Voltmeter & Ammeter

Auto Addict · 11 July 2008, 07:41:19

Thinking of fitting a voltmeter & ammeter to my facelift.

Anyone suggest an appropriate place to mount them, so that they look like part of the car.

Would the wiring be difficult?

Mr Skrunts · 11 July 2008, 07:46:52

A while back I was wanting to put a gauge in my mini facelift but no matter what, I just could not think of a place to fit it.

I was thinking of fitting a dual mode gauge for oil pressure and temp. My only option really is to fit it under the bonnet. Although I couldnt keep an eye on it whilst driving at least they could be checking weekly when checking top ups. Whether it ever gets fitted is annother thing.

DC · 12 July 2008, 14:35:02

have you seen a cadilac catera dashboard. it has gauges in place of our TIDs/MIDs. Looks good but am not sure i would trade MID for 2 gauges

Mr Skrunts · 12 July 2008, 15:05:49

Pity they didnt build into the display oil pressure, volts and amps like they did with the clock. Would have been a nice option.

zirk · 12 July 2008, 15:07:21

A Polish friend of mine did exactly that on his MV6.

Cant remember if the Catera Dash was Volts and Amps, or Volts and Oil Preasure, but he remounted the MID above the Rear View mirror in a Clock housing from a Escort I believe.

Looked really cool, problem is, his was a Pol Plate Left Hand Drive so it just slotted in. Not sure if they ever made a RHD Catera.

Auto Addict · 13 July 2008, 06:58:35

I think I'll abandon the idea.

Andy B · 13 July 2008, 11:03:36

QuoteI think I'll abandon the idea.

There are some pods that sit on the 'A' pillar for extra gauges, but they look as though they'd be more suited to a Max Powered Courser.

DC · 13 July 2008, 23:17:19

That idea with repositioning MID is not bad at all. Would it fit by the radio? BTW Cateras only LHD

zirk · 14 July 2008, 11:08:19

QuoteThat idea with repositioning MID is not bad at all. Would it fit by the radio? BTW Cateras only LHD

I guess it would fit where ever you could make it fit, Radio, Hmm, Pre Face or Face Lift?

What about loosing one of the Air Vents!

ither way your be OK with the Catera dash being an LHD Opel.

Let us know if you ever decide to do it

DC · 14 July 2008, 21:47:36

there are quite a few other things in plan for this year. projector lights, new MID, parking sensors, new stereo with amp and sub... possibly new rims (new tyres for sure), tints...some of these are just waiting to be fitted. we will see what future brings

Marks DTM Calib · 14 July 2008, 22:29:46

I am very interested in how anybody plans to connect an ammeter to a car which takes 200Amps cranking, upto 120 amps when running and still expects to see sub 1 amp draw when its turned off......plus what is proposed to be use as the measuring shunt without affecting the operation of everything!

DC · 14 July 2008, 22:42:37

dont know about ammeter ( and what would one want it for), but voltmeter makes sence.

zirk · 15 July 2008, 02:00:43

QuoteI am very interested in how anybody plans to connect an ammeter to a car which takes 200Amps cranking, upto 120 amps when running and still expects to see sub 1 amp draw when its turned off......plus what is proposed to be use as the measuring shunt without affecting the operation of everything!

Amp meters these days generally monitor the charging circuits rather than the battery drain, Good point about the shunt but again with today's technology, shunts aren't required but instead use inductive loops around the target cable which are capable of measuring mA to hundreds of Amps.

I like your style of thinking though, nice one.

Marks DTM Calib · 15 July 2008, 08:31:30

Quote
QuoteI am very interested in how anybody plans to connect an ammeter to a car which takes 200Amps cranking, upto 120 amps when running and still expects to see sub 1 amp draw when its turned off......plus what is proposed to be use as the measuring shunt without affecting the operation of everything!

Amp meters these days generally monitor the charging circuits rather than the battery drain, Good point about the shunt but again with today's technology, shunts aren't required but instead use inductive loops around the target cable which are capable of measuring mA to hundreds of Amps.

I like your style of thinking though, nice one.

1) Its no good measuring the charging current when I suspect that AA is more interested in battery drain.....

2) The field monitor types also can not measure the wide range required, to get the low resolution requires small magnetic cores or lots of turns of wire.....chuck big currents through and you either saturate the cores or produce large EMF's which throw the readings off the scale!

zirk · 21 July 2008, 14:11:59

QuoteA Polish friend of mine did exactly that on his MV6.

Cant remember if the Catera Dash was Volts and Amps, or Volts and Oil Preasure, but he remounted the MID above the Rear View mirror in a Clock housing from a Escort I believe.

Looked really cool, problem is, his was a Pol Plate Left Hand Drive so it just slotted in. Not sure if they ever made a RHD Catera.

Catera Dash Pic, cant see very well but looks like Oil and Battery Guages.

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Voltmeter & Ammeter