Jaycar inside/outside thermometer
Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004 at 22:26
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Roachie
Back on post # 11000, joc45 talked about the Jaycar electronic thermometer with digital voltmeter and clock.
I bought one, which I've installed and hardwired to my aux battery so it stays on all the time. The remote sensor is in the fridge.
Does anyone else who has one of these notice that the blasted things seems to "beep" at you for no apparent reason?
Reading the instructions it says the beep alarm will sound if the temp outside is below zero degrees (as a warning of ice on the road) or if the battery is either under charged or over charged.
None of those scenarios is present. For the 1st 24 hours while this was happening, the remote temp sensor wasn't even in the fridge (I had to lengthen the cable a metre or so), so it couldn't have been that.....and the battery sits between 12v and 14v which is within the parameters of "okay" for battery condition.
Any ideas? If I knew what to do, I'd disable the beeper.
Cheers,
Roachie
Reply By: Member - DOZER- Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004 at 22:32
Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004 at 22:32
Possibly, on charge, the alt pumps out 14.5 volts on mine.
Andrew
AnswerID:
49714
Follow Up By: Member - Gajm (VIC) - Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004 at 22:48
Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004 at 22:48
Might be a dumb question but are you sure you wired it up correctly when you lengthened the outside temp wire?, if you don't they give off a really false reading of about -68 or so, check both inside and outside temp displays.
FollowupID:
311519
Follow Up By: Brian - Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004 at 23:09
Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004 at 23:09
Also buy lengthing the wire you may have changed the resistance in the sender ?????? What does the fridge read ????
Brian
FollowupID:
311522
Follow Up By: Roachie - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 09:16
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 09:16
G'day Gajm & Brian,
I think I've done the fridge wire extension okay as it is reading about 1 to 2 degrees; I soldered the joins and put shrink tubing over that. In any case, the beeping was happening before I did anything about lengthening or putting the remote in the fridge.
Thanks,
Roachie
FollowupID:
311542
Follow Up By: Roachie - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 09:28
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 09:28
Dozer,
I have this system whereby I hook 240v up to my rig every night....it takes over the running of the fridge and also runs a battery charger which is hooked up to aux battery. This morning the digital voltmeter was reading 15.4v and it wasn't beeping.
I started her up and drove to work (only about 3klm) and it didn't beep once.
Maybe it has settled down into some sort of pattern by itself.....if not I'll either have to put a switch on it to turn it off at times, or else pull it apart and try to "fix" the beeper (I reckon I'd probably put a drop of superglue into it rather than try to unsolder it off the PC board; as that would probably stuff the whole bloody thing up!!!)
Thanks,
Roachie
FollowupID:
311545
Reply By: Member - Gajm (VIC) - Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004 at 22:50
Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004 at 22:50
i have one that i have wired to an on/off/on toggle switch, that way I can monitor either battery
AnswerID:
49717
Follow Up By: Roachie - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 09:19
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 09:19
Gajm,
That's the same idea I already had with a VDO gauge....so I don't even really need or want the digital voltmeter. I'd be happy if the 2 read-outs just showed inside and outside temps; but unfortunately it seems to default back to inside temp and voltmeter after a period of time, so I've got to keep pressing the button to get it to show the fridge temp.
Thanks,
Roachie
FollowupID:
311543
Reply By: joc45 - Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004 at 23:57
Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004 at 23:57
Gad! what have I let myself in for?
Some time since I installed one of these for a mate - didn't seem to have any of the probs you cite. Another friend just installed one, and he didn't mention any probs. Re the lengthening of the wire, I'd say that the resistance of the thermistor in the sensor is so much higher than the wire resistance, that any extra length shouldn't make any difference.
In desperation, I'd be looking at taking it apart to disable the beeper. It'll be a little round thing, perhaps a cm in dia, and would have to be behind a small hole in the case to let the noise out.
Gerry
AnswerID:
49723
Reply By: Member - Bernie. (Vic) - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 04:56
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 04:56
Hi Roachie
Used mine 1st time on W/e and when travelling on a bad corrigated LD track it beeped all the time & I thought maybe a loose connection could that be yhe promlem. ?
Cheers
AnswerID:
49731
Follow Up By: Roachie - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 09:32
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 09:32
Bernie,
I thought that too for a while. I will re-check again. I used a piece of terminal strip to join the pos and neg wires I had coming up through the dash to the wires of the unit. Might be better if I solder these together like I did for the remote/fridge extension.
Thanks,
Roachie
FollowupID:
311547
Follow Up By: Ralph2 - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 17:24
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 17:24
Bernie, off the subject line all together, but driving like you are in that photo is one of the reasons tracks are being closed all over the place, National Parks Dept, are talking about closing the
Border Track due to damage caused in the wet areas.
