Date:         Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:21:53 -0600
Reply-To:     Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      =?windows-1252?Q?A_simple_idea_that_worked=97inside=2Foutside_thermomet?=
              =?windows-1252?Q?er_installation?=
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252

I have been carrying an indoor/outdoor type thermometer (Radio Shack, it
does a bunch of other stuff, too) with the intention of installing it in my
Westy. I tried to observe and consider all the pluses and minuses of
putting it here or there.

Nowhere on the dash turned out to be a good place as the direct sunlight
drove the inside temp way out of whack. I didn't want to go through a
firewall opening with the probe, since it would be difficult to undo if I
didn't like it and depending on the hole I used, might require cutting and
resoldering the probe leads, another issue if I were to decide to move it.
I also didn't want it up front because it would be near the radiator, and I
was looking for as true an indoor and outdoor temperature as possible.

I didn't want to drill any new holes. I wanted it up front where I could
see it from the drivers seat. The display is large enough to see it from
the back.

A few weeks ago when playing around with it, it hit me: outside the door
seal is outside the car, even if it appears to be within the bodywork. So
that's where I put the probe—stuck on the inside of the cavity the outer
sheet metal makes above the passenger-side upper hinge, even with the dash.
That way, the probe wire is closed under the rubber seal with the door
shuts. It runs right behind the glove box where the spare lead length can
be stored. There is enough lead loose behind the heater vent cover to allow
the thing to be snapped out of its base (which is double-stick taped to the
metal panel between the dash and the heater vent cover) to change out the
AA batteries when the time comes. It could optionally be wired into the
car's wiring with the supplied adapter cable, which would allow me to take
advantage of the built in voltmeter, but that can come later.

No wires are visible, nor is the probe, unless you look inside the body's
metal cavity when the door is open, and even then you would almost have to
want to see it to notice it.

As it is, the display is easy to see and the thermometer seems to reads its
respective temperatures accurately, even in bright sunlight, which cannot
reach the inside unit where it is mounted. The outside unit, mounted just
outside the rubber, can't be warmed by anything but direct heat on that
side of the car, but that is going to happen anywhere you mount it,
including underneath, where it could be distorted by hot asphalt, etc.

Anyway, just passing this along for those thinking about doing something
similar.

Jim