Where to get good gauges?

RJ · July 06, 2013, 08:58:38 PM

Quote from: technomadia on July 06, 2013, 03:40:22 PM
I've been testing, and I think the sender may be functional - but the old gauge mounted on the side of the tank is dead. Perfect opportunity to wire the sender to a new gauge on the dash!

Chris -

Have you checked the switch next to the fuel gauge? My 4106's gauge was wired thru a momentary-on switch - you had to hold it up for the gauge to work.

Being kind of an ancient techno-geek myself, I think those Dakota Digital gauges are really neat. . .

Over the years, Isspro has been mentioned often as the "go to" source for instrumentation, with most busnuts extremely satisfied with their product and customer service.

IIRC, you don't have the OEM dashboard in Zephyr, which in itself, is a huge improvement. After the wonderful industrial design of the 4104's instrument panel and driver's LH side switch clusters, the OEM 4106's was one place where GM really stubbed their big toe.

FWIW & HTH. . .

technomadia · July 06, 2013, 09:10:53 PM

Wait.. if we get a fuel gauge.. does that mean I've lost my job calculating the fuel and mileage estimates??? I'm being outsourced by technology!!

And I will have you know.. my calculations proved to be with in .04% accuracy to the testing Chris did today on the feed. Booyah.

- Cherie

sdc53 · July 06, 2013, 10:36:10 PM

I made an observation today when parking after driving home - with my marker lights on, my temp gauge reads higher. I happened to be looking at the temp gauge when I switched them off and saw the needle move lower. Quite annoying, that gained me at least 5 degrees of cooling, heh. The voltage drop with the markers must cause this. I hope that doesn't mean I need to redo the whole run when I upgrade my gauge.

When gauge shopping, I've been wanting one where the sender uses a single wire rather than the two or three I've seen some of them call for so that I can utilize the existing wire. Hoping that plan wasn't destroyed today. I'm a bit concerned about the accuracy of 35'+ of crusty old wire now.

technomadia · July 06, 2013, 11:56:58 PM

Quote from: RJ on July 06, 2013, 08:58:38 PM
Have you checked the switch next to the fuel gauge? My 4106's gauge was wired thru a momentary-on switch - you had to hold it up for the gauge to work.

Yep - I think we have the same setup. The gauge is mounted next to the filler hole, and engages via a momentary switch.

The switch is broken off and dead, and the inline fuse was burnt out too. When I disconnected the wires to the fuel level sender, I measured 16.1 ohms on it, which if the sender uses a 0-30ohm range (a common type) indicates 54% full. Which happens to exactly match Cherie's calculated estimate based upon our miles driven since our last fillup.

When I bypass the switch and hook the old gauge back up, it reads slightly over 1/4 tank - a level that seems to be wrong based upon our calculations.

If only I had a 50 gallon drum of diesel I could pump into the tank to get a sense for how the sender resistance responds....

But - the SpeedHut.com fuel gauges are fully programmable to work with any sender, so if the sender really is working - I think I may have a solid solution in the works.

Right now we are leaning towards doing a full dash replacement with gauges from SpeedHut. I like the quad-guage instrument bank, and the GPS speedo.

Cheers!

- Chris

belfert · July 07, 2013, 05:54:04 AM

For fuel I really the senders from Centroid Products. They have no moving parts and are dead on accurate. You measure the depth of your tank and they custom make the sender. A regular sender with a float is very hard to calibrate and can rust up if the tank isn't kept full. I had ordered a new sender from MCI for my bus and they just sent a generic float type sender that I would have had to figure out how to calibrate it. I never even tried to install the float type sensor.

I know that I can't use the bottom 20 gallons of fuel in my tank (from experience) so I had my sender cut so empty should be 20 gallons left. When I fill up the number of gallons used matches the fuel gauge very well.

luvrbus · July 07, 2013, 07:06:21 AM

Faria gauges are the M/B of gauges IMO the 200 buck fuel manger is a neat addition instead of a troublesome fuel gauge

belfert · July 07, 2013, 08:10:11 AM

Quote from: luvrbus on July 07, 2013, 07:06:21 AM
Faria gauges are the M/B of gauges IMO the 200 buck fuel manger is a neat addition instead of a troublesome fuel gauge

Clifford, can you elaborate on the fuel manager a little bit like who makes it? I assume it probably measures gallons consumed? Those Faria gauges aren't all that expensive.

technomadia · July 07, 2013, 09:00:37 AM

Quote from: luvrbus on July 07, 2013, 07:06:21 AM
Faria gauges are the M/B of gauges IMO the 200 buck fuel manger is a neat addition instead of a troublesome fuel gauge

A real fuel manager would be awesome - but searching for the Faria Fuel Manager, it seems to be gasoline engines only:

"The Faria fuel manager gauge is designed to monitor fuel flow to the engine only, this unit does not take into account fuel returned to the tank and cannot therefore be used with diesel engines."

A diesel fuel manager would need to meter both the outlfow and fuel return lines - do you know of something like this?

Cheers,

- Chris

luvrbus · July 07, 2013, 09:08:19 AM

mine works good with the by pass I have had it for 3 years it's pretty it accurate

technomadia · July 07, 2013, 09:24:17 AM

Quote from: luvrbus on July 07, 2013, 09:08:19 AM
mine works good with the by pass I have had it for 3 years it's pretty it accurate

Sounds very cool - can you share how you have this plumbed and how the bypass works?

I've been googling for Diesel-compatible fuel managers that calculate usage with two sensors - subtracting the outflow from the inflow to determine how much has been burned. In the marine world, the gold standard seems to be Floscan, which makes some great diesel engine fuel monitoring instrumentation. But even the cheapest discounted Floscan kit I have seen starts at near $700.

If there is a way to make the Faria work, that is intriguing.

Cheers!

- Chris

chessie4905 · July 07, 2013, 10:34:50 AM

How about a military surplus altimeter? Although my latest gps has this built in. Probably a cell phone app is avail to.

technomadia · July 07, 2013, 11:32:11 AM

Quote from: chessie4905 on July 07, 2013, 10:34:50 AM
How about a military surplus altimeter? Although my latest gps has this built in. Probably a cell phone app is avail to.

The Speedhut GPS Speedometer we are planning to order also has an altimeter readout, amount many other things (even auto-calculates 0-60 times and quarter mile performance). But a big old military style unit would indeed look cool.

And yes - there are apps that can give you altitude and speed, and even G-force readouts for cornering.

I'm actually freeing up space on the dash so that I can have an iPad mount for glass-cockpit / moving map use.

- Chris

Purplewillie · July 07, 2013, 11:58:49 AM

Not military , but I have an old school compass and an altimeter

Purplewillie · July 07, 2013, 12:00:53 PM

Gordie Allen · July 07, 2013, 12:26:50 PM

I bought a complete custom gauge panel with 8 gauges and 8 switches from http://www.custominstrumentpanels.com/
I would suggest you at least check it out. Custom cut panel in your choice of colors. Back-lit switch labels. All gauges are pre-wired and all wires labeled as well. All sending units included. Telltale for directional, High Idle, high beam, oil pressure, etc. Mine cost $1000.00.
Mine has:
SWITCHES: GAUGES:
Engine on Speedometer
Start (momentary) Tach
High Idle Water Temp
Reverse (momentary) Oil Pressure
Headlights Oil Temp
Markers Fuel Temp
Emergency Flashers Voltage
Backup lights Air Pressure
Gordie