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From: mike@delos.UUCP (Mike Newman)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: RE: Inductive pickups.
Message-ID: <56ky31w164w@delos.UUCP>
Date: 3 Jun 91 09:21:15 GMT
Article-I.D.: delos.56ky31w164w
Organization: DELOS - the vacation you'll never forget!
Lines: 61

> ssave@ole.UUCP (Shailendra Save) writes:
> 
>   I am trying to get a signal from the drive shaft of my car
> using an inductive pickup. (To calculate and display speed)
> Before I get under and get dirty, I wanted to know if anyone
> has had any experience with a similar transducer? Can you 
> recommend one? The car being a big hunk of metal, and the 
> tolerances between the "magnet" and the pickup being of the
> order of 0.2 in., will it work? 
> 
>   Any related ideas?  

There's a company called Zemco, Inc. that makes trip computers,
cruise controls, etc. that use such a pickup, and it works very
well! I've been using their products for years and, in fact, have
both a trip computer (mainly for its speed function, which is far
more accurate than my car's speedometer) and a cruise control
connected to the same pickup coil. The magnets supplied in the
kits are pretty strong, and being attached to the driveshaft
doesn't seem to be a problem at all. The installation manual
specifies 3/8" between the coil and magnets. Zemco also used to
sell a speed transducer that was installed in-line with the
speedometer cable. You may be able to find a similar device at
a wrecking yard on a car similar to yours that has a cruise
control, but the Zemco kit came with adapters to fit most appli-
cations. Their address is:

Zemco Group Inc.
7392 Count Circle
Huntington Beach, CA  92647

Phone: (714) 842-6699


>   Sometime ago, I asked the net about a weekend project to
> make a tachometer for my car. I got numerous replies, for
> which I am thankful. Hopefully I will soon have a complete
> digital dash. I will post a summary for those interested.

For those who don't want to build their own, a company called
Cyberdyne makes some of the best looking digital guages I've
seen... the speedometer and tachometer have both digital and
"analog" displays. You may be able to use some of their sending
units for your projects. Also, they make complete digital dash
panels for some Camaros, Firebirds, and Corvettes. Cyberdyne
products are sold by Summit Racing Equipment (look in just about
any car enthusiast magazine for Summit ads).

        Good luck!

            Mike



============================================================================
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|###    | Mike Newman                            | Guns don't kill people...
|   o   | All Around Computer Nut!               | it's these little hard
|   U   | racsys2!delos!mike@flight.hf.intel.com | things!
 -------                                         |      -- the Flash
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