High end gauges

#3

NASA144 wrote:

I have no idea how you could possibly use gauges in your ashtray.

My current warning lights are banks of LEDs sitting on top of the dash, aimed right at my eyeballs. When I was fooling around with warning lights I bought a buncho of different things and tested each for brightness both on and off axis. Off axis meaning the light could be on the center console so you’d see it at an angle. The warning lights I eventually chose are really really bright. There’s no way I’d see a little SPA LED OP warning light on the center console in time to save the engine.

Temperature warning lights. I’m not convinced that these are all that useful. If you’re checking your gauges once/lap, you’ll see temperatures climbing in time to do something about it. Warning lights are needed for coolant and oil pressure. For those that are unaware of it, if you lose coolant, your temp sensor won’t tell you.

The primary reason I got the Stack’s is their analog out. I’ve tried a number of different ideas to get good sensor data to the Traqmate and nothing has worked very well. IMO the only way to do this is gauges with analog outs, or one of the expensive integrated dashboard replacement data loggers.

#4

I think if you add up all the costs your not too far off a dash/logger like the IQ3.

#5

kishg wrote:

Probably so.

But I’ve learned an ass-load about what to monitor, why to monitor, and how to monitor. Lessons learned always have a cost. Also, the charms of an integrated dash are not at all obvious to a newby.

There’s some disads of an integrated dash too. I like analog dials, for quick reading, but sometimes I want to know 213deg from 215deg because I did something different and I’m trying to understand what impact that change might have had. For a while I had both analog and digital dials. Also, a dash/logger attempts to condense a lot of info into a small place and that isn’t always ideal.

There’s the issue of flexibility too. For a while I had several analog and digital gauges wired to switches so I could switch the gauge to a different sensor. When you’re curious about what’s going on and your trying to confirm hunches or other folks opinions, your gauge system needs to have a lot of flexibility.

Sure, you can program some interesting features of the current digital dashes, but in the end, it’s only going to present the data it’s way.

The idea solution would be a faily large digital dash with a high resolution display, not primitive 20yr old LCD/backlight technology. Then you could design whatever visual features you wanted, and put them wherever you wanted on the display. Put 2 OT gauges on the right, just above your OP gauge. Make the gauges have analog needles with a digital center. Put coolant temp gauges on the right. Make the entire gauge turn yellow at an alert threshold and flash red at an alarm threshold. Make your speedo a black bar graph that surrounds your analog tach display. All of the display unit realestate should be entirely configurable. Then have soft keys around the perimeter to execute your pre-programmed instructions.

Now that would be cool.

#6

while that would be cool i think the design criteria is to allow these units to be used by average racers not IT geeks with too much time on their hands :slight_smile: I’m a bit confused by your requirement to know 213 from 215. Isn’t that why you are logging the data? To analyze after the fact, not in the car. All I’d look at is warning lights and as long as you can program several thresholds that should be sufficient for in car. The rest of the analysis would happen off track.

#7

kishg wrote:

Agreed. Once I can reliably get accurate sensor data from the data logger, there’s no use for digital gauges. I’ve high hopes that these Stack gauges will be a big step in that direction. I had to return one of the two that I bought because it was DOA. Tonight the replacement will arrive and I’ll see if I can test the calibration by running the engine a while. This is not without risk. A little too much noise and the cute blond next door will go on the warpath. \

The cute ones are often a little high strung.

#8

ah ranger, always living on the edge :slight_smile:

#9

Ranger wrote:

Actually, they are all like that. We just ignore the ugly ones.

#10

It’s street/track use now… when it’s full track the gauges will go up in the dash-vent.
I should see coolant dumping in the rear view, right?

#11

NASA144 wrote:

:laugh:

#12

NASA144 wrote:

[quote]It’s street/track use now… when it’s full track the gauges will go up in the dash-vent.
I should see coolant dumping in the rear view, right?[/quote]
Engine #5 was killed by coolant loss. The first thing that happens is that the coolant drops away from the sensor, so your temp gauge isn’t going to tell you. The driver, not me, brought the car in when oil hit 270deg.

#13

I just figured out that Autometer has a line of gauges they call “Elite” that might be a better choice than the Stack gauges. The Autometer gauges are about the same price but have more gauge colors and have a flashing warn feature. That means that you could run your gauges normally in “White”, set a warn color of Amber and then have the gauges flash Red when hitting an alarm threshold.

Stack has only white, green and red. Really needs an amber. And no flashing. The different colors are really nice. Just reading the description of the gauges doesn’t do the idea justice.

#14

IIRCC Autometer bought Stack

#15

rrroadster wrote:

Ya, I was thinking that the gauges looked awfully darn similar. Thx for the info.

#16

[quote=“Ranger” post=52139]kishg wrote:

The idea solution would be a faily large digital dash with a high resolution display, not primitive 20yr old LCD/backlight technology. Then you could design whatever visual features you wanted, and put them wherever you wanted on the display. Put 2 OT gauges on the right, just above your OP gauge. Make the gauges have analog needles with a digital center. Put coolant temp gauges on the right. Make the entire gauge turn yellow at an alert threshold and flash red at an alarm threshold. Make your speedo a black bar graph that surrounds your analog tach display. All of the display unit realestate should be entirely configurable. Then have soft keys around the perimeter to execute your pre-programmed instructions.

Now that would be cool.[/quote]

That’s funny - I’ve been investigating gauge options for our new car, and come to the same conclusion. Something like an iPad or 7" Android tablet mounted in the former gauge cluster, and one could monitor what was important for that outing, completely customizable. With the addition of configurable soft buttons that perform multiple functions…say turn on a fan, set a marker in the data, and tweet about leading the race, all with one press. B)

Good info on the Stack setup though, thanks.

#17

These guys make a dash that does most of everything you can want.
http://www.rlcracing.com/

#18

These guys make a dash that does most of everything you can want.
http://www.rlcracing.com/

#19

[quote=“NASA144” post=52220]It’s street/track use now… when it’s full track the gauges will go up in the dash-vent.
I should see coolant dumping in the rear view, right?[/quote]

For coolant dumping…in addition to my OP/WT gauges with warning lights, I added an additional warning light for low coolant pressure. The thought being that if you suddenly lost coolant (and somehow didn’t spin in your own mess) that loss of pressure would be an earlier warning signal than a temp climb. I bought mine from Pegasus Racing:

http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productdetails.asp?RecID=8

#20

[quote=“sneville44” post=54830][quote=“NASA144” post=52220]It’s street/track use now… when it’s full track the gauges will go up in the dash-vent.
I should see coolant dumping in the rear view, right?[/quote]

For coolant dumping…in addition to my OP/WT gauges with warning lights, I added an additional warning light for low coolant pressure. The thought being that if you suddenly lost coolant (and somehow didn’t spin in your own mess) that loss of pressure would be an earlier warning signal than a temp climb. I bought mine from Pegasus Racing:

http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productdetails.asp?RecID=8[/quote]

That’s the right idea. Cheaper from egauges tho.

#21

re water pressure gauge, what’s the best location for the sensor? thermostat housing?

#22

Mine is connected to the port in the block where the hose to the throttle body goes in. Just need an 12 or 14mm adapter. Jim Levie’s solution might be more clever tho. His is in the small return line between overflow tank and radiator…not to be confused with the small line from overflow tank to overflow catch can.

One reason that Jim’s is better is that no remote hose was required. Pressure sensors shouldn’t be connected right to the block because heat and vibration is supposed to be hard on them. So my sensor location required 12" or so of hose to remote it, but Jim’s went in with a couple hose barbs.