Gauges - voltage, temperature and tacho

[Windsock]

G'day,

Wanting to install some reasonable quality guages and have been surprised at the price range seen. Have looked at Speco (Super cheap), autometer & auto Guage (Ripco), autometer (Racer direct), and VDO (various).

Any others?

Any recommendations based on accuracy, durability and cost?

I'd like the basics covered like water temperature, battery voltage and RPM (diesel so off alternator).

[muddyhilux]

i have auto gauge in my truck and wifes skyline,never had any trouble with water and oil temps,but have had issues with oil pressure but i think that was my fault coz i may have accidently touched wires together i shouldnt have but yeh,i had a small budget so auto gauge is what i got and id use them again,just would take more care with wiring but im no sparky,cant comment re voltage and rpm but yeh,hope that helps a bit

[Windsock]

i have auto gauge in my truck and wifes skyline,never had any trouble with water and oil temps,but have had issues with oil pressure but i think that was my fault coz i may have accidently touched wires together i shouldnt have but yeh,i had a small budget so auto gauge is what i got and id use them again,just would take more care with wiring but im no sparky,cant comment re voltage and rpm but yeh,hope that helps a bit

Cheers for the feedback Muddyhilux . Can relate to you on the budget bit. Have gone thru some money lately and now the budget is skinny - just need to know that what I spend it on is going to do the job a while.

[Jafa]

Autometer is good stuff, but not so cheap, Speco, I have a water temp in my DD surf thats works most of the time and its mechanical. Nothing wrong with VDO either

[Windsock]

Autometer is good stuff, but not so cheap, Speco, I have a water temp in my DD surf thats works most of the time and its mechanical. Nothing wrong with VDO either

Yep, I use a Speco mechanical water temp also... been reliable so far but I suspect it's accuracy sometimes. Would love to be able to afford either Autometer or VDO .

Can anyone say the expensive guages are more accurate than the cheaper ones? I have asked various shop people about +/- tolerances in the various guages accuracy and none of them could tell me anything...

[aroma]

if going electic sender you must make sure the sender and guage match something to do with the ohms or some thing they should know at the shop found this out the hard way
hope this helps
someone might correct me if i'm wrong

[gimmemud]

I thought autometer and auto guage were made by the same people and one just cost more? Have a look on tardme some on there go pretty cheap and they have combo deals sometimes also. Good luck

[Jafa]

Auto meter and Auto guage are totally different, Autometer is US made, top quality and expensive. Autoguage is taiwanewse I think , and of dubious quality, but at a good price. Unfortunately Autometer have a line in their range called autoguage so thats where the confusion comes in. I wonder if the makers of Autoguage named their products that on purpose

[Bulletproof]

I run all VDO gauges and they give complete confidence that what I am reading is right. The temperature gauge is sensitive enough that it varies 3 degrees as the thermostat opens and shuts.

If you have a hilux you definately want to fit an after market temperature gauge as the factory one can't be trusted. I have disconnected my one and the temperature on the gauge still reads normal .

Cheers Richard

[cool__bananas]

dont need a temperature gauge, when you see/ hear the water blowing out of the bottle it means its hot

but in my truck i hav all autometer, revs, gearbox temp, motor temp and oil psi, they seem te accurate

[Windsock]

Good informaton about the confusion between Auto Gauge names, cheers. Had seen the good ones online and had wondered why Ripco were selling them for so cheap - obviously they were the taiwan ones.

Yep, had heard and seen VDO accuracy but also the price. Whats that saying? "Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten" so maybe just have to breathe deep and had over the visa Hmmm, VDO or Autometer...? Don't seem to be any other mid value mid quality gauges out there to chose from...

Next question... hooking up a tacho to a diesel engine via the alternator... any advice there. Talked a bit to Badnuz about a device that gets wired onto the alternator as an interface to pretty much any make of tachometer. Any other methods anyone else has used to fit an aftermarket tacho to a diesel?

[2MEKE]

Autometer's "entry level"' gauges are the Autogage series...good quality but not a lot cheaper so I got the Ultralite series as i prefered the look.
I've bought all my gauges (Autometer) from Carl at http://www.engineparts.net.nz
His prices were the best I found and gauges not in stock he got in from Oz in 2-3 days

[tallsam66]

I brought gauges for my hotrod from here, there service was excellent & way cheaper than in NZ.

http://www.summitracing.com/

[dazza85]

What do people think of digital gauges like these ??

[tallsam66]

What do people think of digital gauges like these ??

The trouble with gauges like that is harder to read...its easier & faster to just glance at a needle & see when its over the limit etc

[mercutio]

a handy thing to do with needle guages is to rotate them so that when they are at normal operating temperature the needle is pointing straight up makes it more noticeable if things aren't quite right

[Windsock]

Bump! Cheers for the advice and ideas. Appreciate it. As soon as the next installment of the salary appears, will move on either VDO or Autometer or similar.

Next question... hooking up a tacho to a diesel engine via the alternator... any advice there. Talked a bit to Badnuz about a device that gets wired onto the alternator as an interface to pretty much any make of tachometer. Any other methods anyone else has used to fit an aftermarket tacho to a diesel?

Still interested in any ideas or experience with aftermarket tachos onto diesel engines... anyone?

