Digital sensor pannel NEED HELP FROM YOU!

[sebrro1]

Hello forum users,
I have a land rover series 2a 1968 fully original and rebuilt by me when i was in school (i add a picture of her) and I'm looking to do a few modern tweaks to her, i want to make a digital LED display panel that gives me different temperatures such as engine temperature , oil temp , gearbox temp , water temp and outer engine temp, as well as hooking up a hazards light switch and a light testing switch so inside i press a button and a light comes on

Im in need of some help with theses following questions:

1) Does the standard water temperature sender a fix one so in my cab it does COLD NORMAL or HOT, would that mean i could hook a meter up to it and find out the temp in centigrade ?

2) Hooking a oil temperture sensor sounds easy but is the best way just a T piece where the oil pressure switch is?

3) Best place to get a outer engine temperature i was thinking on the ex manifold but I'm happy to do the electronics and put lots of sensors over the engine in certain places and make a circuit board up to get the average temperature , so wheres the best place to put a sensor for outer engine temperature.

4) Where to put the sensor for gearbox with least effort of fitting it but with most accurate temperature

5) Hooking a hazards light switch i know someone knows

6) How to wire up a light testing switch up Ive had a look on many army landy wiring diagrams but there all 24V and i need 12V hope someone can explain a good way.

7) Best parts to use and where to get them from ?


I hope someone out there can help the younger generation of land rover lovers ,splash part time hater when she breaks down on me help me with my little upgrades ill keep everyone posted with photos and many ways i did and problems that occurred along the way. Ill make a separate thread up

Please feel free to post comment your help and any ideas you have slog the way

 

[Swingletree]

Welcome to the forums.

I have a few questions, what do you want the test light switch to test? If you have a wiring diagram for a 24v circuit it will still work as a 12v circuit as long as any gauges or sensors are swapped for 12v items.

The oil temp will work fine tee'd off the pressure switch, just make sure it doesn't leak!

Might be easiest to adapt your gearbox drain plug to fit a temp sensor there somehow.

I'm sure others will be along to offer more ideas soon.

Good luck with it all and keep us informed on progress.

 

[christofloffer]

welcome to the forum.

gearbox sensor would probably be best of in place of the filler plug, rather than the drain plug. less pressure straight down on it to cause a failure or leak.

my temp gauge is a numbered one. it is aftermarket and had to go in the centre of the dash in place of my old ammeters, which means its almost upside down so that i can actually see it. but it works fine, just need to make an adaptor where the sender fits.

an external temp sensor would be best off on the bulkhead behind the engine i reckon. it would be the most consistent, its not like the engine bay isn't draughty, and that would be fairly well protected.

what exactly is it you are aiming for though? are you after something more along the lines of a defender dash or something all hooked up into a centre console? i have no idea how you would get all those readings onto a digital screen. that level of electronics is voodoo to me. making a console with analogue gauges would be relatively straightforward i would think. you could make it fairly neat too, just blank off another stretch of dash as a console. it certainly sounds like a complex set up to me at any rate.

 

[Richie_asg1]

I've used what are essentially fridge digital displays for some projects. They come as a sealed sensor, length of wire and panel mount module all ready to fit. If you wanted to rewire the LCD into a different display it wouldn't be that hard, and likewise the sensor will be a standard NTC thermistor that could be replaced with a thin film type and just epoxied into place. Just watch the spec when you buy them to cover the temperature range you want. As they come with small button batteries, you can replace them every few years or hardwire them to a 3.3v dc converter. Most of them are not backlit as standard, but there may be room to slip in a few SMD led's.

A convenient dash panel for the series III is to get hold of the military brake test brackets, then fabricate your own front plate to fit between them converting it into a wide pod.
But then where would you fit your destination time clocks?

 

[holly76]

hmm digital dash on a series 2A - well each to his own

as for your questions.

1 the sender is fed from a regulator and the gauges measure current. i suspect it will not be as simple as simply measuring the voltage as the regulator will alter it's resistance to maintain voltage. of cousre you could use a shunt but this would affect the gauge reading. then again if you are fitting a digital gauge you can do away with the original. so it would mot be too hard to play around with a pan of boiling water, a thermometer, a sender and resistance meter to work things out (with sutable adult supervision)

2 a tee may not give the best readings as it will be sat in the air flow and maybe not so much in the oil flow. in the sump would be best. you can get some sensors which fit down the dipstic tube for VWs. or you could strap a sender to the sump or oil filter. a T also introduces a potential weak spot in the oil system.


3 not sure what you mean by outer temperature. the hotest temp will be around the exhaust p by the bulkhead. the air inlet would be best near the air filter (or in it) and the outside air would probably be best on the rad panel somwhere out of the airflow and away from radiation from the radiator.


4 the gearbox temp would probably be best in the drain plug. using the side plug would be a pain to check the oil level. It also would only be partially submerged and would be quite close to the moving bits. straping one to the case would be easiest.


5 i belive someone did one with a plug in harness. not sure it would be sutable for a series 2a though. in essence you need a flassher can which will flash 4 bulbs. fed from a permanatly live fused supply (purple) then switch and/or relays with 2x change over contacts. connect the feed to the lights to the common, the feed from the original switch to NC and the new flasher can to NO.


6 the brake warning test lights on some landrovers worked by earthing the test wire on the end of a loop. checking the wiring and light but not the switches. you could simply have a button to press or use a reay activted when cranking to test the lights.


7 the usuall suspects for landrover parts (senders e.t.c). maplins and RS for electrnic parts. vehicle wiring parts (flasher can hazard switch) vheicle wiring products. e bay may also be usefull.

good luck with your project. how are you going to do the conversion? discrete circuit boards, or go more modern with a PLC multiplexing the dispalys. you may want to go more racing style and use a data logger type digital dash, though that would cost some.