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Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

Cool idea, but does it really get that icy in garden grove ;)
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

How about placing it in a piece of plastic pipe with both ends capped. That would place it out of any wind and you could put it anywhere outside of the cabin of the vehicle.
Would that work?
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

dgrigorenko said:
i almost have to agree with wjp... if there was a something evaporating off of the thermometer then it would read wind chill, but if it is dry then there is no medium for the heat energy to disperse with. kind of like sweat in the summer with a breeze... you dont sweat you wont feel much cooler even with breeze. and a refrigerator/ air conditioner works by compression/decompression.... the radiators on both are to assist in the heat dispersial caused by this opperation... and the radiator on a car thing... air that is a cooler temperature than the radiator moving through it is cooling it by attempting to bring it to ambient temperature. if the air was the same temps as your coolant then you would have no cooling effect.... no matter how fast you are going. oh and you cool soup by blowing on it because it speeds up heat loss through evaporation(steam) , and keeps fresh cool ambient air moving over it, preventing the air around it to heat up and slow the cooling process.
Click to expand...

Now you're getting into relative humidity. Look up the old-style "sling psychrometer," I believe it's called. You have two thermostats, put a wet wick on the bulb of one, and swing them around by a string for a minute. Then, read the difference between the two and you can use that to calculate RH.

It's amazing the things I can retain from school. I think I picked that up in the sixth grade, when we did a unit on meterology.
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

Just go to a truck stop. They sell thermometers with "ice warning" built in. Probably easier than trying to make one. Remember.....you can lift heavy things. haha
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

Just go to a truck stop. They sell thermometers with "ice warning" built in. Probably easier than trying to make one. Remember.....you can lift heavy things. haha
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

aspects259.jpg
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

There's also the digital option, it's a little more user friendly.

00799.jpg
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

:thumbup: :thumbup:
5-90 said:
Now you're getting into relative humidity. Look up the old-style "sling psychrometer," I believe it's called. You have two thermometers, put a wet wick on the bulb of one, and swing them around by a string for a minute. Then, read the difference between the two and you can use that to calculate RH.

It's amazing the things I can retain from school. I think I picked that up in the sixth grade, when we did a unit on meterology.
Click to expand...

exactly... you need a wet wick on one to get a different reading.... so if the thermometer is dry, it will read temperature regardless of wind. but putting it behind the bumper would keep it out of the elements and keep an accurate reading. :thumbup:
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

vw's have this feature. The sensor is a tiny little plastic temp sensor mounted in front of the a/c condensor. On my 91 vw the sensor was in the fender well. Mine was never very accurate but the newer cars seem to be pretty close. About 35 degrees or so a little snowflake appears on the instrument cluster and you get a quick chime from the cluster. My 91 just displayed temp.

Cool feature I guess, I usually just figure if its cold enough for snow or ice, and the roads are wet that there may be some ice on the road.
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

XLT explorers about 99 and up have those. You could probably boneyard one cheap enough and buy a regular LED for illumination.

The explorer's "ice" readout is in the rear view mirror
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

dgrigorenko said:
:thumbup: :thumbup:

exactly... you need a wet wick on one to get a different reading.... so if the thermometer is dry, it will read temperature regardless of wind.
Click to expand...



Big assumption that wind is dry. You're right, heat lost from the evaporative process is what causes windchill but you don't have to pre-wet the thermo, passing a bunch of moisture laden air over it at 60 mph will do that for you.
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

Archdukeferdinand said:
Big assumption that wind is dry. You're right, heat lost from the evaporative process is what causes windchill but you don't have to pre-wet the thermo, passing a bunch of moisture laden air over it at 60 mph will do that for you.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Unless you're in the Sahara, the Gobi, or the Mojave, there is moisture in air. It is the difference between the "dry bulb" and "wet bulb" on the sling psychrometer that allows you to calculate the concentration of suspended moisture (relative humidity, or RH) in the air - because the wet bulb will cool faster than the dry bulb. It's /how/ /much/ /faster/ it cools that makes the difference.
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

You guys need to realize that you will not outsmart 5-90...so stop trying. He will retaliate and defeat you each and every time. :roflmao:
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

I still think my idea is the best so far. Cheap too.:cheers:
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

Our ZJ (97) has the overhead console, and flashes "ICE" for a good while when you first start it. Anytime the temp gets to 37 or below. It flashes for a few minutes I think.

The overhead consoles in XJs and ZJs are pretty similar...as far as the little display/computer goes. The programming is there to make the "ICE" flash... it doesnt seem totally impossible to figure out how to add to that output... Like a little chime or something. Or have it flash or trigger another light on the dash.

J.
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

Hmmm...some good stuff in here! I do reside permanently in SoCal, but I'm in the Sierras for the winter and have a cabin in Big Bear. :)

Lots of options, I might attempt this with the tax return! Thanks!

Oh, 5-90...you don't get out much, do you?! ;)
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

5-90 said:
Nope - everything is affected by wind chill, if it is able to transfer heat. Why do you think you can cool off soup by blowing on it?

"Wind chill" is a simple name for a process - by allowing more air to flow past something, you give it more of an ability to transfer heat energy into the air (because you don't have "heat saturated air" over and around it.) "Wind chill" is what makes your radiator work. "Wind chill" is part of what makes your refrigerator work (although that's air circulation by convection, not any sort of force.)

If you've got a constant supply of fresh air (or other fluid) flowing over something that has a higher heat content than the air, the heat content of the object will reduce at a greater rate than it would in still air. "Wind chill" is just the catchy name that weathermen have tagged it with - but it's a basic process of heat transfer, and it affects anything that contains heat. We just happen to notice it because we generate our own heat (in a literal thermodynamic sense, a human being is little more than a heat engine) and we note that we get tired when we have to generate more heat to maintain a working core temperature - cf. "hypothermia."

That's why it's possible for a lake to start freezing over with an ambient temperature of almost forty degrees Fahrenheit - but a wind chill of nine degrees cooling. The effective temperature over the water has become thirty-one degrees Fahrenheit, and the water will start to freeze - especially if it's still. (And don't tell me it's impossible, because I saw it happen when I was younger.)
Click to expand...




all true, the temp display on the overhead console on mine changes rapidly when i start giving the XJ some heavy footing. why you ask, because the transducer mounted behind thebumper had come loose and was dangling in the wind
 
Re: Need help from smart people: creating an "ice warning" LED in the cluster?

Ambient temp display for 1996 and below XJs and MJs:

finished3.jpg


Mercedes 300E LED temp readout and sensor fitted into the XJ/MJ clock. $20 from the junkyard.
 
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