eBay "minor" gauges: Volts, oil temp, and oil pressure

[GS1000G Shopper]

***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:

• 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.

 

[Steve]

Nice gauges, but something tells me that you won't see your oil pressure gauge move very much.

When it's cold, it might put out 10psi. When warm, about 2 or 3.

How about a link to the seller? ray:

.

 

[GS1000G Shopper]

eBay links go away after 90 days, so I don't post them (threads always outlast them). The best way is to use a search term that is in their title. I checked and "minor gauges" did the trick with only 20 results. Thin the price down to $24 low-$25 high and you'll nail them. Go to their store to buy the senders, just be sure you match them to the gauge as they offer more than one.

 

[GS1000G Shopper]

I rode about 10 miles today, just long enough to heat up the oil a little. The gauges are very easy to read during the daytime, and should do so as well at night- when I pulled into the garage, my photocell activated the lights.

I'm seeing around 30 PSI when cold at 5K RPM, this drops down to about 15 when it starts to warm up.

The voltmeter stayed just under 14V while riding.

The oil temp seems slow to react, but it did make it past 130 during the ride in 75 degree weather.

I'm liking these a lot more than the others I've tried. If I have any problems down the road, I will update here.

 

[GS1000G Shopper]

Hot weather update:
I've done some riding in high-humidity 95 degree weather now, and also bought a Harbor Freight digital laser thermometer.

When I got home today after a 20+ mile ride, the gauge was at 140. I checked several places while it sat idling in the sun:

The copper tube on the far side of the cooler: 130
The body of the cooler: 131
The fittings on the t-stat: 205 (they're black)
The housing where the sensor is: 139
The exhaust pipe 2" away from the head: 200
The head fins: 250

Based on this, I think the oil may be hitting 180 and is being cooled in a very efficient manner. I'm not sure how the t-stat works- if it bypasses some oil below 180 or if it is all on or all off. I suspect the former to avoid air in the line.

With modern oil being what it is, I think this documents that an oil cooler is not really needed for most street riding.

My Concours (water cooled 1000) would run at around 120 going down the road in similar weather even with the cooler covered, so these numbers are consistent. It got up to around 150 in city traffic while idling.

For the pressure, off the top of my head, I see around 25~30 PSI at 5K or so RPM when cold, then it drops a good bit as it warms up- normally <10 at idle, and 10~15 at most lower road speeds.

 

[GS1000G Shopper]

Gauge upgrades to blue 1000G

Gauge upgrades to blue 1000G

I just finished the install of gauges on my blue 1000G. I debated starting a new thread, but since they are mostly the same gauges, I thought I'd just update this one.

I'm using the eBay minor gauges for oil temp and oil pressure. This time, I have a small digital voltmeter (China/eBay about $10) and "Goldwing" thermometer (also eBay, about $35) in the right speaker cover. Neither is overly bright. I will likely at some point find a better voltmeter.

Replacing the round voltmeter is an ISS cylinder head temperature (CHT) gauge from Aircraft Spruce, about $50. It uses a 14mm under plug sensor, and my frugality has bitten me on that. I used a less costly Mitchell ($14) 14mm sensor. I found upon the install the gauge read way too high, anywhere from 75-100 degrees according to my laser thermometer. I tinkered with a few resistors but they didn't have any effect on it, so I'll use good old 'Kentucky windage' while riding. I used a 4' extension #10-18000 from Aircraft Spruce to connect the 14mm sender to the gauge. Had to use ring terminals at the gauge- the extension wire has pin connectors, and I was able to press the female ones onto the sender's male pins.


It would likely be best to use the EI P-102 probe in 14mm for the CHT gauge. It's $87 plus shipping.

The plumbing for the senders is different this time, since the blue bike has no oil cooler- and the red one may not have one much longer. I drilled & tapped the cap on the right side of the engine and used some fittings to mount both the temp and pressure sensors. The pressure sensor lug broke off while I was tightening it, and the eBay vendor agreed to send me a new one once I sent him a photo of the defective one. That's standing behind your merchandise. EDIT- the vendor has refused to replace the second unit sent that had a large dent in it and does not work properly. For this reason, I am no longer recommending these gauges.

This time instead of Weatherpack connectors, I used some pigtails with Molex connectors from this site. Dirt cheap, and shipping is not too bad. I used a 4-pin connector for power (which also powers the photocell), ground, oil temp, and pressure. The photocell is mounted on top of the cyclesound box as it is in the red one. I used 2-wire Molex pigtails for power to each gauge. Main power comes from the auxiliary panel I installed in the left side of the Windjammer when I upgraded the fuse panel on this bike.

I used about a 10" wide piece of thin 3" channel to mount the gauges, cutting to fit and bending the sides down.

I moved my phone holder (not shown) to the left speaker cover. The power feed comes out from the same part of the cyclesound.

Cylinder head temps
I noted in 80-81 degree ambient temps on an overcast day I was seeing 425 degrees CHT at 70 MPH steady. When I parked the bike, it had cooled down from lower speed riding, but my laser gauge showed around 300 degrees by the plug.

Oil temps
While riding, the oil gauge got up to 130 degrees. When I parked it and let it idle for about 5 minutes, it got up to around 160 degrees. The odd thing is the brass fitting the oil temp sender screws into was showing around 250 degrees, but the brass sender threads were around what the dash gauge said. At any rate, I really think an oil cooler is not needed for my riding style, and I'm planning to remove the one from my red bike- the oil never gets warm enough to open the thermostat.


Here are some pics:
Oil senders:

Panel with two gauges test fit:

Spaghetti:

After test ride:

Lights on:

 

[GS1000G Shopper]

Took the blue bike on a longer (20 mile) ride this morning, overcast with 70-73 degree ambient air temp. Cruising at 55-65 MPH, I'm still seeing CHT around 425 indicated, and oil temp eventually at 130. On a short 30 MPH road, the CHT dropped under 400 and the oil temp climbed to a little over 130, but once I was back on the main road, it dropped to around 125 and the CHT went back up to 425.

 

[GS1000G Shopper]

Updating after problems- the gauge set on the red bike has always worked fine. The oil pressure sender on the blue one had a terminal break off during installation, and the vendor said to send him a photo and he'd send another one. He did after a few weeks, and it had a large dent in the side and does not accurately display oil pressure- it flucuates while riding from 30-60 PSI. After notifying him and sending him a second photo at his request, he has refused to send another one, as he thinks it was not damaged in shipping. It was wrapped in plastic and in a plastic bag, not a box.

Accordingly, I cannot recommend these gauges to anyone else.