Dashboard speedometer.

[jumpstart]

Having read Brian’s post on speeding in France, I knotice that with sunglasses on it is extremely difficult to see all the speedometer numbers. So I’ve looked at dashboard speedometers. Can anyone actually recommend an accurate one.?

[Derek Uzzell]

There are (generally) two types of after-market speedometers - GPS or OBD - with the former using ‘sat-nav’ principles and the latter requiring a connection to the vehicle’s OBD diagnostic port. The GPS type is likely to be more accurate but, of course, won’t work if satellite signals are unavailable or poor. Conversely, if you want a speedometer reading that matches your motorhome’s speedometer’s readings, an OBD type would be the better choice.

 

I use an old Garmin sat-nav in ‘trip data’ mode and this provides a large digital display of speed.

[jumpstart]

Thanks for that ,we don’t use a vehicle based sat nav so some sort of independent one would be usefull. I will investigate further.

[stevec176]

Good luck with getting a truely accurate speed reading. I once had 3 readings showing at once, the van Speedo, the dash cam and the sat nav on my tablet and none read the same, thankfully the van Speedo was lower than the other two. What I did notice was that the differences between the Speedo and the other two got bigger the faster I went so hopefully I'm on the safer side.

[jumpstart]

Yea I suppose that’s always going to be the problem.

[jumpstart]

Derek Uzzell - 2019-09-24 12:14 PM

 

There are (generally) two types of after-market speedometers - GPS or OBD - with the former using ‘sat-nav’ principles and the latter requiring a connection to the vehicle’s OBD diagnostic port. The GPS type is likely to be more accurate but, of course, won’t work if satellite signals are unavailable or poor. Conversely, if you want a speedometer reading that matches your motorhome’s speedometer’s readings, an OBD type would be the better choice.

 

I use an old Garmin sat-nav in ‘trip data’ mode and this provides a large digital display of speed.

 

Derek I read a post of yours from March 2018 ,you indicate that it might not be possible for it to work properly of the OBD port. Care to expand.?

[Derek Uzzell]

If this is the 2018 discussion you are referring to, I’ve got nothing useful to add

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/OBD-ports/49031/

[colin]

Another option is to use the stick on white dial faces which apparently are much clearer.

[TeamRienza]

We are on our 3rd trip to France this year (extenuating circumstances) and I find that holding the van at 80kph is fine, most of the time, but it is easy to creep over the limit. Especially on some of the long straight stretches.

 

We have a 2015 Fiat base and this week I have been experimenting with the speed limiter (SSD). I set it at 50mph and find it has been useful. It has the effect (as many of you will know) of making the pedal harder to press and because of the difference in satnav versus speedo it holds the speed at around 77 to 78 kph. It seems to make some efforts to restrain the vehicle on downhill slopes, but I may be mistaken in that.

 

The verdict is, I am increasingly using this facility. It takes a little bit of getting used to, rather like cruise control. It would need to be reset for urban limits if you wanted to make use of the facility, but I find that French towns and villages have perfected the art of roundabouts, humps and chicanery!!

 

My style of driving is generally reasonably sedate, but I do feel that this is a useful tool for those open roads where one could get tripped up for a few mph.

 

It has been a bit of a revelation as back home our roads do not lend themselves to gadgetry, so I still drive using only the basic controls. I haven’t even got the hang of air conditioning when I have perfectly good windows and live in a wet temperate climate!!

 

Davy

[Paul-]

I use sunglasses that are made for driving, they have a gradient tint that's almost clear at the bottom to well tinted at the top.

But, more often than not I to look at the speed on dashcam by the interior mirror ;-)

[ColinM50]

I finally got fed up with the dim speedo and despite liking the look of the replacement dials, the cost and embuggerance factor put me off so I went with an OBD reader. Bought it from Ebay for under twenty quid, there's loads there and it works fine. Except mine only works in KmH though the destructions say you can switch to mph. Despite pressing every button in all sorts of sequences, the Chinglish instructions don't work. Not a major issue, just just multiply readings by six and you've converted it to mph or dead useful if "sur le continent".

 

To plug it in, take off the OBD port cover halfway down on the right A pillar and plug it in, route the lead to the dash and stick it on to the dashboard using a small sliver of double sided tape. Robert is your mother's brother.

[47643]

Hi,

white dials fitted to a 2015 ducato. a lot better to see dials.

if you search for "ducato speedo display" in the forum search tool it will take you to a thread with a picture

[Derek Uzzell]

This link is to the forum thread that has the photo of the Lockwood white dials

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/ducato-speedo-display/52719/

 

and this link to the relevant part of the Lockwood website

 

https://www.lockwoodinternational.co.uk/dials/mph/fiat/a-l/ducato.html

 

It should be noted that the dials differ according to whether the vehicle has manual or ‘automatic’ transmission.