The GPS in GPster's Jeepster

GPster · January 13, 2023, 08:35:59 PM

Well I've been working on it. After the old street signs idea bombed out I worked on my wife's idea and looked at cooking pans. I found a cookie sheet that was made out of 12 ga. aluminum. I looked further and found that this company made the same type of cookie sheet that was large enough for me to get three pieces of my design (in case I made any mistakes) so I've got a piece to make another instrument panel. The GPS that I got from Amazon has an odometer on it. It also has directional signal and high beam indicator lights which added something that I didn't have before. I also put a fuel level gauge in. I removed The S10 gauge cluster, now all the gauges are mechanical gauges and the only electric senders are the ones that feed the computer. Put all the wiring that I still needed to a terminal board on the back of the new gauge panel. Two days ago I had the terminal board wired from the ignition switch on and the light switch. The engine still started and ran. So yesterday I wired the GPS and back lights for the gauges and the fuel level gauge, hooked up the battery and blew a fuse. So I spent the rest of yesterday thinking. The GPS and the volt meter are the only things on that fuse's circuit so I checked to see if they were shorted to ground then tried with a new fuse. Everything worked today but the battery was down so it's on the charger. More tomorrow and maybe I'll work on the GPS antenna. Guess I can't put the rear end on jack stands to see if the speedo works. I'll have to find something else to work on till spring. GPster

enjenjo · January 14, 2023, 12:43:02 PM

Joe the Car needs to be moving for the speedometer to work

tomslik · January 17, 2023, 08:08:50 AM

yup, and probably outside too

papastoyss · February 27, 2023, 05:00:24 PM

I have GPS speedo in my '57 Chevy, it takes 1 1/2 -2 miles from garage for the system to reset itself, after that it is just fine.

GPster · March 02, 2023, 11:39:05 AM

Well I got the Jeepster out the other day and drove it to check out the speedometer and it didn't work. It seems the antenna is faulty. The brand name of the speedometer is ELING and the only troubleshooting information I could find was in the customer replies from Amazon. With the customer replies and various information on the internet I came up with the antenna and ways to check it. Because I bought this thing clear back in November it's out of the 90 days. I found a universal antenna to try but it's on a slow boat from China so I won't see it till the middle of April, Oh well! I've driven it for two years without knowing how fast I was. GPster

GPster · March 13, 2023, 05:41:29 PM

Time to maybe celebrate, my ship must have come in early. The antenna for my GPS speedometer came in today. I hope it being the 13th of the month doesn't fit into my guessing that the antenna is the problem. I can't get excited about getting the Jeepster out and driving it real soon but maybe I can get it installed. I'd like to say in the comfort of my heated garage but I turned off the gas to my garage last week the day it was 74 degrees. The no heat and no sun is fueling my depression so I'd better finish this before my logged in stops. GPster

GPster · March 14, 2023, 01:28:57 PM

I turned the gas on going to my garage and lit the heater. Maybe I'll feel better. I checked the weather and maybe we'll be warmer and have some sun in a couple of days. We can hope. GPster

GPster · March 16, 2023, 03:50:49 PM

Well my $13.00 guess might be a waste of time. The new antenna that I bought reads just like the owignal one does, open /no ohms. I wish my list of experts was wider than this site cause I don't know anyone else to ask about this, I guess I'll Just have to buy another one GPster

kb426 · March 16, 2023, 07:26:54 PM

I never checked one so I'm not any help. Are you going to plug it in and try it?

Bruce Dorsi · March 16, 2023, 08:29:09 PM

Is there any help at this link, Joe? ....At least there is some English printed.

https://mans.io/files/viewer/2293207/1

How do you know that the problem is with the antenna? ....Is it in a location to get a good signal?

GPster · March 17, 2023, 10:02:22 AM

The antenna was my best guess. The best information I could find about the antenna was 16.000 Ohms between the cable and the shield ( I have a meter that says ohms ?) and the original antenna showed an open circuit. I thought for $13.00 I'd try a replacement but it reads the same as the original. Bad guess! With the key on (power tp the speedometer) the odometer clicks miles but in an answer to customer's questions it says it's because the antenna is searching for a signal. It doesn't seem to find one. I guess I have to go through Amazon to ask the manufacturer a question but that gets overwhelming so I tried RRT first. I'll get my wife to make a copy of those directions so I can take a magic marker and cross out everything that isn't english. I thought that because the people that have used a GPS speedometer have had good luck that the problem can't be as bad as I can imagine. GPster

58 Yeoman · March 17, 2023, 10:17:37 AM

The aftermarket gps that we use in our car and truck will sometimes take a long time to find the satellites, sometimes because of cloud cover or atmospheric conditions. I've never used a gps speedo, so no help there. Good luck.

Bruce Dorsi · March 17, 2023, 12:22:42 PM

Joe, can you temporarily test the speedometer in your daily driver? ...It could be powered from the lighter outlet while you hold the unit in your hand.

You could try both antennas while your wife drives the car.

GPster · March 17, 2023, 01:37:54 PM

Brings to mind an interesting thought, maybe you can only check the antenna if it has locked in to a satellite. I'm being lazy but I'm not in favor of un-installing the speedometer because it also has dash lights, directional light and high beam wired to it also. I know they all have their power source from somewhere else than the power to the speedometer but the fact that the odometer is indicating that it's searching for a signal tells me their must be power to the speedometer. It's cold and wet outside so I'll just think about it. GPster

kb426 · March 17, 2023, 05:27:25 PM

The Speedhut unit I had in the white 51 would take 2 blocks to find a signal if it hadn't been driven in 24 hours. The odometer was blank while it was searching as I think I remember.

Every one of those antennas look identical to me so I don't think there's any difference in their sensitivity. I just went to ebay and found a unit that I think would be similar. The instructions said it would count to 300 before quitting to search for a signal and then show err in the od window. It listed 8 wires with the red being battery positive, and black being the ground. Orange was dash lights, gray and yellow were turn signals and white was high beam. It showed a plastic base on that antenna and said if mounted with the base up, it wouldn't receive a signal.