Adding outside temp display?

[North Idaho Wolfman]

GreensvilleJay, Outside weather temp on an automobile is an excellent upgrade, and couldn't hurt to have it on a tractor.

I use mine all the time when driving, in the area I'm at, it's not uncommon for me to go from 36f to 32f or below within a few miles and that makes a world of difference on driving conditions.

 

[BigG]

Put this on the cab instead of a mirror. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYBL54...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

[troverman]

Lol, similar to Flip's suggestion.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I like these!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-...999570&hash=item443968cc9e:g:TA0AAOSwf~9ZZQui

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-...591354?hash=item23cf0d013a:g:DVsAAOSwGVRdK1WE

And I think you could even treat it like a Airplane!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/8087-Cessn...060484?hash=item3b366b1f44:g:bFIAAOSwWhZdN0es

 

[GreensvilleJay]

here's another....

https://www.banggood.com/Home-Brew-...-p-1223831.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN

yeesh, 3.5 Canucks.... ! I've ordered a lot(shhh...) of stuff from banggood, including LEDS for the tractor. As long as you can wait 3 weeks, they're pretty darn good.

 

[troverman]

Thanks guys.

North Idaho Wolfman, I really liked your first suggestion. I ended up buying a new one in white to better match the instrument backlighting of the L4060. These are made in the USA - so it did cost $60 but I think it will be well worth it. I'm going to mount it inside the tractor and run the sensor to the rear overhang area where I think it will be well protected from the sun and radiant heat, and form coming into contact with other obstacles. I'll post pics when its done, but I may not install until the spring. The tractor stays outside all winter and I really have no interest in working on it for now.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

here's another....

https://www.banggood.com/Home-Brew-...-p-1223831.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN

yeesh, 3.5 Canucks.... ! I've ordered a lot(shhh...) of stuff from banggood, including LEDS for the tractor. As long as you can wait 3 weeks, they're pretty darn good.

You Canucks have it made with things like that!
I've never been able to equate Celsius, if it ain't Fahrenheit I'm a little lost.

 

[SidecarFlip]

You Canucks have it made with things like that!
I've never been able to equate Celsius, if it ain't Fahrenheit I'm a little lost.

+1. I'm an SAE /English measurement person 100%

 

[troverman]

+1. I'm an SAE /English measurement person 100%

I agree, although I understand metric sockets better than SAE. But when it comes to inches vs mm or cm or meters...please give me US measurements.

 

[Tornado]

I became fairly used to Celsius from building/overclocking computers. Ive built and overclocked/tweaked my own computer since I was about 13 years old. Celsius is the standard temperature format used in PC component cooling. So when I'm overclocking my latest CPU or GPU, and water cooling it, Its all Celsius. When I'm studying my weather station data however its all Fahrenheit for outdoor weather. Weird how that all is

 

[GreensvilleJay]

We've been 'metric' since 80s, I suppose...though KNOW and THINK in 'normal' measurements... What's really weird is they report weather in metric, distances in metric BUT when they say 'be on the lookout for white male, 6 FOOT 3 INCHES, 200 POUNDS' I seriously question the sanity of 'them' n Ottawa.

BTW every digital thermometer I've seen has a *C / *F option either a physical switch or programmng option.

My pet peeve is the 'L/100Km' instead of MPG ! That's totally backwards to everyone's thinking !!

 

[dlsmith]

Personally, I wish the U.S. had converted to metric back in the '80s also. Once you learn it, it is so much easier to convert between say millimeters and meters, as everything is simply powers of ten (mostly). Even marginally intelligent people could be taught to move a decimal point a couple of places left or right. Nothing like trying to convert miles to inches, or gallons to cubic feet.

But no, fear, prejudice, and those ignorant of the advantages didn't want to be Euro-fied and drug into the future. They thought it might lead to the compromising of the integrity of the American ideal of independence. The rest of the world be damned.

So now, we are forced to use both, and almost everything imported and a lot of domestic products are produced using metric standards. And as a complete surrender to sanity some products are a combination of both SAE and metric parts.

Like our Kubota tractors.

I' like to know how much money we have spent over the past three or four decades to support both systems. I'll bet it's a lot more than what it would have cost to convert to metric back then and be done with it. I'd imagine I have spent conservatively $3000 buying metric tools so I can work on trucks and cars, and replacing SAE tools as they wore out or broke but still needed for working on legacy equipment.

