I'm looking into aftermarket gauges - auto box temp, oil temp etc and am a little confused about gauge tech.
I understand what mechanical and electrical is, but what is the difference between electrical and stepper motor gauges as they sound pretty similar? Is one type more accurate then the other?
I assume they use different senders as well?
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Aftermarket gauge tech - electrical or stepper motor
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Don't know but stepper motors have been a part of petrol ECU control for years and haven't seemed to gain a bad rep in that environment. If they are quality then there should be no issues.TheOtherLeft wrote:So wouldn't a stepper motor be more accurate then electrical? Although it may have reliability problems since it has moving parts.
Main difference i see is in size - stepper types are generally quite thin so can be mounted in more situations as they have only small parts inside unlike traditional electrics. As far as accuracy goes I think quality again is more important. For example I would still go mechanical or electric Pro Comp rather than the stepper crap you get at autobarn or supercheap. But of course quality stepper designs are still very expensive. There is one Pro Comp now in stepper and from memory it was more than twic e the price of the same in traditional set up.
The stepper styles also have small and simple wiring to them which makes mounting again easier as brain or active part is not within the gauge.
OH and they look reallllyyyyy coooollllllll. Is that what hte young ones are saying these days. Or is it vomit or sick or something.
A stepper motor is a motor that moves in steps, like 100 steps per revolution, maybe 200? The steps can be so small you dont even know it has moved until it moves several steps.
So your needle wont sweep, it will step, like a second hand on a clock.
Stepper motors are very accurate, as they have some control circuitry which tells them which position to be in, said control circuit cannot lose accuracy over its age like ther types of guages.
So your needle wont sweep, it will step, like a second hand on a clock.
Stepper motors are very accurate, as they have some control circuitry which tells them which position to be in, said control circuit cannot lose accuracy over its age like ther types of guages.
03 HDJ100R GXL / 94 FJ45-80
You might be meaning the senders?
As Electrical means the use a sender that sends a signal to the guage.
Mechanical don't have a sender what happens is the guage itself is the sender.
So on a on pres guage.
Electrical:
You hook in a little sender unit then run wires up to the guage and wire up the guage for power to read the singals and for lights etc.
Mechanical:
You hook in a pipe and run the pipe into the cabin and then hook the pipe into the guage itself and you'd just wire it up for lights etc.
all the guages should have stepper motors as most use stepper motors as used in aircraft etc so they will work prefectly everytime etc.
It really seems to come down to safty because if a oil pipe busts inside the cabin well that oil goes somewhere real quick.
As Electrical means the use a sender that sends a signal to the guage.
Mechanical don't have a sender what happens is the guage itself is the sender.
So on a on pres guage.
Electrical:
You hook in a little sender unit then run wires up to the guage and wire up the guage for power to read the singals and for lights etc.
Mechanical:
You hook in a pipe and run the pipe into the cabin and then hook the pipe into the guage itself and you'd just wire it up for lights etc.
all the guages should have stepper motors as most use stepper motors as used in aircraft etc so they will work prefectly everytime etc.
It really seems to come down to safty because if a oil pipe busts inside the cabin well that oil goes somewhere real quick.
if it helps mechanical guages also used to be known as a capillary guage, so as zagan said, in the instance of oil pressure, you would run a small (1/8th or 1/16 inch) pipe into the guage which can lose accuracy, however, Zagan, that is why aircraft guages are required to be calibrated at certain intervals, most aircraft (i can't vouch for newer stuff like the A380) still use capillary guages because of their reliability, not stepper guages. And if the line bursts inside the cabin it will become very obvious to you that you have a problem yet the oil will not pump out that quickly from an 1/8 inch line
a normal mechanical guage uses a coil and a magnet stuck to the needle and a spring that returns the needle to zero, the sender will send a voltage signal into the coil, which cuases the magnet to move along the coil, (much in the same way the solenoid in your starter motor works), which moves the needle to the required position, EG: in a fuel guage, 0 volts would equal empty and 12 volts (12 v system) would equal full, the sender uses a variable resistor to control the voltage.
as far as stepper motors go Shadow has got it. The needle can appear to sweep depending on the number of steps per revolution.
but yes they can be quite expensive, and ultimately the stepper guage's extra acuracy is not going to be notcieable to the naked eye, so why bother spending the extra dosh.
a normal mechanical guage uses a coil and a magnet stuck to the needle and a spring that returns the needle to zero, the sender will send a voltage signal into the coil, which cuases the magnet to move along the coil, (much in the same way the solenoid in your starter motor works), which moves the needle to the required position, EG: in a fuel guage, 0 volts would equal empty and 12 volts (12 v system) would equal full, the sender uses a variable resistor to control the voltage.
as far as stepper motors go Shadow has got it. The needle can appear to sweep depending on the number of steps per revolution.
but yes they can be quite expensive, and ultimately the stepper guage's extra acuracy is not going to be notcieable to the naked eye, so why bother spending the extra dosh.
I think all the big name doof doof Japanese brands do. Defi, Blitz, HKS. Try egauges.com for a big range of guages and brands.
I thought there was only one or two gauges that Autometer do in stepper style but I haven't looked lately.
You've got the Drift brand from autobarn and the calibre from supercheap then any number of ebay brands that appear to do them but I'd say a good mechanical autometer etc would still be a better buy than any of those budget ranges. Better to have quality than cheap bling otherwise you are probably just as well to rely on the factory offerings.
I thought there was only one or two gauges that Autometer do in stepper style but I haven't looked lately.
You've got the Drift brand from autobarn and the calibre from supercheap then any number of ebay brands that appear to do them but I'd say a good mechanical autometer etc would still be a better buy than any of those budget ranges. Better to have quality than cheap bling otherwise you are probably just as well to rely on the factory offerings.
I've only recently come into the 4x4 world, however for years i've been in the drift scene (competetively, not one of the guys you see fishtailing up the motorway) and all I have to add to this discussion is YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Steer well clear of uber cheap ebay garbage. I ran a set in one of my earlier cars, the oil pressure gauge never worked, the temp gauge read low (aparently my car ran at a constant 30 degrees) Sabre make a good reasonable priced stepper motor gauge, defi started the trend and probably make one of the best, however they are expensive, autometer don't make a bad gauge, however they use the worst backlight and are shit at night. Electric gauges are the way to go though, also to consider is capillary gauges aren't legal in qld as you are not allowed to run high pressure oil lines into the cabin.
Ryan
Ryan
Damn, Ryan. That's good tech.ryan.u wrote:I've only recently come into the 4x4 world, however for years i've been in the drift scene (competetively, not one of the guys you see fishtailing up the motorway) and all I have to add to this discussion is YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Steer well clear of uber cheap ebay garbage. I ran a set in one of my earlier cars, the oil pressure gauge never worked, the temp gauge read low (aparently my car ran at a constant 30 degrees) Sabre make a good reasonable priced stepper motor gauge, defi started the trend and probably make one of the best, however they are expensive, autometer don't make a bad gauge, however they use the worst backlight and are shit at night. Electric gauges are the way to go though, also to consider is capillary gauges aren't legal in qld as you are not allowed to run high pressure oil lines into the cabin.
Ryan
Be careful, you might be setting the bar too high.
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