North American Turbocoupe Organization



Another IVR Question...
vegas_ss Offline
Senior Member
#1
Has anyone tried one of these solid state IVR's from NPD?  They are set at 5v although I've seen some discussion that the voltage should be slightly higher (~ 5.4v?)  I guess that if it is a little low that the gauges will also read a little low?  It's a little pricey versus buying the components and building one but once you figure in the time and material and shipping costs (too bad radio shack closed) it may be worth the few extra $$$


NPD Solid State IVR
1987 TC, 5sp, Boport Stage 3 Head/2.1 Cam
1996 Impala SS, DCM, Borla Cat Back, too much other stuff!!! (SOLD)
2009 Pontiac G8 GXP 6M, 6.2l LS3, Kooks Long Tube, Hi Flo Cats, Mild Cam
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Kuch Offline
Senior Member
#2
Pretty sure that voltage is supposed to be 6v for the gauges, but like you say, if you expect it to be a little low at 5v, then not an issue. I'm sure they work just as well as any of the other DIY ones listed on this site, just plug and play.
1988 Turbo Coupe, Black/Black, 5 Speed, Moonroof,  T3/T4, ported E6, 255LPH, Kirban, Stinger Exhaust, MGW shifter, K&N, Gillis valve, BP1.5, PIMPx, Koni's
1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL, 390 6V, Big Solid cam, Headers,3.89's, 4 Speed, Vast and fast
1960 Ford Starliner, 292 Y Block, 312 4bbl intake, headers, 3 Speed, slow and low
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Jeff K Offline
Administrator
#3
When I built my own solid state IVR with adjustable voltage output years ago, I found that the gauges seemed to read correctly (what I would call correctly meaning that oil pressure of 40 psi gauge read near the middle, fuel gauge was pretty darn accurate, and temp gauge settled around half way when fully warmed up) with the voltage feeding the gauges was 5.5 V.
Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 24 psi, forced air IC, water injection, BPV, Ranger cam, subframes, etc., etc.
86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP N2O, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.
11 Crown Vic Interceptor
14 Toyota Camry (wifes car)
95 Taurus GL Vulcan winter beater
67 Honda 450 Super Sport - completely customized
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vegas_ss Offline
Senior Member
#4
I went ahead and ordered it... with shipping was ~$50 but it looks well built and thought I would give it a try and I'll post back the results.
1987 TC, 5sp, Boport Stage 3 Head/2.1 Cam
1996 Impala SS, DCM, Borla Cat Back, too much other stuff!!! (SOLD)
2009 Pontiac G8 GXP 6M, 6.2l LS3, Kooks Long Tube, Hi Flo Cats, Mild Cam
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vegas_ss Offline
Senior Member
#5
Ok, results are in, the NPD IVR doesn't work properly or I got a defective unit.  Temp will not reach the normal range, oil pressure is at the bottom of normal and the fuel level which was ~ full, reads between 3/4 and full.

Seems the fuel gauge is not really too far off while the oil and temp seem to be about 25 - 33% off.  Guess it's time to build an adjustable IVR and try and get the gauges dialed in a little better.  5v is just too low (assuming that the IVR is actually putting out 5v.

In looking over the writeup by Jeff K and another I found online at Gary's Garagemahal, It seems that Gary's is more straight forward and I am able to understand it, however I'm not sure why Jeff's includes the extra parts (caps and resistors)?  The schematic on Jeff's really confuses me since the 12v power connects to the V in, .01uF cap whose output connects to the adjust leg of the LMT338t and a 300 ohm resistor and a 120 ohm resistor. I'm obviously electrically challenged and reading the text helps but I'm still unsure how I would assemble it! 


Jeff K's IVR

Gary's Garagemahal

Schematic from Jeff K's post...
   
