Alex Wong1697456877 Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Does anybody know the range of resistance for the fuel level sensor that comes with the Caterham branded gauge? Ta! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philwaters Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Not sure - but what with this, and you dash layout post - what are you up to? Phil Waters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Wong1697456877 Posted January 30, 2007 Author Share Posted January 30, 2007 Fitting a carbon dash and doing a non standard layout. Decided digital gauges are yesterdays fashion so ditching the SPA digital gauge and no longer need the sequential gear indicator. I'm going for the retro chic look...... Actually, I'm bored as the cars in bits but I can't do much to it till I get a gearbox and it seemed a good idea to tidy the dash as it's got holes from various mods over the years. I quite like the look of some of the Stewart Warner gauges which have LED lit numbers like this, but I'm not sure if the fuel level gauge will work with the sender in the Seven. Edited by - Alex Wong on 30 Jan 2007 14:32:17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon.Rogers1 Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Alex I'm going through a similar process for differing reasons. I have the Aim MXGLog dash etc and didn't want the slow standard fuel gauge so am changing to a Voltage Type sender direct to the logger/display. That is not necessarily what you want but the fuel sender bit is interesting. Advised by the chaps at Dataspares whilst at Autosprt to look at Premier Fuel Systems. They have a tube type sender which uses voltage not resistance. I have today sent them a cad drawing of the flange to tank fitting. Cost £40 ish plus the flange. One of the directors is a Mr Howden Ganley. here nice chap to talk to. The interesting bit may be that it allows you more choice of gauge. They don't have a web site other than info/contact page at the moment but in all seem very helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Wong1697456877 Posted January 30, 2007 Author Share Posted January 30, 2007 Probably the same sort of things as these. see here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinwhitcher Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Simon, very interesting as i have an outstanding request with Andrew & Angus at Dataspares for the same. I have just fitted the MXL unit with only the fuel sender to source. I have got the new emerald K3 which should talk to the MXL with no problems. Could you possibly pass me his details as I also want one asap. I guess the adapter plate means coverting the standard 5 hole to match the Caterham 6 hole fixing? Many Thanks Martin MW 51 CAT Superlight No.171 now known as:Superlight DVA 207 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrino Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Simon, why can't you use the standard Caterham sender with your AIM display 🤔 I am using it with my Mychron 3 AIM display and it works fine - it's great having a customisable display as you get it to display number of litres remaining, or even a percentage The only reason I can think of for changing sender with an AIM display is to get one which does mechanical damping, maybe that's it? Edited by - Ferrino on 30 Jan 2007 21:46:45 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Wong1697456877 Posted January 30, 2007 Author Share Posted January 30, 2007 Just tested mine. 20 full to 200 Ohms - contact breaks beyond that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon.Rogers1 Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Alex similar to those on your link other than I think those are resistance based senders. The Premier ones are voltage. Additionally should I wish to ever run on LPG or diesel the sender can tell the difference between the fuel types Why? Would you use the same tank? Anyway. Ferrino Angus at Dataspares sent me all the process to convert the resistance sensor to a voltage signal using capacitors etc. But hey £40 and a puka voltage sender. Angus was most impressed whilst at the show. Martin How did you get the MXL to fit? XG Log is touching the top and bottom rails to the rear of the dash. Last year I ran with the display tucked under the aero screen. Not sure how many holes the sender from Premier has but they are more than happy to make a plate to my drawing. With a weeks turn around. I will speak to Angus this week to arrange the cables etc. + and - and voltage out required. I think the guys name at Premier for contact is Andrew ? but my notes are in the office. And no broadband in the new office But thats another BT storey 🙆🏻 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrino Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Simon, it looks like the XG Log display unit is identical to my Mychron-3, which I have fitted flush with my carbon dash - piccy here. I had to grind off a *little* powder-coating & metal from the dash tubes to make it fit without it being so tight that vibrations could have damaged the internals. The MXL is larger and IIRC Jackal (don't know if he posts any more) had to have quite a bit taken off to get it in there, but it does look sooo much better like this. Yamaham @ Keevil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinwhitcher Posted February 16, 2007 Share Posted February 16, 2007 Simon, just spoke to premier, we should have the unit by wednesday next week , I have surface mounted the MXL with no problems, decided against flush mouting because of the side programming plug. Martin MW 51 CAT Superlight No.171 now known as:Superlight DVA 207 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon.Rogers1 Posted February 16, 2007 Share Posted February 16, 2007 Ah great Martin. I was going to ring Andrew again as it was due last week. But Hey. Surface mounting was not a choice for me due to the paddle shift levers. And XGLog data port is on the front. Thanks Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon.Rogers1 Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Martin. Have you seen anything yet? I was to busy to ring Andrew this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinwhitcher Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Simon, I have been chasing this up this week, they recieved everything Thursday and were packed ready to be collected by the courier Thursday evening, but they never showed so