Designing Dash Gauges

[daddyoften]

I'm using a program to draw out the electrical schematics for our bus.  I completed the easy page first and that was the exterior lights.  Next is the Instruments on the dash, like the oil pressure and water temp, etc.  So what do people have in their dash's?  What would you want and don't have, what do you have and don't want?  I'm going to have a gauge and a color changing LED for warning lights, such as low oil pressure, low voltage, etc.  So here's what I am thinking;

Gauge          -                warning light comes on when....

Charging volts gauge from engine - Warning at 11volts (is that about right?)
Water temp gauge - what is too high? 200?
Trans temp gauge - what is too high?
Oil pressure gauge - What is too low?
Boost Gauge
Speedometer
House Batt volt gauge - 11 volts again?
Inverter - What do I need to monitor here?
GenSet Temp gauge - 200? it will probably be a diesel
Oil Temp gauge - What temp to high?
Fuel pressure Gauge - What's too low?
Air pressure 1 - 60 PSI
Air pressure 2 - 60 PSI
Front air suspension pressure - Not sure what PSI yet, will have to weigh it, I want these just to be able to see it
Rear Left suspension pressure
Rear Right suspension pressure


Anything else? Exhaust temp?
I might install and inter-cooler but not sure yet.

It's a 4107 with a 77' DD8v71T with an auto, assuming allison

Thanks
Eric

[lvmci]

hi Eric, wish I had a tach. lvmci...

[buswarrior]

Yes, a pyrometer for exhaust temp is interesting to have.

I would keep the house systems away from the dashboard. Up above perhaps?

Don't forget the steering wheel blocking some of your best laid plans.

And think about the ability to move them around, as you decide with experience which you wish you put in a different order.

Happy coaching!
buswarrior

[daddyoften]

Oh yea! Oops forgot a tach, lol
What do you hook it up to on this engine?  And what is a safe red line?

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[daddyoften]

I'm installing one of those r and m fiberglass dashes so I have a blank canvas :-)  I've also hooked up with a sign maker here in town to print me out a custom graphic to lay out under the gauges and switches. I'm going to use Plexiglas painted black with spots left unpainted for my lights to shine through with the printed vinyl stuck down on the Plexiglas. Does that make sense? Lol

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[Melbo]

When I laid out my dash I did it twice.  I used a temp layout and took a trip before I did the final set up.  Someone mentioned to put the "important" gauges to the left and less important on the right. I'm not sure why but I did that an it worked out well for me. An example fuel on the right and pyro on the left.  Speedo on the right and tach on the left. Oil pressure on the left and voltage on the right.  I also discovered what gets covered by the steering wheel and needed to be moved. I also made the dash in sections that can be lifted out to change bulbs so I don't have to dive under the dash for that.

HTH

YMMV

Melbo

[daddyoften]

As far as house stuff I'm going to make a few redundant things. I want to run the front rooftop a.c. while driving so it will be powered by either the inverter and/or genset so I will be able to start and stop and monitor them from the dash plus else where in the house while parked

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[daddyoften]

I drive a kenworth now and had an international before that so I have some exposure to where for what but those are great ideas. I'm really looking for information on what I'm missing, like the tach lol, and the missing max temps and such
Thanks

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[oltrunt]

Like others, I wish I had a tach.  Because my air cooled genny operates in an enclosure, I added a temp gauge to monitor oil temp.  I also installed a redundant thermocouple which shuts the genny down if the oil temp reaches 200 degrees F.  I watch the gauge like a hawk when I know I am operating the genny at max load.  That gives me a chance to reduce the load before auto shut down and the 1/2 hr wait to restart the genny.  Jack

[luvrbus]

I used black plexiglass and had a trophy shop engrave the gauge name and used back lighting for the gauge name worked good and looked nice, real nice at night. You really need 2 water temperature gauges on a v71 or v92 one for each head well worth the extra few bucks    

[Iceni John]

Because my engine temperature gauge is the most important one of my eleven, I repositioned it front and center so I can always easily and accurately see it.   The more peripheral gauges, such as turbo boost and transmission temperature and brake application force, are to the sides.

Definitely reconsider your house batteries' voltage gauge setting  -  at 11.0V they're close to dead:  their SG at that voltage is so low that they can't produce much usable current.   When fully charged they should read about 12.8V resting.   A SOC meter for the house batteries is a good idea, as long as you get a proper one like the Trimetric 2025, or even better a SmartGauge  -  don't waste your money on a simple volt meter that pretends to be a SOC gauge!

John 

[TomC]

If you don't have a tach, that should be number one to install-even with the automatic. I have a speedo with odometer, tach with engine hour meter, fuel gauge (that I installed since it didn't have one), oil pressure, water temp, voltmeter, 2-air gauges. That's it.

Now on my Kenworth truck, that's another story. Speedo with odometer, tach, water temp, oil temp, trans temp, front drive axle temp, rear drive axle temp, oil pressure, fuel pressure, pyrometer, front air pressure, rear air pressure, brake application pressure, fuel filter restriction, air filter restriction, altimeter. Good Luck, TomC

[Jim Eh.]

The only other secondary gauge that I can think of would be diff temp.

[Tikvah]

Outdoor temperature gauge - just nice to know, but also helpful when it gets near potential freezing

[moosemanusa]

What about running a small computer with the screen mounted in the dash to show the values of all the sensors. The screen could then have different layouts to display what's needed.

Look at Raspberry pi projects, it's actaully fairly simple. People have done it in cars and planes for years.