My latest mod, just done tonight.

This was killing me, as it's the first car we've had in a looooong time without an exterior temp gauge. I was pissed because I couldn't find a gauge online, and I REALLY did not want to drop $300-$400 on a Gentex mirror (even though having Homelink and auto dim would be nice.)

Well I wound up finding a $10 gauge at Target, figured out just about the only place (and means) to mount it, and ran the exterior sensor under the dash and out the hole where the rubber conduit contains the wiring to the driver side door. The sensor is mounted right below this conduit.

So far it seems to be working well, though I haven't referenced it yet to my Oregon Scientific thermometer to gauge accuracy.

If anyone is interested, I'll get some pics when it's light out again.

 

hmmm.... are you a weather man like Brick Tamellan?

 

Sure. Go ahead.

 

Hi,
would lve to see some pics...
thanks

 

Here here. I'm missing my temp gauge in my Accord.

 

lol damn i see you get pissed at not having a temp gauge haha.. but ya i would love to see some pics. want to see how it looks

 

Ok, here's some pics. Couldn't get out during daylight hours so had to shoot by the glow of a flourescent work light. Not the greatest pics, but you get the idea.

 

Thank you.

 

nice mod!!!

 

Thanks!

It even matches the interior pretty well, and you can't see the mount or the wire unless you really stoop down low to look under there.

So far, so good. For $10, you can't go wrong.

Here's a link to some info & pic of the product:
http://www.bellautomotive.com/asp/pr...s.asp?id=24149

 

I really like that. How about a picture of where the sensor is mounted. How close do you feel the exterior guage is? I like this idea and actually thought about it way back in my 90 taurus. How does the unit get power?

 

I'll try to get a pic of the sensor - I don't think I snapped on that night. I've been concerned about the longevity of the sensor, as it is somewhat exposed to moisture, but by installing it the way I did, it's at least somewhat protected.

The unit itself is powered by a single AAA battery.

I think it's pretty accurate, but I STILL haven't checked it yet as I said I was going to in a previous post. The sensor seems pretty sensitive to changes, evidenced by when I was holding it, blowing on it, etc. There's been a couple times when it seemed to be showing a rather high reading when it felt cold out, but this time of year that happens all the time as we acclimate to the dropping temps.

 

1) Accuracy of temp guage

> I just ran a comparison of the temp gauge versus a my Oregon Scientific weather station by placing the OS sensor in the direct vicinity of the sensor all morning and checking it several times. At most, the car temp showed .90 degrees higher and at least showed .40 degrees higher. I'd say that's pretty good.

2) Pic of sensor

> Here's a pic of the sensor - the arrow points to sensor location - it's a tiny black disc with a black wire running to it, stuck on just below the rubber boot between the chassis and the driver side door.



Hope this is useful!

 

Sweet. I may just have to pick that up. Thanks for the info and pics.

 

Looks good. I was thinking about this too. Here are some ideas I was thinking about, I really like the first one, black would blend in well with the dash...

http://digitalthermometers.net/minip...rmdp300pp.aspx


http://www.professionalequipment.com...-thermometers/

the second one down on this page, solar, no batts:

http://www.techinstrument.com/acatal...rmometers.html






or maybe for the really dedicated:

http://www.professionalequipment.com...-thermometers/

lol

 

Thanks, nice info and picts. I just ordered this one for my 09 sport. Will more than likely mount it the same way you did.

DUAL DISPLAY DIGITAL THERMOMETER WITH FREEZE ALERT : JC Whitney: Auto Parts & Accessories

A nice feature is the backlight for night. Will probably wire it in directly instead of using the adaptor plug.

 

AWD- that is a really sanitary installation. I've put aftermarket thermometers in a number of vehicles, and I've tried the in-the-door-jamb location suggested by the manufacturer. Invariably, I've found that waste heat from the engine finds its way back and gives a high reading.
The ONLY thing I've found to work is to get the sensor WAAAAAAY out front (under the bumper, for instance), which, coincidentally, is where the OEM setups are located.
So, my question being, does it work in that location when the engine is running, either sitting still or moving? Is there enough cable on the probe to snake it on out forward...I think easily done now that you are that far. How did you get it thru' the connection by the door?
I rigged up one with a wireless remote (avoiding the problem of getting the wire thru' the firewall); a probe under the bumper connected to a battery-powered sending unit mounted in the fender to the left of the battery, and the receiving unit mounted on the blanked off switch panel. It's silver, made by Taylor, and shows indoor as well as outdoor. It's not as small as yours, but it works great. As you did, I mounted it with hook n' loop.
Moon

 

i had a similar setup earlier last year and the gauge worked fine with the
sensor near the door, but during the warmer months with the sun gets
on that side of the car it gave false readings.

if it can reach it, i suggest you feed it to where the stock intake
breathes from the front fender area.

or just get a scangauge2.

 

Generally speaking, it works well. It's certainly fine in the morning when it's been in the garage all night and heads out into the morning air, and in any circumstance when the car's been sitting for a while. If the sun has been hitting the driver side, it reads high, and if the car sits idling for a while it seems some hot air gets back and jumps the temp for a while, until you drive for a while. Thing is, every car I've owned with an outside temp display would read high if the front of the car were exposed to the sun, so it's really no different in that regard.

I actually cut the cable down and re-soldered it because it was soooo long - but it wasn't long enough to get out front, though. This summer I may try extending the cable and run it up front.

As far as running the cable, I just popped out the rubber conduit containing the wiring running to the door, stuck the sensor & wiring through the hole, then put the rubber conduit back in place. It's just barely poking out there.

 

I have a SG2 and there is no outside temp gauge just an air intake temp which is usually off by 10-20 degrees depending.