Electrical or Mechanical Gauges? [Merged 9-6]

[TSiAWD91]

Ok i ordered an autometer mechanical oil pressure gauge today on accident.i wanted to get the electrical,but for some reason i picked the mechanical.anyways,i was wondering if the mechanical gauge is a PITA to install and if i should send back the one i ordered to get the electrical gauge,or if its not too bad of an install.thanks for any help!!

 

[L2RTSiAWD]

Send it back get the electrical.

If the line ever goes bad would you like to have oil spewing all into the cockpit of the car.

 

[greathuskie]

that is unless you get that little thing they make that protects the inside of your car from that.....

 

[Airpoppoff]

i thought you can get an oil press sender, that sends an elec signal to the gauge, or is that just the elec gauge????

 

[dave99gst]

Originally posted by Airpoppoff
i thought you can get an oil press sender, that sends an elec signal to the gauge, or is that just the elec gauge????

ya that is the elec. gauge

 

[DSM-Neal]

Could anyone tell me what the difference is between electric and mechanical gauges?
neal

 

[candela]

usually electric will read the source of pressure from the source where its tapped in, where as mechanical doesnt have an electric sender to give it the reading so it reads it directly from the back of the gauge. IMO, mechanical = cheaper, more responsive and longer lasting

 

[cucumber]

I have to agree with autism, mechanical is cheaper and more efficient.

 

[NeXtLeVeL]

Well i was wondering what the importance of both were and if its needed to get eletric gauges. I plan on getting these 5 gauges from autometer. Egt and put a TRK probe on, Boost, Water Temp, these will go in the A-pillar, Then im going to put 2 gauges in the vents a oil pressure and fuel pressure.

I just wanted to find which of these gauges should be electric and whcih gauges it wouldnt matter. thanks

Ps. If it matters this is going in a 92 gsx. thanks

 

[doug]

The fuel pressure gauge HAS to be electric if you're using it inside the car. The oil pressure one really should be too, because you really don't want to be running oil lines to your cockpit either.

 

[candela]

Na... I run all manual and always have. As long as they are installed correctly dont worry about it. Ive had oil pressur in my car right now no worries =). manual gauges are usually a little mroe sensitive/accurate IMO,

Austin

 

[NeXtLeVeL]

That's cool ok id like to hear more opinions on this subject. thanks

 

[candela]

well they are cheaper and if installed correctly shouldnt have any problems with leaks... I guess I live on the edge.. Cheap, working, functional and proven is always what Ill pick beofre spending more money,

Austin

 

[doug]

You don't actually have a mechanical fuel pressure gauge in your cockpit, do you?

 

[DrZiplok]

There are really three classes of gauges being discussed here:

- Mechanical, where the measured medium is brought by various means all the way to the gauge mechanism.

- Electrical, where a sensor measures the medium and typically produces a voltage or varies in resistance, and is wired to the gauge which measures this.

- Electronic, where a sensor measures the medium and is interfaced to circuitry (typically using a small microprocessor) which in turn drives the gauge proper.

You might want to be more specific about the gauges you're describing in order to avoid confusion.

 

[2-0turbo]

Originally posted by doug
The fuel pressure gauge HAS to be electric if you're using it inside the car. The oil pressure one really should be too, because you really don't want to be running oil lines to your cockpit either.

I agree on the fuel--that would scare the hell out of me to a pressurized fuel line in the cockpit with me. I don't mind oil as much. Yeah, it would make a mess, but they are pretty reliable.

The helicopters I have been in during maintenance activities all have wet gages on the panel: oil pressure, hydraulic pressure, etc. Fuel is a risk I don't want to take though. I don't want to burn to death. Hit a tree and die, but not burn to death.

 

[DSMJim]

espically on a turbo car where fuel pressure can reach 80psi. I would hate to see a line burst in somebodys car like that. Imagine spraying fuel all over electrical components inside your car while driving. If you were doing a highway run and going say 130mph it woud take you over 10 seconds to stop your car, under that speed you could sustain serious burns and a nasty accident because of that.

If you don't think it can happen my buddies miata had a line leak under the hood because he was using crappy hose connectors for fuel line. It sprayed on electrical under the hood and light. It fed because of the leak and the fire in 3-4 seconds was I would say 5 feet above the top of the car. His extinguisher was broken (a stupid friend of our which we could still kill today) and we had to put it out with a fire hose. It took I would say another 10 seconds to get it out. It caused $9000 in damage to his motor/paint.

Oil is very much the same thing. Running hot oil inside your car it not as dangerous but you can imagine it if ever sprayed on you. That would be like napalm. You would never be able to wipe it off and 220 deg's hot. ouch.

Do yourself a favour and keep all the dangerous stuff outside the car. Just mho.

 

[jltcat]

You can have a mechanical fuel gauge. you just have to make sure you hook it up correctly. ( I would put a switch on the fuel pump and onto the battery aswell to reduce the chance that the sparks could ignite the vapors and to reduce the amount of fuel that could be pumped out). You can go with any of them mechanical, electrical, electrical, digital, your finger out the window. They all work pretty well usually the mechanical gauges are more precise because they tell you whats happening rather than a electric impression of whats happening.

 

[candela]

Well guys my fuel pressure gauge is tapped into the T of the fuel filter. I dont see much a point t cramming cockpits with all kinds of gauges for a light show... just the ones that you need. i wouldnt put a fuel pressure in the cabin though. Even though I do have a bypass switch for my fuel pump (when I did the rewire, kill it or switch back to normal), I just didnt mention fuel pressure. Its nice to know I guess but just checking under the hood is fine for me

Austin

 

[snipe99999]

I have a autometer ultra light mechanical boost gauge and was looking into the cobalt series electric boost gauge. My question is what is the difference in the way that the gauge has to be hooked up. Will I still need the vacuum line running to the gauge. I am just wondering if I get this gauge is there any additional work that needs to be done to install it and if the electric gauge are more or less accurate.

Thanks,
Ian

 

[candela]

manual= easy install, cheaper and IMO always more accurate

electric (excluding FP)= for the lazy/bling people out there, less accurate, more parts to break/install/replace but very clean install in the interior as its just wires to the back of the gauge


Austin

 

[Ikestaa]

The one main benefit to electric that I know of is that there is virtually no limit to how far apart the gauge is from the source of the data. This doesn't really aply when you are talking boost because the turbo is not very far, relatively speaking, from the dash.

 

[Hobbes =^.^=]

How come electrical are less accurate then mechanical gauges?

 

[candela]

Well its pretty simple theory dude. Because there is more sh!t in between the source and the gauge...

Manual gauges usually go right from the source to the back of the gauge and that is what I would like to be reading, this is all just my opinion on this. I know some people like electrical better, but I am a budgetized builder =) When you go threw a sensor (hoping its accurate as hell) then you are just going threw wires to tell you what your reading, not only is there a slight delay but there is always a slight voltage drop with everything that is wired. Im not sure if any of this makes a big difference but, Ive seen mech/elec oil pressure/boost and in both cases I thought that the mechanical gauge was a bit quicker in response...


Austin

 

[L2RTSiAWD]

I say get electrical for any gauge other than boost.

Fuel Pressure
Oil Pressure
Water Temp
EGT

Unless you really like peak/hold funtions.