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Andy - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 08:08
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 08:08
Mine beeps when the battery is low.
Perhaps your battery is not as good as you think?
AnswerID:
49740
Follow Up By: Roachie - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 09:22
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 09:22
Andy,
No mate, the battery is okay. Always above 12v; and it's only a couple of months old (Exide Extreme).
Thanks,
Roachie
FollowupID:
311544
Follow Up By: Viola - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 22:31
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 22:31
Darling when the darling little sexy good looking autoelecy man put a new battery into my shopping trolly vehicle it no longer beeps dear when I start the car
FollowupID:
311657
Reply By: The Banjo - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 11:10
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 11:10
I bought the small in/out thermo from Jaycar....about size of a matchbox - the outside sensor is screwed to the underside of the 3 way lid (warmest place in fridge) .... did not need to lengthen wire (99 Jack)... module is stuck to centre console.....no beeps ever....works a treat......battery is about size of 6 cent piece....spare carried of course :-) ..... as said above, maybe the wire job has thrown the issue.
AnswerID:
49760
Follow Up By: Roachie - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 11:31
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 11:31
Thanks Banjo,
I used this new one to replace a Radio Shack version which was a bit like yours and showed inside/outside temps. It too uses a button battery, but the screen is not permanently backlit like the new one is. I mainly wanted the new one so that I could see it at night without fumbling in the dark as I am driving to push a button to see the temp and also because with the 12v input, I won't have to worry about a flat battery.
Just the beeper to worry about. LOL.
Cheers,
Roachie
FollowupID:
311559
Follow Up By: The Banjo - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 12:06
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 12:06
Roger that....the light would be handy......BOL with it. Re fridge monitoring, ....my 3 way is good for me, but I wish they could take those extra couple of steps when they make them (for only a few dollars). I had to put a pilot light on mine so that I could see it was on while mobile (fuse might go) - had to wire the supply able cin hard because the union at the back is mounted on the flimsy wall - the temperature sensor completes the picture of reliability....even though the fridge is about 15 years old, they could have easily offered such facilities then - guess they think we are happy to find warm food as confirmation that there is a problem !
FollowupID:
311563
Follow Up By: joc45 - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 14:24
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 14:24
Roachie, re the backlight, I measured the current draw, and it's only about 20mA; ie it would take 2 days to use one amp-hour out of your battery, so current drain is not really a problem if the thing is left on all the time (it might if you were not using the vehicle for a few weeks)
Gerry
FollowupID:
311578
Reply By: Graham & Ann - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 11:47
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 11:47
Roachie
We have one fitted in the caravan with the external lead fixed underneath the van floor. On Very cold mornings it sometimes gets the 'beeps' like you describe, even though the alarm is set to off and battery is above 13v. Why it does it is beyond me.
Graham
AnswerID:
49765
Follow Up By: Roachie - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 12:04
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 12:04
Graham,
That's probably the "ice alarm" if it's a real cold morning. Would you have checked the outside temp at the time? From what I can tell, if it is below zero, the alarm should sound. Not sure what effect pressing the "alarm" button has on this....does it just shut off the alrm for a few minutes? who knows? I guess when it's all said an d done, it's still only a cheap chinese contraption that has it's limitations.
Cheers,
Roachie
FollowupID:
311562
Reply By: Mal58 - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 12:20
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 12:20
Roachie,
I have one these, and mine only beeps when the volts drops during starting etc. The thing that I note most, is that it looses time when it gets hot (ie when the sun shine through the window onto it). Very annoying, but then again it is made to a price, so I can't expect a perfect unit.
Cheers,
Mal58
AnswerID:
49768
Follow Up By: Member - Mike (SA) - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 22:06
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 22:06
Glad to see someone with identical problems!! I have stopped looking at the clock! Mine beeps occasionally on startup and when voltage drops down to 11.5volts - usually day 2.5.
Regards
Mike
FollowupID:
311653
Reply By: statewide - Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 12:21
Wednesday, Mar 10, 2004 at 12:21
G'day
Have one of these hard wired to the fridge in the back of the car. Reads the true voltage the fridge gets and shows I get a voltage drop of 0.8V between aux battery and fridge when fridge is on, 6mm twin cable, hella plug etc. Beeper starts when voltage gets to 11.5v at the fridge, which doesn't take long.
Pulled thing apart (2 screws) and cut wire to beeper, round thing, about size of 5c. Works fine now.
Cheers
John
AnswerID:
49769
Reply By: Hatcher - Thursday, Mar 11, 2004 at 09:23
Thursday, Mar 11, 2004 at 09:23
Just curious, but in vehicles that have factory fitted in/out thermometers, where is the outside sensor located? It can't be placed in direct light or incorrect reading will ensure, same goes for being under the vehicle in the shade, and what about wind chill?
AnswerID:
49903