Auxiliary gauges and junk...

[AApple]

I'm looking to install a couple of aux. gauges on my Wing. I'm thinking oil pressure, and either amp or voltage meter. I have a spot in the right side of the fairing I think would be a good place, so now I need to decide what exactly do I want there?
Would an amp gauge be better on a bike than a voltage meter, or voltage better? I know that I can have 14volts showing, but it may only be at 5 amps, so that is where I'm having a problem deciding. I'm adding a few more lights over the winter down time, and I'll be swapping to LEDS also. Which would ya'll really think would be more important to know, amperage, or voltage?
I'm a car guy, so bike logic is a little fuzzy for me at this point. Any ideas/discussion would be great. :mrgreen:

 

[dan filipi]

An ammeter is intended to show a flow of current either leaving the battery (discharging) or to the battery (charging).

A voltmeter is intended to show the voltage present in the system. Anything above 12.8 would indicate a positive voltage available over and above the battery voltage but does not indicate actual flow into the battery.

The best of both worlds is to have both but a volt meter is usually adequate.

 

[AApple]

In that case, I guess I'll have to buy a voltage gauge...I have a set of gauges already, but it has an amp gauge. No biggie. :mrgreen:
Then I need to get some adapter/fittings for the oil pressure gauge. Seems like I saw a post here before that showed a set-up like that, with a good pic of the fitting(s). Was that here, or maybe on NGW? Anyone remember, or have pics of their adaptation method for an oil pressure gauge?

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Was it Old Fogey on NGW? A super guy who loves to share his experiance, hopefully he won't mind me posting this on his behalf...

...I also had a couple of other ideas while I was rooting around in Cyborg's shop, one of which was the fitting of an oil pressure gauge.


The sender is huge! Initially I was going to put in the same place as the OEM pressure switch but........

although it cleared everything, just, I realised that removing the carbs would be next to impossible without removing the switch as well.

So this was the solution. An 1/8" NTP to 18x1.5 mm adapter screwed in to the oil gallery at the back of the engine and the gauge fitted to that.

Not a lot of clearance for the brake pedal but enough.

The LED light in the gauge was blinding! So I used a 7v regulator from a GL1100, wired into the lighting circuit, to reduce the volts and the brilliance. I did it this way so that it the gauge was only lit when the lights were on; a bit pointless as I always have the lights on!


So there we go. Another of my little fancies come to fruition :-D

 

[AApple]

That may be it...Thanx!!
I'll be using a mechanical pressure gauge, however, but knowing I can tie into that galley is definitely helpful!! :mrgreen:

 

[scdmarx]

Older cars used to have amp meters, and modern cars have volt meters. I was always under the impression that this was because an amp meter is wired in series, and if it ever failed (like a fuse) it would leave you "dead in the water". While a volt meter is wired parallel and won't bother anything when it quits.

If you are going to add more driving lights, I think the time to check current draw would be at the time of installation. I really don't think that will change later, will it? And from then on, become intimate with your volt meter.

I plan on sticking more light up front. I just haven't decided what I'm looking for yet. I've already got LED's everywhere else in preparation for this.

 

[Bagmaster]

Right on about the amp meter, it has to be wired in series with the battery with heavy gauge wire in order to carry the full electrical load for the whole bike.

Now as to the oil pressure gauge, I like that posted solution. I installed 1 on my 76 CB750A in a similar location and the gauge screwed right into the adapter. All I had to do to check it was look straight down inside my right foot every once in a while.

Now I wonder if a smaller pressure sensor could be found other than the one in the pics. I remember one I installed in a Datsun pickup had a smaller pressure unit, think I'll shop around and see if I can found one like it. It used plastic tubing to carry the pressure to the gauge, it got cut by some one one time when the wife was driving it and she ran it all the way home pumping the oil out. Pulled into the drive with rods knocking like crazy so I had to rebuild the engine.