1987 TC, 5sp, Boport Stage 3 Head/2.1 Cam
1996 Impala SS, DCM, Borla Cat Back, too much other stuff!!! (SOLD)
2009 Pontiac G8 GXP 6M, 6.2l LS3, Kooks Long Tube, Hi Flo Cats, Mild Cam
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Jeff K Offline
Administrator
#6
The capacitor is basically there to, in laymans terms, keep the voltage regulator stable (i.e., to keep it from undergoing any oscillations). and the resistors are a voltage divider to set the output voltage of the LM338T regulator.

The regulator from Garys article does exactly the same thing that mine does, it just does the regulation a little differently.

I built my IVR with the LM338T regulator because I had experience using them when I worked as an electrical engineer in R&D in the power generation and distrubution industry back in the 1980s.
Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 24 psi, forced air IC, water injection, BPV, Ranger cam, subframes, etc., etc.
86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP N2O, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.
11 Crown Vic Interceptor
14 Toyota Camry (wifes car)
95 Taurus GL Vulcan winter beater
67 Honda 450 Super Sport - completely customized
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Chas K 88 Offline
Member
#7
OP
Did you build your solid state IVR, I'm in the same boat as you were. In my case I have no voltage to the instrument panel on the Gy/Y wire and my ignition switch connector is melted. Also no continuity on the Gy/Y wire and no idea where or what to get for a replacement. I'm toying with the idea of building Jeffs IVR as it needs no Gy/Y wire but alas parts could take weeks to arrive.
Chas K
Current setup - 88 T-bird, 5 speed, vacuum assist master cylinder, T3/T4 50 trim turbo from Bo-port, oil feed & return lines, 3” turbo down elbow, 3" to 2.5" dual exhaust and PiMPx from Stinger 255LPH fuel pump, CD, trip-minder, RR , K&N, 140 MPH speedo conversion (thanks Jeff K).
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Jeff K Offline
Administrator
#8
Order parts from DigiKey, Mouser Electronics, etc. I buy most of my electronic project parts from DigiKey. I typically get the parts in 2 days.
Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 24 psi, forced air IC, water injection, BPV, Ranger cam, subframes, etc., etc.
86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP N2O, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.
11 Crown Vic Interceptor
14 Toyota Camry (wifes car)
95 Taurus GL Vulcan winter beater
67 Honda 450 Super Sport - completely customized
Reply

vegas_ss Offline
Senior Member
#9
I thought I would try a simpler no solder approach (except for the the an IVR connector) and ordered an adjustable regulator and a vreg board.  Problem is I buttoned up the dash and haven't gotten back to trying this out but should work the same as the one in the Gary's Garagemahal link I posted earlier.  Ordered from Robotshop and came in about 4 days.


   
1987 TC, 5sp, Boport Stage 3 Head/2.1 Cam
1996 Impala SS, DCM, Borla Cat Back, too much other stuff!!! (SOLD)
2009 Pontiac G8 GXP 6M, 6.2l LS3, Kooks Long Tube, Hi Flo Cats, Mild Cam
Reply

Chas K 88 Offline
Member
#10
Jeff - I started adding parts to my cart on digikey and there was a 1000 piece minimum on the capacitor. I asked myself "What am I gonna do with the other 999?" and quit shopping. I'll check out Mouser Electronics and Robotshop to see if they are any different. I just remembered, I've still got a box of resistors with a couple pots and hopefully capacitors I had to buy years ago for a class in college, if I can find it. In your original artical you mentioned using an old cpu heat-sink, I've got some old laptops and towers laying around, thanks for that tip.

Vegas-ss - keep us updated on your progress.
Chas K
Current setup - 88 T-bird, 5 speed, vacuum assist master cylinder, T3/T4 50 trim turbo from Bo-port, oil feed & return lines, 3” turbo down elbow, 3" to 2.5" dual exhaust and PiMPx from Stinger 255LPH fuel pump, CD, trip-minder, RR , K&N, 140 MPH speedo conversion (thanks Jeff K).
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