I am thinking about running a couple temp and pressure gauges for fluid temp monitoring ability. I like the look of the Plain Jane black face and red needle gauge, and after searching around stumbled upon the VDO Cockpit line of gauges, that are offered in both US and Metric units.
Since the Fiesta is very European, I thought I would keep it in theme and display the water temperature in Celsius.
The VDO 310-920 does just that and even has the water temperature symbol instead of WATER spelled out on the dial. How cool and retro is that!
The description says use it with a 250F / 120C - VDO Ohm Range Temperature Sender. OK. Looking around I found one in a 1/8"-27 NPT thread style connection so it would be super easy to install into the common oil cooler sandwich plate some of you guys are already using. Check!
When I think I couldn't be more happy with the setup, I go to read that this particular gauge requires a 24V connection. What?? Is that a typo? No bueno.
I'm too caught up with the idea of somehow making this work, and even though it would be super redundant and more expensive to do so, it should be theoretically possible to add in a 12 to 24v converter.
So what I would like to know is it worth the trouble. Has anyone on here used VDO gauges before? How did you like them and are they worth the price? Why have a 24V gauge in the first place when all passenger cars are wired for 12V?
Thanks!
Since the Fiesta is very European, I thought I would keep it in theme and display the water temperature in Celsius.
The VDO 310-920 does just that and even has the water temperature symbol instead of WATER spelled out on the dial. How cool and retro is that!
The description says use it with a 250F / 120C - VDO Ohm Range Temperature Sender. OK. Looking around I found one in a 1/8"-27 NPT thread style connection so it would be super easy to install into the common oil cooler sandwich plate some of you guys are already using. Check!
When I think I couldn't be more happy with the setup, I go to read that this particular gauge requires a 24V connection. What?? Is that a typo? No bueno.
I'm too caught up with the idea of somehow making this work, and even though it would be super redundant and more expensive to do so, it should be theoretically possible to add in a 12 to 24v converter.
So what I would like to know is it worth the trouble. Has anyone on here used VDO gauges before? How did you like them and are they worth the price? Why have a 24V gauge in the first place when all passenger cars are wired for 12V?
Thanks!