 

[Tornado]

But no, fear, prejudice, and those ignorant of the advantages didn't want to be Euro-fied and drug into the future. They thought it might lead to the compromising of the integrity of the American ideal of independence. The rest of the world be damned.

While this sentiment played a part for some (America has traditionally always had a spirit of independence about numerous issues) this isn't actually why the metric system wasn't adopted. It did come before congress, but failed to pass because business owners and manufacturing workers were all against the change. It came after the Industrial revolution, so everything was machined and built to manufacture and produce in the British imperial system. Changing our measurement system at that time would have been costly, as manufacturers all across the country would have had to change their practice, change equipment, re train their work force, etc etc. It was an issue of money ultimately, and so it was defeated in congress.

I would also just add a personal note of opinion that I think the spirit of independence often expressed in the United States over various issues large and small is a good thing, not a bad thing. It is because of that spirit that we are an independent nation today, and why we became the supreme world power in just a couple hundred years. As with any "trait" of a person or people however, it is a double edged sword. With the great positive always comes some sort of negative that is inherently attached to the ownership of a given trait. There is no personal trait in the human psyche that is purely and entirely virtuous and good. Everything is a trade off, a give and take, a sword that cuts two ways. In your own personality you have some things that are uniquely strong - areas you are very good in. Look a little further, and a little deeper however and you can see where that strength inevitably makes you weaker in another area.

 

[troverman]

We had a fully functioning imperial system...I’m of the mindset “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I couldn’t care less what the rest of the world does.

And frankly, if the socialists are doing it, I prefer to do the opposite.

 

[Tornado]

as a personal preference I do find metric much easier in distance measurements. millimeters, centimeters, meters is just a lot simpler. When doing carpentry for example its a lot easier to just use centimeters to measure cuts than. "I need a piece 5 feet 5 inches and 3/16 long" is a mouthful compared to "I need a piece 165.5 centimeters long" But ultimately I dont have a dog in the fight. Its all basic math, so I could work with either.

 

[GeoHorn]

We had a fully functioning imperial system...I’m of the mindset “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I couldn’t care less what the rest of the world does.

And frankly, if the socialists are doing it, I prefer to do the opposite.

Yeah. Who the hell wants to be “social” anyway?

This is ‘MERICA! Where we use the British-Imperial system dammit!

 

[troverman]

So I received the sensor and display today - it does look to be very high quality. I will have to extend the sensor wires and power wires, etc.

One nice feature is that there is a dimming wire which connects to the headlight circuit. This causes the temperature display backlighting to dim to 50% brightness at night so as not to be distracting. Very nice, considering the Grand L's dashboard also dims at night when you switch on the lights.

I'm going to install it in the headliner between the radio and HVAC controls. There is plenty of room and it will look factory.

 

[Tornado]

So I received the sensor and display today - it does look to be very high quality. I will have to extend the sensor wires and power wires, etc.

One nice feature is that there is a dimming wire which connects to the headlight circuit. This causes the temperature display backlighting to dim to 50% brightness at night so as not to be distracting. Very nice, considering the Grand L's dashboard also dims at night when you switch on the lights.

I'm going to install it in the headliner between the radio and HVAC controls. There is plenty of room and it will look factory.

post pictures when you finish the project! And let us know how it all works out, how accurate it is, etc.

 

[troverman]

Finally installed it today. Looks great in person. I cut a hole in the headliner and tapped power and ground from the radio harness which is ignition switched. I ran the three wires for the temp probe out through the grommet of one of the front work lights. It is mounted to the work light bracket out of direct sunlight.

 

[lugbolt]

go down to the junkard and find you a GM product with a compass/temp mirror in it. Yank the mirror off of the windshield (torx driver), get as much of the harness as you can, which usually runs up in the headliner. Kind of fun to just rip the headliner down by hand. The sensor is usually behind the grille area, has (usually) a green and black wire on it. Grab the sensor and as much of the wires as you can get. Usually $10-$20 at most yards around here. Then you can get creative where you want to put it in your tractor, and where you want to put the sensor. I had a guy down the road want one in his after seeing another one I done, but asked if I could make the sensor read inside the cabin temp. Yep. Put the sensor behind the seat. Now he knows what the temp inside the cab is on a 100+ degree day.

Those mirrors can also be bought new, and used on ebay. Some are just compass some are compass and temp, some have backup camera in them, etc etc. The one I put the temps sensor in the cab, he wanted a backup camera in his, which I mounted the camera behind the cab pointing down, and he can see the implement. The bad part is, the camera lens gets dirty pretty fast.