Vent POD + Gauge(now dual POD)
 

EDIT: About halfway through this thread(post 50), you will see that I went to the dual pod. But.......let's start with the single. :D:

Gauge pod(from thread https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=155820), in combo with http://www.plxdevices.com/products/dm100obd/.

This isn’t meant to be a DIY or anything, but a couple of people have asked what I did when I installed my Vent Gauge Pod and my DM-100 PLX Devices gauge.

Three things kept me from doing the classic install which would have been to put the gauge in the pod, run the wire out the hole provided on the underside of the pod, drill a hole in the defrost vent tube in the car, pass the wire through, and hook it up.

Here’s the three problems:

1.) The cable that comes with the DM-100 PLX ODBII 52mm gauge has a 25-pin D type connector on one end(which goes to the display unit) and then other end is hard wired into the back of the gauge. Because I couldn’t get the 25 pin connector out the “normal” hole in the gauge pod(as it was too big) and even if I had milled it out, it would’ve been sketchy at best.

2.) #1 along with the fact one normally would drill the actual defrost vent tube to pass the wired through was going to present me with a huge problem(again with that 25 pin connector).

3.) Did I mention that the cable has 25 wires in it and is shielded? The wire used in there is about 30awg or even smaller. It’s not much bigger than wire-wrap wire, so I wasn’t going to do any splicing!

So what did I do…..Well, it was a compromise. The first picture will show where I used a dremel tool and cut a channel in my gauge pod. That’s not the actual cut, I just did that to the picture to show where it was done. Using the dremel, I cut the channel just large enough so that the cable would slip through back to the “normal” hole and then I brought it out the front and ran it over to the A-pillar. It really doesn’t look all that bad IMO. You can see this in the second photo. Remember that 25 pin connector is still on there, but I was able to feed that down to basically the area behind the fuse box.

Next step……There is a wired remote for this gauge, it eventually will plug into the display unit as well. After considering a whole bunch of options, I took what I will call the lower door sill off……this is where a whole bunch of wires run, and laid that remote wire in that channel. I brought it out right by the drivers seat……if you look at the piece of door sill that’s right beside your drivers seat, you will see there is a little notched out area and that’s where I brought it out. You can see where I did in the pic below. I also figured this was a good place for the remote as I could reach down there with my left hand and change the display on the gauge will moving, plus I didn’t want to clutter up the center console area.

Power – Well, it comes two types…a cigarette lighter adapter(which I wasn’t going to use), and a pre-wired plug with two wires of about 2 or so feet in length. Used this and of course found a good ground point over by the fuse box for the negative/ground side and I connected the power wire to the room fuse circuit at the fuse box.

Display unit – This unit is about four inches by two inches and of course I had already figure out where I was going to mount it before I started. There aren’t many good options. I could have put it under the drivers seat, but that looked like a bitch, as did behind the center console. I considered over against the side wall(kinda behind the footrest), but too many cable/wires over there for my liking......So……..I decided to mount it under the dash, left of the steering column. It’s a tight fit in there, but it does fit and you cannot see it. The below wires/cables were all attached before getting it up into position and tie-wrapping it.

So……now I have the 25 pin connector cable(for the gauge), the remote cable(which is USB on the end that goes to the display unit), and the power wires all over by the fuse box(behind it on the side wall). Now all that is left is plug them all in(along with plugging in the supplied ODB II cable)...........get it up into the position mentioned and tie-wrap it in for good measure. Oh……I did leave the USB remote plug facing downward as this is the same place where you would hook up your laptop to install any custom gauges, backgrounds, etc.

Okay....let's turn the damn thing on! :)
Remainder of the pics are after the install. I haven’t messed with all the options and colors, but have played with some. Sorry for the fuzziness of the pics, they do not do it justice on how it looks. Oh.......all the ones that look like they have white numerals or whatever, it's actually blue and is set to match my interior LEDs.....not sure why the look white in the pics. :dunno:
The damn thing has a color palette and you can select any of about 256 colors for every different screen/setup if you like.

Couple more pics...will update with better ones later and some more screens this thing will do.
Those first two pics, the colors are actually blue, and kinda set to match my interior LEDs, not sure why it looks while in the pics?

looks pretty cool.

