2xtreme said:
I do not believe that anyone makes a digital or electronic temp guage that does not use either a temp sender or a ECU sensor. In other words (mechanical oil line to the gauge and then the signal converted at the gauge). It is not practical!!
Agreed. I was referring to the fact that with oil pressure gauges, you can obviously choose between mechanical and elecrical senders.
2xtreme said:
ISSPRO has been making guages for many years.
Yup. But I just discovered them a few years ago.
2xtreme said:
What do you mean by a "electric senders"?? Temp senders (brass bulb with thermister) that screws into the block, tranny, axle, etc are mechanical. They have a resistance output that is what drives the guage. On the other hand if your ECU has a temp sensor somewhere in the engine then you can use that output to drive a gauge.
I was referring to the fact that Isspro offers the choice of electrical or mechanical sending units for use with the same style of oil pressure gauge, even though my personal experience with Isspro had been with temp gauges only.
I had originally planned to replace all of my gauges with the same type, and I wanted them ALL to be the same (270-degree & electical senders for the pressure gauges). I had been unable to find another gauge manufacturer that offered a full 270-degree-sweep analog oil pressure gauge for use with an electrical sender. The choices were to settle for a 90-degree-sweep with an elecrical sender, or a 270-degree-sweep with a mechanical sender.
None of which is really germane to the question in the orignal post... My (very poorly expressed) point was to illustrate that Isspro's gagues are different from most in that the sender does not directly connect to the gauge itself. Instead, it connects to an electronic controller that is in turn used to drive the gauge. The fact that the gauge is controlled electronically led me to surmise that they might offer a digital gauge for use with the same controller/sender combination.
Whew! Sorry if my rambling was (or still is!) unclear.
2xtreme said:
Either method is just as accurate as the other. I suspect in reality you will find very little difference in accuracy in any of the aftermarket gauges as long as the sender and gauge are not damaged.
Probably true.
However, in my crude testing a few years ago, the AutoMeter tranny temp gauge I bought consistnetly read 5-10 degrees higher than the Isspro and the two cooking thermometers I was using to measure water temperature in a pot on the stove. It seemed to get worse as the temperature climbed. But there was never more than a few degrees difference between the Isspro and both of the cooking thermometers once the water temperature rose above about 80 degrees, if I remember correctly.
Obviously, these are just my observations with those two particular gauges.... Not a very scientific test, and not much of a sample from which to draw sweeping conclusions. Nonetheless, I used the Isspro and left the AutoMeter on my workbench.