What gauges and why

[gruntfuttock]

I am after some feedback from people who have installed additional gauges. What I want to know is what gauges you have installed and why.
Cheers

[Bearman]

On what motor/gearbox etc. are you referring to.

[gruntfuttock]

Td5 defender on standard gearbox

[Mick_Marsh]

Fuel gauge.
Chances are, on any english car, if it does work, what it displays is fanciful.
And a voltmeter. It tells a lot about the battery and alternator.

[slug_burner]

Three typical gauges are coolant temp, oil pressure and charging current, often came in a three gauge bezel. I still have my Smith gauges in that configuration.

With a Td5 you can get a OBD bus based system that can use the vehicles inbuilt sensors or have a look at Madman they have a gauge that can measure a couple sensors.

[Dervish]

And a voltmeter. It tells a lot about the battery and alternator.

+1 on the Voltmeter. Endlessly useful.

I also have a boost gauge, which can be useful at times but most of the time isn't.

[Bushman83]

Land Rover Defender Dash Console Upgrade - YouTube

VDO temp, tacho and oil pressure gauge.
If I did it again wouldn't bother about the pressure gauge.. the scale is too big (0-100) to show any real difference so the needle just hovers around the 5-20psi most of the time.

Boost came with vehicle so kept it.

Engine watchdog is excellent. Acts as a second temp gauge just to be safe.

EGT very useful when climbing hills so I keep the temps below 700degress to avoid overheating the head and melting bits. I think 720 degress is the recommended max temp for my 200tdi at least.

A dual volt meter for measuring both batteries. (not shown in video).
Would also add a low coolant temp alarm if I had some spare cash.

[wrinklearthur]

I fitted a boost gauge and found no value in having it at all. When I get around to it I am replacing it with a EGT gauge.

[isuzutoo-eh]

I would like oil pressure gauges in my One Tens. My Series has one, and I reckon it'd react faster to failure than the oil warning light in the newer vehicles.
A combined oil pressure/engine temp gauge would be perfect, just like the Series ;)
Though as Bushman83 says, you have to get a scale that is appropriate to the engine.

[harro]

Voltmeter is a must if you have a dual battery setup
Low coolant alarm (gauge)?
Also temp sensors on engine and t/c.TM4, I run an overdrive so good to know t/c temp.
I will go out on a limb here and question the need for E/g temps and boost,
I run a VNT with a stage 2 remap bigger intercooler and various other mods and really couldn't see myself changing my driving technique based on either display.
But that's just me.
Td5 Defender

Cheers.
Paul.

[Dervish]

The boost gauge is useful from an efficiency standpoint. I can see when the engine reaches full boost and therefore putting my foot down further is just wasting diesel. You can do this with a seat-of-the-pantsometer as well, but not as accurately and not in as many situations.

[FeatherWeightDriver]

UltraGauge :)

Why?


Better speedo view (accurate digital reading, closer to driver's line of vision)
Lots of gauges, in 4, 6 or 8 per page (I get about 60 reading that I care about / are useful on my Puma 110)
Small
Cheap(ish)
No permanent change to the vehicle
Can swap between vehicles (not ideal, but possible)
View / clear OBD faults (not used it for this yet, but apparently it can do it)


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/07/1063.jpg

[dlatn]

My 110 isuzu came standard with a number of gauges.

Fuel: full/empty/reserve

Voltmeter: on/off

Speedometer: +/- 10%
also appears to work as a tachometer though my eyes are too slow to read the variations in needle vibrations

Thermostat: Winter/Summer

Clock: indicates time audibly

[Grappler]

UltraGauge :)

Why?


Better speedo view (accurate digital reading, closer to driver's line of vision)
Lots of gauges, in 4, 6 or 8 per page (I get about 60 reading that I care about / are useful on my Puma 110)
Small
Cheap(ish)
No permanent change to the vehicle
Can swap between vehicles (not ideal, but possible)
View / clear OBD faults (not used it for this yet, but apparently it can do it)


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/07/1063.jpg

Very useful on OBD compliant vehicles
and you can set audible high and/or low alarms on the output values. May not get 60 PIDs on a TD5.

