am working on a very thin set of handlebar controls, and a button could be wired to the chip.  The thing I don't like as much about this is it adds a wire and might require soldering to the chip.  For this product, though, it is specifically to locate the button on the controls (and also be inexpensive and easy to use).

And yeah 1" bars, if this were to be marketed it would be made in 7/8 and 1" bars.  something like 35% of books out there are Harleys and they do tend to spend more accessories.  Modifying the part to the larger size is trivial, this prototype is 7/8 only to fit on my bars for demonstration.

[yamahonkawazuki]

Will answer survey questions later on today using docs net. (they accidently gave pw out lol;) ) ANYHOO, looking at pic, it seems i could use this easily as shown. HOWEVER, you could consider mounting it remotely.. ( inside light bucket perhaps. i did this with a surplus police horn.) and mount a contact switch if there is eenough room internally, running wires to contacts in controller. its self powered using a 3v lithium watch battery. usually a cr2032. they last a LOOOOOOONG time. could mount this switch on either housing or even on dash. maybe something to consider.) if keyfob is left intact it could be put inside bucket without a huge fuss, wires and remote switch mounted to look OEM. Or. you could wire it into horn circuit if you step voltage down to +3v. ( ex. BEEEP door opens,) a few ideas there. just an example my friend. i do like the idea thusfar. i did the horn thing for a friend. stepped output down to +3v
spliced into horn circuit in his gransport. it works but that can backfire if other doors use same code. his scrambles (changes each time) just a few alternatives to a good idea.

[lucas]

Who gave out a password?  The guy who made the questionnaire?

[ShowBizWolf]

I know I'm a bit late to this party!!! Awesome thread 

I wanted to do the survey but it says the drive is currently unreachable. Maybe it's because I'm on a work computer 

[pliskin]

I have a biometric retina iris reader that opens my door when I pull in. My backup opener is a timed android app that opens the door when GPS reads I'm in my driveway, (ah-em bike cave). Its all 3D printed true color nano tube composite of course. A One-of-a-kind collectable prototype.

[Kijona]

Sorry... 😕
Just trying to keep it 'short & simple'.

I'll elaborate:

The positioning is a major design flaw, no point in further development till it is sorted.
The functionality of the bike shouldn't be compromised by little add-on gadgets.
(Design 101)
Slim down the housing and place it on the other side of the clutch perch. Riders would prefer to (maybe have to) reach for a button which they will use sporadically, then have twist their hand/wrist to use the clutch every single time.

There are plenty of aftermarket garage openers available for bikes, have a quick look around online and see what 'the competition' are doing...

Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

[krsa2000]

Nice Kijona...
Just the right way to show you're constructive & not a blatherer!
(Do you know what hypocrite means? )
Where was your feedback?



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