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Anders Dinsen
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« Reply #4 on: January 01, 2007, 06:27:25 pm » |
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DO NOT rely on it to claim either generator or battery to be defective, always measure on it with a real voltmeter.
And I will add: DO NOT rely on an external voltmeter either, unless you fit a fresh battery in it :-) I just almost condemned my battery/alternator/regulator, as my digital voltmeter measured 16 Volts (!). The dash voltmeter was fine, - and in this case it was actually the most accurate! A new battery in my digivoltmeter at the voltage read 14.5 on the battery while charging :-) /Lennart And while we are in the DO NOT section, I'd like to add that you should never rely on a cheap 100 kr (10£) multimeter either! Im fitting digital instrumentation to my murena when i get home... I know some might not approve of this as its a "classic " car, but I think they will suit a wired french car like the murena quite well.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WHAT'S HAPPENING TO YOU MAN!!!!? (banging head hard into the wall, think it will need fixing - wall and head)
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1982 Talbot Matra Murena 2.2 prep 142 2017 BMW i3 "Charged Professional" 94Ah
Used to own: 2001 Renault Matra Grand Espace "The Race" V6 24v 1997 Renault Matra Espace 2.0 8V 1987 Renault Matra Espace J11 2.2
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Lennart Sorth
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« Reply #8 on: January 01, 2007, 08:46:42 pm » |
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Owning a car with digital instruments (Espace JE) I must say it is NOT my favourite. I really dislike it when I get distracted to look at the dashboard just because the amount of light emitted by showing "109" is much more than "111" (km/h that is)
However, I think having a more or less hidden digital readout of a number of nifty parameters would be excellent. Maybe one could fit a fold-up LCD display in the ashtray - sort of like the Blaupunkt GPS system. Pull it out, and you have a multifunction "telemetry" readout of everything your heart desire.
Possibly also with the ability of showing just one of the readouts in huge, (friendly?) digits, so you can see them while driving.
Now what would we like such a system to show us? * Coolant-temp near engine * Coolant-temp near radiator * Coolant-temp near heater matrix (?) * Inlet air temp * engine oil temperature * engine oil pressure * gearbox oil temp (?) * Voltages - several places * fuel-gauge * speed * engine revs And how about using a lambda sensor to tell about the amount of oxygene in the exhaust ? - just for the measurements sake. Could also be nice to know, when adjusting carbs.
Personaly I'd love to also include support for some webcams, - as I really would like to see how much the engine moves about while accellerating, or parts of the suspension. Does anyone e.g. know how much the trailing arms flex while driving through a curve ?
Maybe what I'm looking after is a full-scale telemetry system, with and interface to a laptop, rather than a little multifunction display.
/Lennart
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Anders Dinsen
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« Reply #9 on: January 01, 2007, 09:58:40 pm » |
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My first thought was, to piece something togeather from what is availeble on ebay. Various vdo porsche 911 and 944 gauges are nice, but I finally came across some from a manufacturer called "Nordskog". They are digital, with red numbers that completely blacks out when not in use. it will be ok.. I promise..... I wont "go german" on the poor eel... I just want some fancy gauges....I CAN TRUST!! The Murena gauges are qute reliable and trustworthy. Except for the voltmeter, that is, but this was obviously never intended to display anything but a rough indication of the voltage. The speedometer is in fact very precise, and far more than most other cars that has a mis-display of about 5-10% (usually to the high side). The rev counter could be better, but when you think about it you don't really need an exact readout of the engine rpm. The same applies to water temperature and oil pressure, in fact: You cannot really use the exact numbers for anything. Coolant temperature is dependent on the water pressure at the pick up point, and the exact number will tell you nothing about whether the coolant is close to boiling or not (or even whether it does local boiling inside the cylinder head). As for oil pressure, what you will be looking for are pressure drops that could indicate problems - whether the oil pressure is 3.0 or 3.5 bars will tell you nothing. By the way, oil pressure will also be dependent on engine temperature (since the viscosity of the oil is). This is why your gauge shows a higher number when cold than when hot. If you want something reliable, why not stick with what has worked in the car for the last 25 years? Lennart, I like your idea of a small display hidden in the ash tray. Telemetry is an interesting issue, but the problem is not so much the read out or the recorder - it's the sensors. Besides, engine data isn't quite enough, you'd also want to record suspension travel, drive shaft torque and real time tyre pressure! But then, you'd be able to compete with the professional racers - Anders
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1982 Talbot Matra Murena 2.2 prep 142 2017 BMW i3 "Charged Professional" 94Ah
Used to own: 2001 Renault Matra Grand Espace "The Race" V6 24v 1997 Renault Matra Espace 2.0 8V 1987 Renault Matra Espace J11 2.2
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Lennart Sorth
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« Reply #10 on: January 01, 2007, 11:51:03 pm » |
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but the problem is not so much the read out or the recorder - it's the sensors.
Oh yes, I am fully aware of that - and yes, getting suspension travel input too would be marvellous. I'm a data-freak, which is why my new job in the UK concerns petabytes of storage :-) I recently spoke to a guy racing a Ginetta, who had the entire car rigged with sensors, which were recorded while he was driving. Then when he got home, he could spend hours looking through the data, and look for possible optimization. That car went like stink! - outpacing almost anything out there - and it sounded gorgeous, despite it being (I think) a tiny 1000ccm. ( http://www.sorth.dk/p/20060910/Med/dsc_5630.html) In my son's P106 (well, my spare-car) he fitted a huuuuuge (1600W!) stereo, which initially looks quite normal, - everything exceptional is hidden. There is a remote control to adjust the 12" subwoofer, hidden in: the ashtray! Cool feature :-) (And none of my cars will ever see their ashtray used for ashes anyway, - smoking is banned) In the same way, I'd love to "rig" my Murena for data-collection, while keeping its appearence close to normal. I have sometimes thought of replacing the voltmeter with a real calibrated voltmeter - but in 11 years of ownership, I have learned to interpret the original one so well, that it really makes no difference.
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