[DeeJay]

I went a bit over the top, but having to replace the head on a newly acquired second hand TD5 Deefer was definitely something I won't have to do again, if these gauges are going to do their job.
Oil Pressure & temp
Water temp x 2
Low Coolant alarm
Other temp gauges to even things up :D


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/07/1047.jpg

[landiematt]

Monitor everything but diff temps.
Matt.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

[Benz]

The best thing you can fit is a low coolant alarm. Might just save you thousands if you were to develop a leak that went unnoticed.
And make sure it works too... the one that was fitted on my td5 defender when I bought it didn't. For one it was fitted to the top radiator hose where the water pump would keep water flowing past it untill the system was well on the way to empty, but worse was the fact the rediator hose its self earthed out the sensor. Meaning even with the coolant drained it did not work... luckily I was just replacing the coolant in the shed and not powering up a hill.

Other gauges I have found handy include a tacho, volt meter, boost and digital water temp.

Less handy include the engine oil temp gauge and engine exaust gas temp.
The engine oil temp sender bolts into the sump plug and doesn't read accuretly and I have a water temp anyway.
As fot the egt, I find on a standard td5 with no engine mods, the temp never gets to a dangerours level. I can push it as hard as I want and never get anything above 550C.

All these gauges (apart from the tacho) are in a single madman unit so only takes up one space in the dash. They are a little pricey though.

[uninformed]

I went a bit over the top, but having to replace the head on a newly acquired second hand TD5 Deefer was definitely something I won't have to do again, if these gauges are going to do their job.
Oil Pressure & temp
Water temp x 2
Low Coolant alarm
Other temp gauges to even things up :D


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/07/1047.jpg

the 1980s called.........






they want their roller disco back

[DeeJay]

the 1980s called.........






they want their roller disco back




:D:D:D


Yep. I'm a cheapskate 20 bucks each on Ebay - I lashed out & bought 2 spares :eek:

[manic]

I find EGT gauge useful, it is a very responsive reading that responds to even the slightest throttle adjustment. Excellent reference for fuel economy and peace of mind when attacking those hot long steep climbs.

[TonyC]

Monitor everything but diff temps.
Matt.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment.php?attachmentid=79978&d=1404601646

What is it landiematt?

[Leyland1980]

Monitor everything but diff temps. Matt.

Beautiful work, tell us more about those gauges.

[FeatherWeightDriver]

Very useful on OBD compliant vehicles
and you can set audible high and/or low alarms on the output values. May not get 60 PIDs on a TD5.

Ah yes you are correct - I missed the TD5 bit... :(

[landiematt]

Beautiful work, tell us more about those gauges.

They where made by Autron. Now sold by redarc.
Matt

[cewilson]

Monitor everything but diff temps.
Matt.




Would love more info on your setup Matt, in particular what each gauge is and rough prices

[gruntfuttock]

Has anybody installed an ammeter? if so what were the reasons?

[landiematt]

Would love more info on your setup Matt, in particular what each gauge is and rough prices

Starting left to right.
1 speedo and where it has the zero that is the auto temp .
2 Next is oil pressure on the left side and water temp on the right side and down the bottom it has engine oil temp (not shown in photo but comes up digital numbers).
3 boost on the left side egt on the right, transfer case on the bottom
4 fuel on the left volts on the right, amps on the bottom

Each reading can be set up to alarm at a user set max on min.
As you can see in photo the car wasn't running so at the time the oil pressure gauge was red and a alarm was going off. Hope that helps. As for $ pm sent

[Mick_Marsh]

Has anybody installed an ammeter? if so what were the reasons?
Yes, because I didn't know better.
A voltmeter is way more useful than an ammeter.

[slug_burner]

Yes have installed ammeter. Used to monitor charge or discharge and the rate at which it is happening i.e., current. Unless a voltage meter is digital or has a very small range all you are going to see is a needle somewhere thereabouts where you think it should be.

[Mick_Marsh]

Unless a voltage meter is digital or has a very small range all you are going to see is a needle somewhere thereabouts where you think it should be.
And that is exactly the problem I have with the ammeter
Voltmeters usually have a range of 10V to 16V.
Ammeters, mine are -100A to 100A.

[gruntfuttock]

Many thanks to all those who contributed to this subject.:D:D

As for the ammeter question, as far as my limited understanding is of them, they should always sit in the middle, with the exception of if your current draw is more than what is being put in, (winching for example) then it would be on the negative side, also, as far as I can understand, if the battery is starting to not hold power, then you would see them always in the positive side. Maybe I am wrong, but that is what I am lead to believe.

Many thanks to all :D:D