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***See 5/5/12 post update, I am not recommending these gauges any longer***
I've gone through 3 sets of gauges on my GS now, and think I may have a winner with the 4th ones I installed today. Here's the history in the order used:
The Equus gauges were purchased when I was doing some car stuff like 30 years ago. I returned the Cyberdynes and am selling the APC ones. The minor gauges are no-name and made in China. They sell for $25 each with free shipping. The oil pressure sender is $20 and the temperature sender is $12, so you have a shipped total of $107. The temperature gauge goes from 100 to 280 degrees F- this is not clear in the picture.
This is a lot less than the Cyberdynes, which I thought were good gauges, and a lot more than the APCs, which use similar technology. In fairness, I got the APCs on closeout. Anyhow, the goal is to monitor volts, oil temp, and pressure. The gauges are mounted in a Cycle sound radio housing on my Windjammer.
A word about gauge technology- the Equus gauges are older "air core" ones that allow the needle to bounce around a bit. The newer "stepper" technology is seen on gauges like Prosport and late model vehicles. When you power it up, the needle is driven by an electric motor and sweeps all the way around and comes back to 0. In the case of the voltmeter, it then goes to a reading. These should work better on a bike since they won't swing like air core ones under vibration. It's unknown how they will hold up on a bike, but I will update with any problems as I put some miles on them.
Here's a pic of the old Equus setup:
Note I've now got a digital thermometer in the right speaker cover, and the air temp gauge was replaced by oil pressure.
Here's the new minor setup:
They mount by a threaded collar, which makes installing them a snap:
The back side has 4 terminals:
+12V
Sender
Ground
Light
They appear very similar in case size (about 2" deep) and retention to some marine VDO Viewline gauges I had looked at, which also use stepper motors, but don't have the full sweep like these do. The Chinese knock off (replicate) everything sooner or later, so maybe this is the case here. Of interest was a rubber seal/washer on the oil pressure gauge. It mounted between the gauge and the panel. The other two didn't have this, so it may have been packing material. On the back sides, there are rubber plugs where an opening is located to adjust dip switches (not needed for use), so these gauges look to be at least water resistant. The Viewline gauges are supposed to be waterproof, so it'd be great if they copied that feature.
The senders are a mix of 2 wire and 1 wire units. The oil pressure uses 2 wires, one of which goes to ground, and the temperature sender is a 1 wire- it grounds in the mounting. I ran a ground wire to my sender tee to ensure a good connection here, and verified it with an ohm meter. On the 2 wire setup, one wire goes to the gauge, and the other goes to ground. I made a sub-harness so I could unplug as needed, and ran it to a frame bolt.
They use LED lighting and no bulb is accessible. They light up white when I tested them with 12V. My setup uses a photocell to turn on the added gauge lights after dark, and they worked fine with it when tested in the garage.
I just did get them installed today, and will be giving them a road test soon. I will update with any issues. 100 PSI is definitely overkill for the GS. So far the voltmeter shows just under 14V at 3K RPM, so it appears accurate. The oil pressure was around 20 PSI cold at the same RPM.
If you're interested in buying these, I've only seen them on eBay from one seller. If you search for minor gauges you should see them. The seller was decent, and I got them in under a week- they shipped from New Jersey. They are available with black or chrome bezels. They also make a fuel level gauge, but it's not applicable for the GS.
I've gone through 3 sets of gauges on my GS now, and think I may have a winner with the 4th ones I installed today. Here's the history in the order used:
- 30 year old Equus analog air core (needles started going berserk) with marine voltmeter (good)
- Cyberdyne red digital (lousy- digit failure, goes into warning calibration mode when dark)
- APC tinted "stepper" analog (too dark to see during the day)
- eBay "minor" (no name China) analog stepper motor
The Equus gauges were purchased when I was doing some car stuff like 30 years ago. I returned the Cyberdynes and am selling the APC ones. The minor gauges are no-name and made in China. They sell for $25 each with free shipping. The oil pressure sender is $20 and the temperature sender is $12, so you have a shipped total of $107. The temperature gauge goes from 100 to 280 degrees F- this is not clear in the picture.
This is a lot less than the Cyberdynes, which I thought were good gauges, and a lot more than the APCs, which use similar technology. In fairness, I got the APCs on closeout. Anyhow, the goal is to monitor volts, oil temp, and pressure. The gauges are mounted in a Cycle sound radio housing on my Windjammer.
A word about gauge technology- the Equus gauges are older "air core" ones that allow the needle to bounce around a bit. The newer "stepper" technology is seen on gauges like Prosport and late model vehicles. When you power it up, the needle is driven by an electric motor and sweeps all the way around and comes back to 0. In the case of the voltmeter, it then goes to a reading. These should work better on a bike since they won't swing like air core ones under vibration. It's unknown how they will hold up on a bike, but I will update with any problems as I put some miles on them.
Here's a pic of the old Equus setup:
Note I've now got a digital thermometer in the right speaker cover, and the air temp gauge was replaced by oil pressure.
Here's the new minor setup:
They mount by a threaded collar, which makes installing them a snap:
The back side has 4 terminals:
+12V
Sender
Ground
Light
They appear very similar in case size (about 2" deep) and retention to some marine VDO Viewline gauges I had looked at, which also use stepper motors, but don't have the full sweep like these do. The Chinese knock off (replicate) everything sooner or later, so maybe this is the case here. Of interest was a rubber seal/washer on the oil pressure gauge. It mounted between the gauge and the panel. The other two didn't have this, so it may have been packing material. On the back sides, there are rubber plugs where an opening is located to adjust dip switches (not needed for use), so these gauges look to be at least water resistant. The Viewline gauges are supposed to be waterproof, so it'd be great if they copied that feature.
The senders are a mix of 2 wire and 1 wire units. The oil pressure uses 2 wires, one of which goes to ground, and the temperature sender is a 1 wire- it grounds in the mounting. I ran a ground wire to my sender tee to ensure a good connection here, and verified it with an ohm meter. On the 2 wire setup, one wire goes to the gauge, and the other goes to ground. I made a sub-harness so I could unplug as needed, and ran it to a frame bolt.
They use LED lighting and no bulb is accessible. They light up white when I tested them with 12V. My setup uses a photocell to turn on the added gauge lights after dark, and they worked fine with it when tested in the garage.
I just did get them installed today, and will be giving them a road test soon. I will update with any issues. 100 PSI is definitely overkill for the GS. So far the voltmeter shows just under 14V at 3K RPM, so it appears accurate. The oil pressure was around 20 PSI cold at the same RPM.
If you're interested in buying these, I've only seen them on eBay from one seller. If you search for minor gauges you should see them. The seller was decent, and I got them in under a week- they shipped from New Jersey. They are available with black or chrome bezels. They also make a fuel level gauge, but it's not applicable for the GS.
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