Well,
This isn't on my Busa but I may add one to her also. The Neutrino is a digital, programmable circuit breaker/device controller. There are several digital circuit breakers on the market (I mentioned the PDM60 in another post). The Neutrino however, adds programmable power control. You can delay power on/power off (for all you HID guys), control power by temperature, control power by time, by deceleration, or pulse power. Neutrino promises additional control options and the unit can be flashed for firmware updates. The unit has 6 channels and 3 clean grounds (no more engine whine in your audio). The unit will power any combination of 60 amps, with one channel allowing a max of 20 amps and the rest allowing up to 15 amps. Channels can be programmed for amps, device control and on/off delay by your cellphone. There are 2 types of black boxes, the element ($250) and the Aurora ($350), but the Element can be upgraded later to all the features of the Aurora with a flash for ($100, you guessed it).
So that's a lot of money for a fuse block right? Well maybe so, and this is definitely a luxury item not everyone will be interested in. However I have a fuse block on the Busa running my radar, GPS, USB chargers, air horn, and heated gear. All typical things you might find on a sport-touring mount and it's great to get rid of the bag of fuses in my tool kit. So the idea of adding additional control is intriguing. For example, you can just delay the power on of your HID lights, giving you time to get the engine started. Maybe you want to charge you phone while you are in a restaurant? Just switch that circuit to stay on after power to the bike is shut down. You can also set the minimum battery voltage and the Neutrino will shut everything down when the battery level drops too low. This will help not drain the battery with items left on, but also warn of a charging issue that you might not notice until you're stranded. There is also an option to add a Mo-Door garage door opener, my personal favorite feature! So there is a lot more to this and you can look at the website if you're so inclined www.neutrinoblackbox.com.
Now there are going to be a lot of people here who will reject this as electronic B.S. But this is the future. I can see manufacturers putting this on their bikes so dealers can accessorize the bike to the customer's needs at the POS. It's also a gateway for connecting the power in your phone to the bike. The neutrino already uses your phones motion sensors, directional data and the possibilities are endless. Cool stuff and not too crazy access point at $250.
Anyway, enough of the sales stuff. The unit is easy to install. All there is are the positive and negative battery connections (they are 2 feet long, so place the unit within 2 feet of the battery), a temperature probe, the BT dongle and a 12v trigger. You can use a running light, license plate light or any 12v power source that is switched to trigger the Neutrino. Now load the app onto your cell phone and you are up and running. The temp probe and BT sender are just wrapped up and put out of the way. Very easy and straight forward. Programming the features as a bit tedious, but not difficult and relatively quick. Besides if you like you can use the default setting which functions like a typical fuse block. You attach things to the unit with a screw terminal block on the unit. There are 3 ground terminals, 6 channels for power, and a ground switch option which allows you to control power by an accessory handle bar mounted switch.
That's pretty much it. The unit works as promised and appears to be bullet (and water) proof. The Neutrino is significantly heaver than the PDM60 I had, probably due to the micro controller. One note if you want extreme waterproofing, the PDM60 will actually work underwater! A parallel market for these products is boats, so the fanatic attention to waterproofing is understandable.
The BT sender is one of those USB plugs like on your computer keyboards. I got the Y cable that allows charging a USB accessory too. When I unplugged the sender I lost the connection to my cell phone (android) and it could not find the Neutrino again. I reinstalled the app and it paired right up though. I was also happy to find out that the Neutrino stores the programming on the unit, so I didn't have to reprogram anything.
I haven't loaded the unit up completely yet or tried all of the many options, but so far the Neutrino is flawless and amazingly simple to use. I do have a lot of programming experience, so I found myself wishing for conditional operators like if/then or and/or functions. Maybe in an upgrade? I also think a light sensor would be useful. The verdict is that the Neutrino is everything promised by the manufacturer. I hope they can sell a few of these because the possibilities are bigger than the product is right now and I look forward to future upgrades. I think the audience right now are touring bikes with lots of accessories and maybe campers, who have bike off power needs.