Thanks Nuke! I really will try to get some better pics, the lettering and all is much, much sharper in real life.
My hands and arms were tired as I had to install two new window regulators(tracks) in my daughters car today and I'm all cut up.......and I couldn't hold the camera still. :banghead:


Now I gotta figure out if I will sell my Scangauge II, or keep it for other cars????
I also now have a never used Nordskog oil temp gauge that I probably won't use as this new PLX is expandable and will do oil temp or pressure on this once the sensor is hooked up.

If you look at the pics, when I'm in ODB II mode, it thinks it found oil temp, but it's really water temp......cause it matches 1 to 1.

looks sweet

Looks great! I might get one around income tax time. This is the perfect solution for me since I'm not a fan of gauges. I'll have to catch the next batch of air vent gauges, they seem to sell out fast.

Although I doubt I'll ever go FI, how expandable is it? I'm curious if it can get oil temp and boost.

very very nice!!

Looks pretty good Maz, especially the red display mode,
you couldnt fit that remote in the blanks to the left of the steering wheel on the dash???
You might be able to fab something up even a piece of velcro might work there...
Also the wire doesnt bother me at all looks good....

expands up to 32 various sensors for temps/pressures/boost etc etc

^............Yepper, the only thing I see is the amount of display boxes you could end up with because I don't know where you would mount them if you went crazy with too many the sensors.

Thought about putting the remote where you are talking about and still might. If I end up doing it there, I want it to look right. I was going to fab something that would work with and where one of the blank switches are. Just not sure yet, but I can move it from where it is easily. My idea was to just do what I did until I figure it out. I also left everything so I can move the display box as well....if I decide to do so.

Another idea I had was if you look at the pic of the remote, there is hanger type thing on the opposite end of the remote(from where the cable comes out) and you could make a hook it could hang on and then you'd still have some freedom due to cable length, but don't want that cable hanging down by my knees.
This could then be hung around the area you were taking about, or maybe on the side of the center console.

Then I thought I might run the remote into the center console, underneath the shifter cover panel and back to or into the cupholder area. Or make it so it's a hard mount back by the seat warmer switches(but hiding the cable as much as possible).

So you can see I'm not done with this, just weighing my options but wanted it installed somewhere.

Thanks Jorge.......the pics really don't do it justice. When it's on, the background is black and not really lit like it shows up in the pics. Of course there are at least 7 background colors to choose from and then you could always upload your own as well. I was thinking of putting my avatar as my background and/or as a gauge....maybe have the surfboard be the needle, so to speak. :)
That takes 100 images to make a gauge and that would be a lot of work. :uhh:

Look good Bro

You shoulda have mention the gauge so i can modify the hole for ya,lol

Still look good though

the font size looks like you may actually be able to read it while driving.

everything in one! that is sick

Looks great. I was thinking of going the same route and I have the same pod, but I couldn't get a straight answer from PLX as to whether the dm-100 can pull AFR and EGT over obd2. Can you check if there's an option for these?

Also can the gauge be set to dim with the lights? TIA

if it looks this good in pictures, I can only imagine what it's like in person. :bowdown:
You should definitely customize it, I like the surfboard idea.

looks great Mazsurfer! cant wait till i get to do my gauges. i need to decide which gauge will go in the vent pod and which one in the lotek

AFR(vent pod) --- boost/vac, oil press, water temp(lotek)

boost/vac(vent pod) --- AFR, oil press, water temp(lotek

Dimming............."no", but I don't really think you would need to do so. I'ts really not that bright at night and if it bugged you, you could always set the color for your normal display that it would tone it done.

Here's some shots of exactly what is available on the ODBII. I ran through all the different screens. Four on this post and two on the next.

Here's the last two.

Plus.......even though not much to see.......here's a shot in PLOT mode. It's hard to photograph the moving plot, so I did battery voltage as it won't change too much.

Yep, it's clearly readable. You could also go with a 60mm and it might be slightly bigger font. Now that I think about it, it may not be bigger..........as if you look at my pics, the gauge says "WAT0" for "WATER 0" for instance, The manual says that at 60mm the words won't be truncated.

Finally got the camera to show the blue!

Just a couple more pics and I'm done.
These two pics were taken in my garage, one is with the garage door shut and the other with it open.

Snuck two new pics of the car in here as well. :)

The hole would've had to be sooooo big, that it might have compromised the side of the pod. No big deal, what I did was fine! :)