As im ditching the original instrument cluster. I need a temp display, i'd like to make use of the orignal temp sensor fitted in the engine. This has a single wire feeding a resisted ground back to the display.
I understand that the range of resistance isn't known to any who can answer so if there's a circuit that would work and allow me to calabrate the reading this would be great !
If you're measuring the water temp of the engine, you can use a bowl of water and a thermometer to measure the resistance of the sensor at different temperatures.
You can make a voltage divider with the sensor and a pot. Connect to an op-amp & use another pot in the feedback circuit to control gain.
Don't worry, op-amps are not exactly my forte either; give me a PIC any day
Unfortunately I don't have a schematic to post, but here goes: connect a resistor & the sensor in series between supply pos & neg. The node between sensor & resistor goes to inverting input of op-amp. Non-inverting input goes to Gnd. Connect resistor between output & inverting input(feedback).
Not sure which IC is best, but search the forum for op-amp related topics, you should find loads of info.