For Christmas one of my sons got me a device that reads the temps inside the cab and outdoors. You mount it on the dash with velcro and run a wire from it that has a temperature sensor at the other end of the wire to a place outside the cab and the sensor reads the outdoor temp. The instructions said to mount the outside temp sensor on the door frame that the driver's door is hinged to, outside of the black rubber door/rain molding. Well, that's not a good place. At 30 degrees outside the unit said it was 56 degrees outside. Heat was getting at the sensor from either inside the cab or from the engine compartment, or both. If you open the door, at the rear of the fender there's a gap the whole length of the rear of the fender, where it meets the door frame, where you can see into the engine compartment. The gap's covered with a rubber gasket, but its not tight fitting. My point is these outdoor temp sensors don't read right if mounted in that position. It seems to me that the only good place to mount it is in front of and below the front grill, as anywhere else it could be subjected to heat flowing backward from the engine or the exhaust system. But the wire wasn't long enough to run it from the dash to the grille area, and you'd have to drill a hole in the dash (and perhaps the firewall) to route the wire, and then find a safe route for the wire through the engine compartment. Too much of a PITA for me.

Does anyone know of an aftermarket unit measuring the outdoor temperature that does NOT use a wire for the outdoor temp sensor; in other words, the sensor sends wireless temp reading?

 

There are gadgets like that for the home that might be adapted, John. I think I've seen them at Home Depot, and even Walmart. Harbor Freight might have such a unit also.

You are dead on about where to mount the sensor and that's the approximate location Ford mounts theirs. You want to keep as much water off it as you can so you don't get "wet bulb" readings -- but that's nearly impossible to do and still get isolation from engine heat so you do have to put up with some inaccuracy in certain wet conditions.

 

I have one for my house I got a Kmart. The unit and sensor take a AA battery.

 

Yeah, I know they have wireless ones for houses. So I figure at least one company must make them for vehicles and that someone can direct me to a company and save me the time it would take to do a Google search and hopefully find something. I'm also wondering tho, whether all the electrical and electronic equipment and lines in the engine compartment of modern vehicles would prevent a temp signal from being properly sent via a wireless device.

 

Probably not, but it's a consideration. Most of those devices now are in the VHF to microwave band and are about as reliable as your keyless entry keyfob is around interference -- which is to say, not bad.

 

JC Whitney sells different versions of automotive digital thermometers, but nothing wireless yet.

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...Ntt=termometer

I've seen lots of home version ones that are wrieless, but nothing that would easily adapt to the truck. I will post something where I do find one, as this is a mod I have wanted to try.

Another good place to look for stuff like that is Shaper Image
http://www.sharperimage.com/us/en/se...ader1.jhtml.13

 

Try Dakota Digital. They may have it.