Wodometer Instructions

Congratulations — you've reached a new level of obsessiveness when it comes to monitoring your critter! Now you can easily measure how far and how fast your little pal is going.

The Wodometer consists of a Sigma Bike Computer calibrated for a Wodent Wheel, a sticky-back magnet for mounting on the back of a wheel, and a clip for attaching the computer sensor to the wheel stand. The bike computer has been programmed to display the speed and distance for a particular size Wodent Wheel. The sticker on the back indicates the wheel size. If you wish to program for a different wheel size, or if you replace the battery (it should last about two years), refer to “Programming” below.

Installation

Installation is fairly simple. First, pick a nice flat spot for the magnet on the Wodent Wheel back panel. Make sure the spot is clean and dry, remove the backing paper from the double-sticky tape on the back of the magnet, and firmly press the magnet onto the chosen spot. (Avoid letting the sticky-back tape get wet. If it looses its stickiness, similar tape can be found in office supply stores. If you decide to bolt the magnet to the panel, be sure that no protrusions create a hazard — inside the wheel or out.)

Next, clip the sensor on the vertical portion of the wheel support stand and, by sliding it up or down and rotating it, position the rounded edge of the sensor so the magnet clears it by about an eighth of an inch or less as the wheel turns.

Finally, install the wheel so it can't shift and the back of the wheel is near a wall of the cage. Route the wire so there's no way that your critter can get to it — or the sensor. (You may have to remove the actual sensor part from the clip assembly in order to feed it through a hole in the cage wall.) This is the most important part of the installation — critters WILL chew the wire if they can get to it. This probably won't hurt them unless they scarf down an awful lot, but it won't do them any good and it'll certainly wreck the Wodometer. (If this happens, you can repair it by replacing the leads — not fun.)

The Display

The display is divided into two parts: the top part indicates the speed in either mph or kmh. The bottom part of the display indicates the time, the total distance traveled (DST), and the distance traveled on the current “trip” (TRP).

The bottom display has three different modes. If the wheel hasn't been used in over three hours and is just sitting there, the display will alternate between the time and the total distance (DST). When the wheel is in use, the display will alternate between the time and the trip distance (TRP). If the wheel isn't moving at the moment, but has been used within the last three hours, the display will cycle through all three: time, DST, and TRP. After three hours of no activity, TRP will reset to zero and stop displaying.

So, How Far is That in Wodent-Miles?

While the Wodometer can be calibrated to read speed and distance in actual human-sized miles or kilometers, there are a couple of advantages to programming it to read in more critter-sized “Wodent-miles.” Wodent-miles (or Wodent-kilometers) are one-tenth the size of our larger, human-sized equivalents. If your Wodometer is set for Wodent-miles and your critter is zipping along at 7 mph, the Wodometer will indicate 70 mhp. In addition to being a tremendous boost to their self-esteem, this provides an additional digit of resolution and allows the Wodometer to be calibrated with a little more accuracy. It also allows the distance readout to indicate those hard-earned tenths of a mile.

Programming

The Wodometer is shipped calibrated to indicate Wodent-miles for the wheel size requested. If you change wheels, replace the battery, or just decide to disappoint your critter by going to human-sized measurements, you can change the calibration in the following manner:

First, remove the back cover of the bike computer (the part where the wires are attached) by pressing down on the tab marked “PRESS” and sliding the cover down off the display module. This exposes the back of the module. (At this point you can also see where the battery is located.) Looking at the back of the module, you can see two tiny little soft-rubber dimples in the upper-left and upper-right corners. The one in the upper-left corner has “SIZE” in tiny print next to it. The one in the upper-right has “SET.” These dimples are actually buttons that are best pressed by using a ball-point pen. (If you use something sharp like a pencil point, you'll probably poke a hole in the soft rubber cover.)

The computer can go into two different programming modes: as the bottom part of the display alternates between time and distance, pressing in the SET button and holding it for a few seconds while the display is showing distance will allow you to enter the mode for setting the wheel size. (Similarly, pressing and holding SET while the display is showing the time will allow you to set the clock.)

Once you're in the mode for changing the wheel size, the bottom part of the display will show a three-digit number with the left-most digit blinking. Repeatedly pressing the SIZE button will cycle that digit from 0 through 9. When you get the desired value, pressing SET will store the value and the next digit will start blinking. After storing all three digits, the display will blink between mph and kmh so you can select which units you want. After pressing SET the final time, the computer will exit the programming mode. The value you want for the three-digit SIZE depends on which wheel you have, whether you want km or miles, or human-sized or Wodent-sized units as follows:

Junior Wheel Senior Wheel Wobust Wheel

Miles: 039 053 057

Wodent Miles: 386 532 568

Kilometers: 062 086 091

Wodent km: 621 857 914

	Junior Wheel	Senior Wheel	Wobust Wheel
Miles:	039	053	057
Wodent Miles:	386	532	568
Kilometers:	062	086	091
Wodent km:	621	857	914

Your Mileage May Vary...

We'd like to start gathering and posting at our website just how much these guys run. If you want to be a part of this, please email us and tell us the type of critter, their name, age, male or female, and how many miles they run during your average week and their top speed. Thanks!