i rang yesterday to progress and said could they sat am deliver and it turned up this morning , very nice, initial impressions are good however I will have to cut a hole in the boot floor cause with the adapter it looks like the unit will be a lot deeper. Just about to jump into the garage to install, wish me luck....... Martin MW 51 CAT Superlight No.171 now known as:Superlight DVA 207 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon.Rogers1 Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Were is mine then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinwhitcher Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Well got round to fitting it today Simon, after cutting down the sensor and then finding some spare M5 screws which was not supplied i fitted and calibrated the sensor, (if only the tank was a different shape ) the lowest it senses is abot 1/4 tank cause of the shape. and it flucuates quite a lot on my MXL, though i will hopefully solve this by a capacitor. All works ok now nb. it does protrude by about 1 inch above the boot floor, so cutting is needed. Martin MW 51 CAT Superlight No.171 now known as:Superlight DVA 207 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon.Rogers1 Posted February 25, 2007 Share Posted February 25, 2007 Martin - do you mean you had to cut the sensor probe? I spec'd a length to them that would fit. Not worried about cutting the boot floor. How about sampling the voltage at a very slow rate on the MXL. This sould give the affect of dampening the fluctuations. An alteration to the length of the probe (longer) and then fitting a wedge under the top would allow the probe to sit to the deepest part of the tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philwaters Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Hi all, I'm in the final stages of sorting out my MXL install and spoke to Andrew last week about all my sensors. I got everything apart from the fuel tank one because a) he was waiting for some to come in/sort out a supply and b) wanted me to measure up what I needed. I just dropped a stick into the tank and measured 185mm from the top of the mounting flange to the bottom of the tank - can anyone confirm this? Because I'm running a LA I am hoping that the boot floor is height enough for it all to fit underneath. Hoping to call them Dataspares tomorrow to sort this out and then I should have everything ready to go on the wiring front. Some Pics of my dash install Also, I want to plug my wideband unit into the dash - it has a 0-5v linear output which is mapped to 9-19 AFR. Is it a simple case of connecting this to one of the analogue inputs, adding a GND for that input (just to the chassis) and then adding a custom sensor to map the values? Piccy of custom sensor It is currently feeding the ECU and it's own display unit which I want to get rid of. Any problems with two units sharing the 0-5v output? It seems to be ok for the last two years - just thought I'd ask. Phil Waters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon.Rogers1 Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Phil I've now like Martin received my Premier sensor. Depth is correct but the sensor comes longer and you cut to length. You will have t cut a hole in the boot floor. (Tonights job). I am going to try bending the pipe in pipe sensor to reach the bottom of the tank rather than 2/3rds depth that a vertical 185mm gets you. Your install looks good. But due to my paddle shift i had to mount the display behind the dash. Andrew is making up the relevant wiring for my sensor as we speak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philwaters Posted March 11, 2007 Share Posted March 11, 2007 Thanks Simon, I have ended up keeping my sensor for the time being and adding a pull up resistor of 400 ohms. After a chat with my brother I also have a simple circuit using an Op-amp and capacitor to smooth the output. You can't easily use a single cap on it's own as it would need to be pretty big to smooth such a small resistance (or so he told me - 200000uF or so). I rigged up the circuit on the bench this afternoon and it seems to work - I timed the voltage change from full to empty at ~2.5mins, which I hope is about right to smooth out the sloshing about. If not, it is easy enough to up a resistor value and increase the time lag. I will draw the circuit up and post a picture when I get chance - in the meantime, if anyone wants some more info, give me a shout. Phil Waters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveMorris Posted March 11, 2007 Share Posted March 11, 2007 Alex, I think that your answer is in there somewhere 😬 An interesting read though, Dave X-flow(er) powered Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philwaters Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 Dave 😬 I measured mine over the weekend and out of the tank the full range is 25 ohms full to 267ohms empty. This isn't a mile away from Alex's reading, but maybe they all differ. I picked a 400ohm value to use as a pull-up resistor and it gives a 0.7 - 4.9 volt output which I can use as a custom sensor on my dash Phil Waters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philwaters Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 Right - finally found time to draw up the simple circuit. PDF of Circuit can be found here. It uses an LM324 Op-Amp which I got from Maplin (69p), a 100uF capacitor, a 220 ohm and a 180 ohm resistors in series to give a 400 ohm total for the pullup and I picked 27 seconds as my 63% time constant which gave me a resistor of 270k ohm. I've not have chance to try this with my dash yet - so I don't know if the time constant is right or not. I have, however, tried it with a separate 12v supply on the bench and used my multi-meter to test it and after letting it ramp up to the max voltage (4.9v) I moved the sender to the other end of it's travel and timed the change to its minimum (0.7v). this took around 2 1/2 mins. Moving the sender around doesn't' result in much change in the voltage - so I hope it is about right. If I had had one, I would have put a variable resistor in place of the 270k and then I could have fine tuned it before replacing it with a fixed value - maybe I'll have to do that next winter Anyway - thought it might be useful to any of the digi-dash guys who might want to try it. Phil Waters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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