volt and temp gauge?

[natemoen]

Of you all that have one or both of these how did you wire them into the system?

Come on Cy, give me some useful info

[cywelchjr]

Of you all that have one or both of these how did you wire them into the system?

Come on Cy, give me some useful info

Don't have one "YET" but I have my eye on a nice little LED unit. But the proper place to hook the gauge to is right at the battery, as that is the important place to be measuring voltage, just like when troubleshooting the charging system.

[cywelchjr]

For a temp gauge, generally head temp is considered to be the key temp for air cooled engines. It's often the hottest area and where pre-ignition is going to come from (excessive temps). The problem is, that many temp gauges are intended for water cooled engines.

[DiverRay]

Volt meter goes onto a switched hot, one of the "spare" wires in the headlamp. Check with a VOM for 12V. ONLY when the ignition is on.
Temp on my old '78 was via special oil drain plug that had the sending unit built in.

[cywelchjr]

Volt meter goes onto a switched hot, one of the "spare" wires in the headlamp. Check with a VOM for 12V. ONLY when the ignition is on.
Temp on my old '78 was via special oil drain plug that had the sending unit built in.

Good point. I myself when I hook one in, am going to use a relay so I can read right off the battery but have it disconnected when the ignition is off.

I hadn't though of an oil temp gauge, but IMHO that's only half the story on an air cooled engine. Still need that head temp I think.

[natemoen]

Ray, that's the kind of temp sensors i have seen, by I agree with Cy of the head temp is most important. Anyone have some ideas?

[natemoen]

I really want to get a temp sensor in and then get a sense of normal temp. Then I want to put a cooler on with a bypass valve that I can turn on or off depending on weather and how I am riding that day and whatnot

[DiverRay]

Most Cyl head temps are taken with a washer that fits under a spark plug. There was a thread a few years ago about putting one under a head bolt.
HTH

[cywelchjr]

I really want to get a temp sensor in and then get a sense of normal temp. Then I want to put a cooler on with a bypass valve that I can turn on or off depending on weather and how I am riding that day and whatnot

I can't say that I've really seen a need for a cooler. I've ridding in 115 temps here in the central valley, and I can't say mine has ever even acted even slightly over heated. It might be an issue in the LA area or such with those temps and parking lot traffic, but that's why Ca allows lane splitting.

[natemoen]

Most Cyl head temps are taken with a washer that fits under a spark plug. There was a thread a few years ago about putting one under a head bolt.
HTH

Interesting, I have not seen one like that. I will have to look for.that thread and do some searching.

[cywelchjr]

I believe those units use a thermister for their measurement. I think that 81xsproject has something like that on his FI machine, as the computer needs to know the temp for closed loop operation.

I think that at least at one time he just had it wedged into the fins on the head, but I could be misremembering.

[natemoen]

I do remember him talking about that for his FI project but didn't know they had gauges of tje same sort. His was just values set in computer code as fat as I remember and not a gauge.

[crazy steve]

Ray, that's the kind of temp sensors i have seen, by I agree with Cy of the head temp is most important. Anyone have some ideas?

Head temp senders can be found on some late-model air-cooled EFI bikes, but these send a signal to the FI controller for mixture/timing purposes.

You might look and see what's offered in the VW Beetle market; I'm pretty sure I've seen 'temp' gauges. The trick is where to put it. These usually require a tapped 'well' to install the sensor into, so you have to find a place to do that, and is it the 'right' place to really tell you what you want to know?

Oil temp is nearly as useful (some say as useful), as the oil circulating helps carry heat away too. Keep your oil temps below 250 and you should be ok.

[natemoen]

Interesting, I really don't want to put any holes in the head.

[cywelchjr]

Interesting, I really don't want to put any holes in the head.

I'll agree Nate, you don't need any more holes in your head.