I don't know if I can call it a mod, but I think its a pretty cool idea. I bought an indoor-outdoor thermometer from Target (about $30) which has a remote unit and a base unit. I mounted the remote unit right behind my front licnse plate and the base unit just happened to fit in this otherwise pointless little accessory holder near the maplights on my 97 ltd. It constantly tells the temperature inside and outside the truck on a little LCD screen and can also record the lows & highs. So far I have driven in heavy rain, sleet, snow, mud, sub-freezing temps and triple digit temps with no problems. I did notice that the indoor reading won't go much below freezing, but I've seen the outdoor reading go down to single digits. I love it so much I thought I would pass the idea onto you guys & gals.
(see attached pic)

 

I purchased 2 of those as gifts last Christmas, and everyone who recieved them, love them. They are quite handy, and pretty accurate. If you want to get really crazy you could have outdoor temp, in the truck temp, and intake temp!

I got the same one's for $20. Did you get ripped off?

 

hmm, it might have been closer to $25 or so. It's been a while since I bought it so I can't really remember. Whatever the price was I am glad I got it.

The intake temp was my orignal plan. I wish it had two remote units so I could switch between outdoor & intake temp. That would be ideal.

 

The question is, where is the best place to take the intake reading? I say from the airbox...

You should do it! That would be cool. I wonder how much of a "lag time" there is on those temp meters as the temp changes...

 

If you really want a "realtime" view of your IAT, get a BR-2. Here's a thread of it in action. It really is quite the tool.

My .02
Dr. Z

I'm going to go watch the Mariners play now...

 

is that powered by batteries or can it be hard wired?

 

Hey, cool mod. I like the idea. I just went searching around the Target website - was this the same one you bought....

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html...sin=B00006ANER

 

I'll jump in here. Yeah, that is the same one. They have the gold one pictured, but you can get it in silver (my favorite).

 

They were $30 when I bought them. My bad!

 

I got one like this



It's pretty small, can be hard wired, and is back lit. Can be changed to degrees F

Regards

Kerr

 

Kerrs-

That's sweet, where did you get it?

 

Over here they are called RS I think you call it radio shack

try this RS

Hope it works

Kerr

 

Oh, we have all sorts of names for them. But yeah, that's Radio Shack over here.

It looks like the model you got may be a European only item. This is what "Rat Shack" shows in their US catalog:

http://www.radioshack.com/category.a...3%5F000&Page=1


Do you have a model number/manufacturer on it? Is it a Tandy (parent of RS) item or someone else? That's a slick looking package.

 

Ya, I would like to know more about those as well. They are only about $12.50, and are nice and small. Kerrs, if you have any more info, please let us know. Thanks a lot-

CTB

 

this looks soo ghetto haha. But very nice idea

 

I've been thinking about doing this too, just can't decide which one to get. Need to check mounting locations with a ruler...here are some more choices
JCWhitney

John

Edit: Oops...fixed link. That's what I get for trying to edit it. Does funny things if you try to paste a link in the middle after typing the post...anyway, thanks Mark.

John

 

Cool. I also did a custom temp display. I took a while, but it is hardwired and fit in good:



I mounted my temp sensor behind the front bumper. This seems to be the best place for the best reading.

I have an EXTENSIVE write-up that can be found here with tons of pictures:

http://www.toyotaoffroad.net/jnburtman/Pictures.html

Look for the link labeled Custom LCD Outside Temp. Display

 

Hi John;

You setup the URL tag a bit backwards. You need to put the URL after the equals sign, and then put the text that you want the link to show as between the open and closed side of the tags.

Anyway, I think this is what you wanted people to see: JC Whitney

Good find btw!

 

I'm an idiot. I was reading all the information on this and the linked pages and then I remembered that I have this ability with the auto temp controls. I was actually looking at where to order one from

 

Hey guys-

Just curious, but how would you go about hard-wiring one of these thermometers? I'm really thinking about getting one, but was just wondering how to hard-wire it so it didn't need battery power to run.

Also, was the sensor wire long enough to run outside of the vehicle all the way to the front bumper, or did you need to extend it? Thanks for all of the info-

CTB

Bump