Compared to some of the other parts I have reproduced this won’t be to bad. The kickstarter idea is a good one though. I have to stop making changes. Every time I tweet the design it slows down a bunch. Time to break the pencils, and get it done. I am trying to leave some real estate in the case and on the board for possible future changes.
That sounds like one I’d want to get.
Does it work with a volt meter and a rheostat switch to vary the voltage to the gauges?
How much do you think it’ll cost?
Should be under $25 hopefully less.
The instruments are fed by the instrument voltage regulator. The tester will have three positions: 1. cold, low or empty, 2 mid scale and 3 hot high or full. Basically you will substitute the tester for the sender (one clip lead to ground and the other to the end of the wire removed from the sender) If you see a pulsed light that means you have power, then move the switch to each position and verify that the gauge reads where it should. I will put together an instruction sheet with diagnosis information.
DHL brought me the first article sample. I am really pleased. This is a metal case. I managed to get an LED (blue) working to show power and it looks great. The leads are a bit too long, I am going to shorten them to about 18" and change the wire colors to red and black. It works perfectly.
Nice!
What would you guys think about leaving it in this metal box case. It is a real tank. Of course the top will get screen printed with all of the labeling and so on, and instructions will go on the bottom side. When you see the inside you will understand why it can’t be any smaller. The white stuff is potting to keep the wires from getting pulled out and to support a couple of components. This thing is put together. There are four metal studs that the board is screwed down to.
For me this type of tool will go in a tool box like any other meter or measurement device. A metal box should be more durable. Unless there is any risk that the metal box gets “grounded” by accident and causing an issue or erroneous results I would say it’s fine.
Looks like one of the many specialty boxes our electronics guru at work makes up for me to control solenoids etc on the new engines. looks good to me and I’ll take one. I have a couples gauges that need attention I can put it to work on.
I’d say leave it. And be careful with the wires. I don’t ever recall using the phrase “dammit these wires are too long”.
I will do some more on the car testing. The biggest issue will be making sure people give the gauge up to one minute to reach its correct reading. The thing about wires is that if they are too long they tend to get wrapped around stuff. Looking for the Goldilocks length: just right.
What is the thread size on the various sender posts? That would be ideal for the harness lead. The ground lead should have a big enough jaw to get onto a variety of bolt heads.
All of the posts for sending units and for gauge posts are #10 bolt.
Great feedback! I have found that some sending units use a spade lug connector instead of a stud. I want to make sure it will work with those as well. Maybe I could put multiple connectors on that end. The alligator clip I have on the other end is maybe bigger than it looks. I am able to pretty easily find a place to attach it. But all of us are smarter than any one of us so please keep sharing.
Things are not going as quickly as I hoped. This is an example.
Just got these pics last night of a pre production prototype. They kind of messed up the print on the front. Look at the line where it should say “Temp” and the way things don’t line up from side to side.
The back is better. keep in mind this is enlarged quite a bit.
Here is what it is supposed to look like with the latest edits.
I have also asked for a larger font on the back to make it easier to read.
I would move your model - revision designation to the back in small print. Maybe prefix it with “Model:” You wouldn’t want the FoMoCo lawyers to interpret that as their trademark. They have a reputation for being even worse than Disney lawyers with their lawsuits.
Perhaps that front section could read “For Ford/Lincoln/Mercury”
Regardless of the merits or lack thereof, I’ll guess you can’t afford a lawsuit.
Good point. The next one will be either GT-Ford-2, or GT-GMC-1. They all look the same but are internally different. I think it will be helpful to have it clearly marked. GT stands for Gauge Tester
What a difference a day makes.
Do the instructions make sense to you guys? I am pretty close to sticking a fork in this.
Seems straight forward enough for me. Is there any self diagnostic of the tester itself?
That is an interesting thought: Is there any self diagnostic of the tester itself?
The answer is not really. It should be extremely hard to break though. You can hook it up to 15 volts (the circuit being tested should be 5 volts) and it won’t fail although it will get hot eventually. I wonder what self diagnostic capability would cost. It is easy to test. All you really need is to check continuity. If you have a test light you could use that. A multimeter is an obvious choice but many people don’t have one.
Looks great to me! Very elegant design and operation. When do you anticipate taking/delivering orders?