ACT gauge???

[vristang]

Can a standard aftermarket temp gauge (autometer or whatever) be hooked up to the ACT sensor in the lower intake. I am curious what the temps are.

Has anyone done this?

I may put in a lifter valley windage tray, but want to know what the intake temps are before doing the modification, for the comparison.
Anyone seen dyno results/temp data for this?

 

[HISSIN50]

Jason, that is an interesting question. The real smart folks will know, but I will chime in just in case....... (I know you have to be sick of me replying).

I think there would be calibration issues. THe ACT has a thermistor so the gauge would need to be cal'd for that. It would be easier to simply mount the gauge's dedicated sending unit as a stand-alone.

Let's see what the smart ones say. Interesting idea man - you always have the wheels turning upstairs.

 

[vristang]

(I know you have to be sick of me replying).

Nope, not yet.

Maybe it would be easier to just read ACT output with a voltmeter, then do a conversion/calibration later?

 

[HISSIN50]

Nope, not yet.

Maybe it would be easier to just read ACT output with a voltmeter, then do a conversion/calibration later?

I think that would be the cheap way to do it (it is the same way TwEECers infer temps, as I recall). Jrichker has posted the voltage and resistance values for the ECT/ACT (very similar sensors) in case that helps. I cant recall how large a spread there is between values to know if a digital voltmeter would be effective in real-world driving. I think it could work.

Good luck!

 

[vristang]

According to Probst (p84) the ACT and the ECT are calibrated to the same VREF output.

So now the question is...
Are there any aftermarket gauges that can give accurate output for the stock coolant temp sensor?

Just thinking out loud

 

[gt90stang]

See this for the ACT transfer function:

http://www.geocities.com/dbennettya/Mustang_PCM/act_comparison_2a.xls

Don

 

[vristang]

JT- you beat me to the post. I gotta start hitting the submit reply button quicker

Don-thanks for the excel file. It gives the voltmeter calibration info that I was just about to ask for.

I should be able to splice into the ACT lead near the computer, correct? Maybe I will give this a try this weekend.

Always a pleasure guys!
:Word:

 

[sgthooligan]

I hooked my autometer gauge to my stock sender and it pegged out at 250. Even though the temp was 185

 

[gt90stang]

The input impedance of the autometer gauge must be high impedance to work properly. Do you have a schematic or specs, what is it's transfer function it expects? Any info on the autometer sending unit? Sounds like it isn't compatible with the stock sending unit?

Good Luck, Don

 

[vristang]

Holy Revival!!!

So I did end up using a voltmeter for a little while. I hooked it up to the ACT, ECT, and TPS in the kickpanel near the computer. Easy to do.

Reading voltage was a little weird at first but started to make sense after a week or so.

Does anyone know the output scale of the temp gauge sender? If it is on the same 0-5v scale then maybe a switch could be used to alternate between coolant temp and Air charge temp, through the stock coolant temp gauge?


jason

 

[gt90stang]

That would work except the gauge ECT sending unit is totally different than the ACT/ECT PCM sensors.

Don

 

[jrichker]

Light aircraft use an intake air temp gauge to help the pilot control the temp to prevent icing in the carb. A Google search for experimental or light aircraft parts would probably find what you want.

Browse these to see what you can find under the general category of instruments
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/index.php

http://www.sacskyranch.com/

http://www.wicksaircraft.com/

 

[67coupe]

I've thought about doing this very same thing. For a lab in college, we used operational amplifiers to modify the voltage output of strain gages to display the acutal load in Newtons placed on the experimental setup. Going to have to dig up the old lab books! Anyone tried this with op-amps before?

 

[vristang]

I've thought about doing this very same thing. For a lab in college, we used operational amplifiers to modify the voltage output of strain gages to display the acutal load in Newtons placed on the experimental setup. Going to have to dig up the old lab books! Anyone tried this with op-amps before?

Actually, I use strain gauges at work from time to time.

However, I am no electronics engineer, I am just a technician

Would the signal conditioner be able to convert non linear output from the sensor to linear input to the gauge/digital meter? Or would a digital readout even need linear input?

How much would an appropriate signal conditioner cost?

I'm not even sure I understand what I just wrote?

jason

 

[gt90stang]

Well, it can be done....not simple or easy....I can do it but won't waste the time. I use Tweecer RT and it allows datalogging of 16 parameters simutaneously and ACT is one of them. It also allows tuning for best performance, but 10,000 or more functions, scalars and tables can be a bitch to learn how to tune successfully.

Good Luck, Don

 

[vristang]

Well, it can be done....not simple or easy....I can do it but won't waste the time. I use Tweecer RT and it allows datalogging of 16 parameters simutaneously and ACT is one of them. It also allows tuning for best performance, but 10,000 or more functions, scalars and tables can be a bitch to learn how to tune successfully.

Good Luck, Don

^What he said.
I just started with the RT myself. Information overload

 

[Daggar]

Check out the TwEECer forums. The dude that installed the custom intercooler on the Kenne Bell/5oh setup rigged up a gauge for the ACT sensor.