Can anyone tell me if the AC gauges from Chris's group buy are calibrated to the sensor that came with it? I thought they would have been but have been assured that they will work correctly with any sensor.

 

Cheers

 

Chris P

i would have thought they would work with any sensor but i used the one that came with them and they work great :)

Unfortunately my sensor got lost before I got the gauge so am using a generic sensor. That's why I need confirmation.

Chris mate, the sensor heats up in the hot water and this heat sends a signal to the wire connected to it, this wire then sends it up to the gauge to read, which tells you it's reading, gauges are not calibrated to a specific sensor, to the signal.

Having had around a 100 sensors pass through my hands the only difference between them is thread size to screw into the boss and the way the wire is connected, some plug on and some wrap around a small brass nut.

Why ? are you having a problem ??

smithy

Yea .. I am having a problem mate. Well I think so anyways. I fiited the pipe and gauge but I am a bit concerned with the reading. I drive my car regularly and it never ever overheats. I often drive 190 miles up to Kidderminster and the stock gauge always stays at just under half way. Since installing the new gauge it read 210 fht so I was a bit concerned. The stock gauge reads the same as usual. No air locks, heater still works fine.... bit worried TBH .... The engine is fine .. no steam .. coolant is fine .... Thats why I wondered about calibration ..... and No leaks .. everything is as it should be, but the temp registeres much too high unless I am missing something here .. hence calibration ....

Yea .. I am having a problem mate. Well I think so anyways. I fiited the pipe and gauge but I am a bit concerned with the reading. I drive my car regularly and it never ever overheats. I often drive 190 miles up to Kidderminster and the stock gauge always stays at just under half way. Since installing the new gauge it read 210 fht so I was a bit concerned. The stock gauge reads the same as usual. No air locks, heater still works fine.... bit worried TBH .... The engine is fine .. no steam .. coolant is fine .... Thats why I wondered about calibration ..... and No leaks .. everything is as it should be, but the temp registeres much too high unless I am missing something here .. hence calibration ....

 

yep 210 does seem a little high. i fitted the same gauge and it usually gets up to about 175. mind u its moves between 140 and 175 without the stock gauge moving at all!! also when fitting i did have to run an extra earth wire from the sender body cos it wasn't reading at all.

 

hth

 

nick

Had a mess about again on Sunday. Went for a twenty minute drive to see how the gauge performed. Slowly climbed to about 175 which was good. Quite happy with that, then I stoppped for some petrol and when I switched back on it was reading about 200. Anyways went home and the temp went up to about 208.

 

The stock gauge as usual stayed at just under the halfway mark :rolleyes:

 

Let the car cool down to about 175 and checked to see if any air was in the system, NO air. Raditor was hot on both sides and the water pipes were hot.

 

Not sure what to check out next TBH

 

Anyone got any ideas?

 

Chris P

I did notice one thing. The overflow resevoir was very dry. Nothing at all really.

 

Could it be a faulty rad cap?

 

Any ideas on this would be appreciated.

 

Cheers

..

Jeeez .. you guys are soooooo much help ... cheers ....

Jeeez .. you guys are soooooo much help ... cheers ....

 

Hang on I'm thinking!!! :rolleyes:

If it was me bud I would try another sender,just to see any difference in the reading,then go from there. HTH ;)

Jeeez .. you guys are soooooo much help ... cheers ....

 

 

I just tested my water temp gauge using the standard sender that the dash guage uses (was hoping for a easy install) and my new guage read 110c :( so from what i am thinking it must be something to do with the sender and maybe you have to use the sender that came with it, may not be calibrated as such but may be some sort of current that each sender sends out??? Sorry not really that tech minded but I will try again using the sender that came with mine and see if it reads correctly.

 

Thanks,

 

Ant

I just tested my water temp gauge using the standard sender that the dash guage uses (was hoping for a easy install) and my new guage read 110c :( so from what i am thinking it must be something to do with the sender and maybe you have to use the sender that came with it, may not be calibrated as such but may be some sort of current that each sender sends out??? Sorry not really that tech minded but I will try again using the sender that came with mine and see if it reads correctly.

 

Thanks,

 

Ant

 

Hi Ant

 

That is very very interesting. I think it is the sender. I am going to see if I can contact the manufacturers to check. I have also had a PM from someone else who has had the same problem.

 

Thanks

 

Chris

Not all senders will work with all gauges. Depends on the temperature coefficient of the sender being used....

Not all senders will work with all gauges. Depends on the temperature coefficient of the sender being used....

 

My thoughts exactly Andy.

 

Hopefully AC Autotechnic can clear up the issue as I haven't got the correct sender. And I know the system is fine.

 

Chris P

Darn andy beat me to it, there is also positive temperature coefficient and negative temperature coefficient too. One the resistance will go up as it gets hot the other will go down the hotter it gets.

 

Also as someone already said, some will read for example 10 ohms at 30C while others will read 15 Ohms at 30C for example.

 

God, 3 years after doing electronic enginereing i actualy get to use the informatin pmsl.

 

MTL

Thought I would drag this old chutney up again as I was sent a different sensor fitted with a boss (Thanks Paul) to replace the other one.

 

Anyway I fitted it this morning, which took a bit of time as I managed to break the stock rad pipe and it took some fiddling to get a good seal.

 

I let the car warm up for about 30 minutes as I wanted to check that the seals on the pipes were OK, after waiting for a while and tightening some of the jubilee clips whilst warm I though I would go for a drive to check everything out.

 

Before I replaced the top rad pipe with the new sender I was getting temp readings of 210F. This time on the same run the temp gauge stayed at around 84c and didn't climb much more under heavy driving. I parked up and checked the temp on idle it is was 79c so I am fairly happy.

 

The moral of this story is to use the right sender as they don't all work with any gauge.

 

Been a bit of a mare this but thanks to Paul for buying another gauge with the sender that I needed and sorting out another pipe for me.

 

Will post the other one back mate.

 

All good fun

 

Chris P