Aftermarket OAT recommendations?

Can anyone suggest a good after-market thermometer? What I want is something with a sensor that can be mounted reasonably close to road-level on a Disco I, with a display I can easily read while driving in the dark (which I suppose pretty much dictates an illuminated digital display). If it gave an audible warning when the temperature approaches freezing, that would be welcome.

Roy

Reply to
Roy Hann
Loading thread data ...

On or around Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:46:19 -0000, "Roy Hann" enlightened us thusly:

you used to be able to buy 'em in Halfrauds. Get the right one and it has a frost alarm and so forth.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

About as useful as those inclinometers.

Reply to
Dougal

Nonsense: are you suggesting you never needed to be told which way is "up" :)

btw: I understood warnings of potential black-ice are a good thing (tm) - or maybe I misunderstand the o/p.

Reply to
William Tasso

That may well have been his intention but the best solution is to drive with your window open and listen and/or feel what the steering wheel is telling you.

I suppose I'm basically saying that they won't tell you anything that you don't know already.

Reply to
Dougal

I know when it is freezing cos the windscreen ices up on the inside when I breathe on it :(

Mind you there is quite a bit of black ice on the roads at the moment.

Reply to
Larry

On or around Wed, 28 Dec 2005 21:28:29 +0000, Dougal enlightened us thusly:

not so: in a modern motor with good heater, you can set off with the temperature about 4 degrees, drive a bit and it becomes -1 and could be icy without your ever having noticed.

and I for one don't like driving with the window open in freezing conditions...

Reply to
Austin Shackles

...and Dougal spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...

You're right, of course, but the extra warning is welcome. I find these devices most useful on long journeys, especially in modern vehicles with good heating. It's easy to get caught out and not realise just how cold it is where you have travelled to. I drive a lot between West Wales and the east coast of England, and the temperature difference in a day can be huge. It's given me a "heads up" of difficult conditions many times. Of course the sensible driver will be aware of this, but the extra warning doesn't do any harm.

Does not apply to Series vehicles, obviously! Lean forward and touch the windscreen. If your hand sticks to it, beware of ice.

Reply to
Richard Brookman

I'd rather not wait for the steering to tell me. I want a *warning* not a demonstration. I should mention that I spent 20 years in western Canada and I fancy I know about driving on ice. The main thing to know about it is that when 2700kg of vehicle decides to really let go on ice it happens instantly and you aren't going to get it back.

No, unless you are an excruciatingly cautious driver what you are basically saying is that you have been lucky. So have I, but I don't mistake luck for a law of nature.

Also I can't see my missus being keen on driving with the window open.

Roy

Reply to
Roy Hann

On or around Thu, 29 Dec 2005 10:44:12 -0000, "Roy Hann" enlightened us thusly:

I used to be a passenger sometimes in a vehicle where the driver insisted on having the window open and the heater off "so as to stay alert". I'm not convinced it works, TBH - if you're too tired to drive, cold fresh air has a very limited and short-term effect, IME. Getting out and walking up and down, doing stretching exercises and so forth is more beneficial.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

If you're too tired to drive then having a nap is the only thing that works. Anything else is pure superstition.

You don't need to be asleep to roll a car at 70; one nod, a slight wander, an ill-judged panic over-correction--and wham!

(I think I am being crotchety after all the Christmas bonhomie.)

Roy

Reply to
Roy Hann

Hi Roy,

Yahoo search found the following:-

formatting link
No experience with either.

Also found this extract on this page

formatting link
Ice warning gauge It's often difficult to gauge the outside temperature and whether there's ice on the road. A digital thermometer with a sensor positioned outside the car and low to the ground can let the driver know if there is ice about. Digital thermometer £17,
formatting link

Cheers! Graham Carter

Reply to
Graham Carter

...and Roy Hann spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...

...but it helps!

Reply to
Richard Brookman

Ah, yes. The VDO product looks promising. Now all I have to do is find someone to sell it to me...

I am a little sceptical about the Halfords item. It appears to have a liquid crystal display and I'm not sure how that would survive a -20C cold-soak in Slovakia, which is the sort of place I regularly drive to. Of course at -20C you know it's cold without looking at a display!

The VDO appears to have an electroluminescent display.

Many thanks for that Graham.

Roy

Reply to
Roy Hann

On or around Thu, 29 Dec 2005 17:41:53 -0000, "Roy Hann" enlightened us thusly:

I bet that's a backlit LCD... since the display is in the cab, I doubt it'll suffer too much. I had a halfords-type one, and never found any problems. Like you say, if it's -10 in the cab, you can guess that it's gonna be icy. it's when it's +10 inside and -2 outside that you have problems.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

I can't seem to get any detailed technical info to be sure one way or the other. But since it's a VDO/Seimens product I'm going to assume it's made for a continental climate whatever the technology is.

Park up for three or four days while you're skiing and there won't be much difference inside versus out.

Well if I can't get the autosportcatalog site to work in the next few days maybe I'll give it a whirl. At the price it'll probably cost me more in diesel to go and pick it up.

Roy

Reply to
Roy Hann

On or around Thu, 29 Dec 2005 19:16:29 -0000, "Roy Hann" enlightened us thusly:

fer what it's worth... the LCD clocks were all still alive in the vehicles this morning, at about -9 or so.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.