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Matthew B Full Licence
Joined: 15 Apr 2009 Posts: 291 Location: Townsville, Australia
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Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 9:45 am Post subject: Guages options |
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Was tossing up options for a guages upgrade, thinking that some digital would be cool. So I bought a digital tacho for my every day runabout hack and I'm ultimately disappointed. I mounted it on the dash in front of the A pillar. It's not be best quality so maybe there is much better out there, but problems are:
It's too bright at night
the shiny face is very reflective, meaning it can be hard to see the guage sometimes
I don't like the incremental stepped revs it shows around the outside because you can't tell what revs you are actually at by that part
You have to actually read the numbers to know what revs it's doing, meaning it is hard to quickly work out how close to redline you are and need to change gears
the numbers are X10, meaning it will say 300 to mean 3000 revs
Can't see anything when the sun is shining on the guage
At night it reflects off the windscreen and the door glass, and as previously mentioned is too bright so reflections are prominant.
(I think that's all?)
There appears to be 3 options - dial guages with needles, digital and LCD. I have only recently seen the LCD advertised and they look promising. Has anyone got any experience with them?
can anyone shoot down my digital guage issues, as I'd really like to use some?
Any thoughts on comparison between these options would be appreciated. Are there any other options?
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bigcarle Full Licence
Joined: 07 Nov 2007 Posts: 578 Location: lota, brisbane bayside
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Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 1:30 pm Post subject: |
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i have found a seller called "veethree" on ebay with great analogue gauges, he may have something else or ideas
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The Toss overdrive
Joined: 25 Feb 2010 Posts: 96 Location: Newcastle
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Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 4:45 pm Post subject: |
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That is the trouble with ALL digital instrumentation - it has to be read not just looked at. Your only alternative to analogue would be led bargraph
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grant69 moderator
Joined: 27 Jan 2004 Posts: 2796 Location: Cairns Nth Qld
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Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 10:49 pm Post subject: |
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Dakota digital make some nice products. As for LCD I have a fair bit of experience in scada doing process control stuff. There are some really cool options going down this path but it is still expensive. I looked after NAVY ships that had 14in LCD displays for whole engine management system, tacho's speeds tank levels and all the rest of the systems could be displayed on the one screen. I also worked for BHP in Roxby doing SCADA looking after their process plant, its abit like basic, but uses ladder structure, its quite easy to learn. I'm hoping to integrate some functions into a 7in display for mazzy if the budget allows heres a cheap PLC starter http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Xilinx-fpga-development-board-xc3s500e-spartan-3-e-4-3-color/1255659487.html
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Matthew B Full Licence
Joined: 15 Apr 2009 Posts: 291 Location: Townsville, Australia
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Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 9:10 am Post subject: |
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I remember reading a comparison of digital with analogue when digital dashes were coming into production cars, and the issue was that the time taken to read them was too great, you could not tell with just a glance where everything was. So LCD may be an option. I have seen advertised some LCD's that have an analogue type display for easy reading - has anyone seen these or had experience with them? They have a number of functions that can be scrolled through, not that you'd do that while driving along. But really, if they are hard to read while driving, there is no benefit to them. If some one has experienced them, I'm curious to know how they went with light, eg sun on them or at night because that has been one of the biggest turnoffs with the digital I put in my runabout hack.
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grant69 moderator
Joined: 27 Jan 2004 Posts: 2796 Location: Cairns Nth Qld
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Posted: Thu Sep 05, 2013 9:21 am Post subject: |
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My Falcon has an lcd display between the gauges, I have it set show speed and distance to empty, I don't even look at the other gauges any more, its very easy to read
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