[mercutio]

check if vdo make one that runs of a sensor positioned next to the crank shaft pulley
just suggesting that as they supply mercedes their gauges and that is how they measure their revs
makes it easy for me when i put my new motor in the g my rev counter will work fine the redline i have marked on the counter will be wrong though

[Windsock]

check if vdo make one that runs of a sensor positioned next to the crank shaft pulley
just suggesting that as they supply mercedes their gauges and that is how they measure their revs
makes it easy for me when i put my new motor in the g my rev counter will work fine the redline i have marked on the counter will be wrong though

Cheers Merc, that reminded me of a small monitor/sensor on the bottom of the diesel injector drive pulley that looks like it was a magnet/pass counter or pulse counter or similar. If not for RPM it may be for drive belt condition but my guess is it is RPM. I'll look into that one as I had forgotten about it till your post... Motor is a Nissan LD28 out of a Nissan Laurel 1986 if anyone can give me a few clues abut what the sensor did.

[Windsock]

BTW, what you say about the Mercedes engine and VDO may be a winner for me because I have heard the Nissan LD28 is loosely based on a Mercedes motor (don't know which one) - I may be wrong as I have heard it i also a myth...

[Windsock]

OK, had a bit of time today due to an almost blown seal on the slave brake cylinder in the rear of the truck so no play today.

Research on the web about the sensor behind the Injector Pump pulley on the Nissan LD28 motor would indicate it is a sensor usually used to control EGR (zorst gas recirc) (see http://nissandiesel.dyndns.org/viewtopi ... ey&start=0 for more details if interested). When I pulled this engine out of the car it was not connected to anything so it has sat there since installation in the truck till Mercutio prompted my memory about it.

There has been a bit of work done on the forum (linked above) in the states to get this to work for a tacho (below)



Seeing as I am no electronics fan, I will get a friend to look at this for interpretation and feasibility.

Otherwise, another option apparently is this device called the tinytach (below)




http://www.tinytach.com/tinytach/diesel.php#

From the forum pages on the LD28, the hitachi alternator commonly used on these engines doen't have the ability for a plug-in tacho pick-up and again, the author has had to make somethng up...



All useful info and I will eventually get to a tach installed.

[91Rangie]

This looks easier http://cgi.ebay.com/WHITE-FACE-REV-COUN ... .m63.l1177
At todays rate about $100

[91Rangie]

or this http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DAKOTA-D ... 0088731489

[Windsock]

This looks easier http://cgi.ebay.com/WHITE-FACE-REV-COUN ... .m63.l1177
At todays rate about $100

Hi 91Rangie,

Yep, white faced gauge is an AutoMeter Auto Gauge model. I don't see any description of how it hooks to the engine other than the quote "...is very easy to fit and suitable for novice installation." If it connects to the alternator then I would still need an interface of some sort as there is no external plugs other than for power out. If it connects elsewhere then I'd like to know more.

or this http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DAKOTA-D ... 0088731489

As for counting teeth on a flywheel, I don't know. Seems like a good idea in theory, and obviously there is a product in it as shown, but I have a sensor in behind the Injector Pump pulley already with two wires off it. I put a multimeter onto it a short while ago and registered a small fluctuating voltage. Very rough assessment as I was trying to hold the two wires and rev the engine at the same time. A more accurate test later with alligator clips instead of hands and a better multimeter I think.

Might be a talk with an auto electrician I know on monday or tuesday I think with some of these ideas.

[2MEKE]

Yep, white faced gauge is an AutoMeter Auto Gauge model.

Auto Gauge = Taiwanese
Auto gage = Auto Meter

Have a look here http://autometer.com/cat_gaugeop.aspx?sid=1

[91Rangie]

I'll ask him a question about how it hooks up

[91Rangie]

Well back to the drawing board he said it connects to the alternator or option 2

[Windsock]

Well back to the drawing board he said it connects to the alternator or option 2

Thanks for asking about that on my behalf.

Have had a good read up on the alternator alterations as shown on the website (listed in my previous post) all i really need to do is solder a wire onto one of the diodes inside to get a readable signal. From there it is a case of getting an adjustable tacho to counter the ratios of the pulleys I think.

Other option and I think for simplicity, if I can get one in NZ no problems would be the little tinytach device that attaches to one of the fuel injector lines with a piezometer type device I think. Seems the newer ones have a backlight for nighttime reading and a non-volatile flash memory rather than requiring a primary battery for memory storage power.

[FUBAR_nz]

goto wreckers, find ld28 laraul thats has tacho,get the alternator amp module
the old box larauls that where taxis (shit loads in welly)
they where x jap driver training cars with ld28 and had rev counters

[Windsock]

goto wreckers, find ld28 laraul thats has tacho,get the alternator amp module
the old box larauls that where taxis (shit loads in welly)
they where x jap driver training cars with ld28 and had rev counters

G'day FUBAR_nz,

Originally got the motor out of a Laurel and kept much of the loom, and some of the dash gauges. I tried to put it all back together to get the tacho working but failed so must have left something of importance in the car body that shipped to the scrapmetal guy.

What does the Alternator Amp Module look like? I have some spare alternators and none have anything attached to the outside.

This project is about to get revived after stalling with redundancy from work. Reemployed again so time to look at projects again.

Cheers for the advice