This isn't on my Busa but I may add one to her also. The Neutrino is a digital, programmable circuit breaker/device controller. There are several digital circuit breakers on the market (I mentioned the PDM60 in another post). The Neutrino however, adds programmable power control. You can delay power on/power off (for all you HID guys), control power by temperature, control power by time, by deceleration, or pulse power. Neutrino promises additional control options and the unit can be flashed for firmware updates. The unit has 6 channels and 3 clean grounds (no more engine whine in your audio). The unit will power any combination of 60 amps, with one channel allowing a max of 20 amps and the rest allowing up to 15 amps. Channels can be programmed for amps, device control and on/off delay by your cellphone. There are 2 types of black boxes, the element ($250) and the Aurora ($350), but the Element can be upgraded later to all the features of the Aurora with a flash for ($100, you guessed it).
So that's a lot of money for a fuse block right? Well maybe so, and this is definitely a luxury item not everyone will be interested in. However I have a fuse block on the Busa running my radar, GPS, USB chargers, air horn, and heated gear. All typical things you might find on a sport-touring mount and it's great to get rid of the bag of fuses in my tool kit. So the idea of adding additional control is intriguing. For example, you can just delay the power on of your HID lights, giving you time to get the engine started. Maybe you want to charge you phone while you are in a restaurant? Just switch that circuit to stay on after power to the bike is shut down. You can also set the minimum battery voltage and the Neutrino will shut everything down when the battery level drops too low. This will help not drain the battery with items left on, but also warn of a charging issue that you might not notice until you're stranded. There is also an option to add a Mo-Door garage door opener, my personal favorite feature! So there is a lot more to this and you can look at the website if you're so inclined www.neutrinoblackbox.com.
Now there are going to be a lot of people here who will reject this as electronic B.S. But this is the future. I can see manufacturers putting this on their bikes so dealers can accessorize the bike to the customer's needs at the POS. It's also a gateway for connecting the power in your phone to the bike. The neutrino already uses your phones motion sensors, directional data and the possibilities are endless. Cool stuff and not too crazy access point at $250.
Anyway, enough of the sales stuff. The unit is easy to install. All there is are the positive and negative battery connections (they are 2 feet long, so place the unit within 2 feet of the battery), a temperature probe, the BT dongle and a 12v trigger. You can use a running light, license plate light or any 12v power source that is switched to trigger the Neutrino. Now load the app onto your cell phone and you are up and running. The temp probe and BT sender are just wrapped up and put out of the way. Very easy and straight forward. Programming the features as a bit tedious, but not difficult and relatively quick. Besides if you like you can use the default setting which functions like a typical fuse block. You attach things to the unit with a screw terminal block on the unit. There are 3 ground terminals, 6 channels for power, and a ground switch option which allows you to control power by an accessory handle bar mounted switch.
That's pretty much it. The unit works as promised and appears to be bullet (and water) proof. The Neutrino is significantly heaver than the PDM60 I had, probably due to the micro controller. One note if you want extreme waterproofing, the PDM60 will actually work underwater! A parallel market for these products is boats, so the fanatic attention to waterproofing is understandable.
The BT sender is one of those USB plugs like on your computer keyboards. I got the Y cable that allows charging a USB accessory too. When I unplugged the sender I lost the connection to my cell phone (android) and it could not find the Neutrino again. I reinstalled the app and it paired right up though. I was also happy to find out that the Neutrino stores the programming on the unit, so I didn't have to reprogram anything.
I haven't loaded the unit up completely yet or tried all of the many options, but so far the Neutrino is flawless and amazingly simple to use. I do have a lot of programming experience, so I found myself wishing for conditional operators like if/then or and/or functions. Maybe in an upgrade? I also think a light sensor would be useful. The verdict is that the Neutrino is everything promised by the manufacturer. I hope they can sell a few of these because the possibilities are bigger than the product is right now and I look forward to future upgrades. I think the audience right now are touring bikes with lots of accessories and maybe campers, who have bike off power needs.
