Ultragauge Accuracy

DesignerNate · #1 (**permalink**) 09-01-2011, 11:19 AM

Hey Everyone,

Alright so i seem to have issues with Ultragauge's accuracy. My Ultragauge seems to boast the AVG MPG i'm getting at least 5 extra miles. So where my Dashboard readout said i'm getting 35.8 AVG MPG the UG says 40.3 or so. (fluctuates between 39-40) This seems to affect pretty much all the info the UG gives because its factoring in the AVG MPG as being 40 when my car only is really getting 35.8 so the DTE is at least 50 miles off and i either have to constantly tell it to Recalibrate or eventually it will magically just go from like 50 miles till E to 10. It seems the gauges aren't updating accurately and my guess is again because of such a high MPG readout.

Now a couple of things. First I've had the Dashboard AVG MPG readout pretty set for a good month so its had a while to have an "AVG" where as the UG i've been running for a week. (however i have had this problem in the past and i ran the UG a good two weeks). Also noticed something that i feel affects the AVG the UG displays: Any time you take your foot off the gas or break i believe the fiesta cuts off fuel and this causes the UG to display that i'm getting like 159-200 instant MPG now i've read the manual of the UG and some cars do this and you can factor this in which is what i did a few months back and instead of reading 159 instant MPG it read out 999 instant MPG any time the fuel cut out. I don't know if the Dashboard AVG MPG factors this in as well it just doesn't display it so its not as obvious? Now also for Fuel Tank size i set it to 12 gallons.. i don't know if i have to be more precise but from what i understood it was a 12 gallon tank. And engine liter to 1.6 again what i thought was the case.

So for those of you with UG do you have these issues? I feel that i can't really trust my AVG MPG or the DTE on the Ultragauge because the AVG seems so off. Its great for reading MPH and RPM and Engine Temp and Battery Volt etc... but thats not the main reason i got it... I wouldn't mind if it was a couple of miles difference but this seems to affect the core of the way UG calculates info. Also originally i did the Fuel Cut off caluclation (i think it was like 11.7 or something like that) which gave me the 999 instant readout however im not doing that this time around because i don't think it made things any more accurate... do you guys use this? Any advice or help would be appreciated. Thanks!

6769MOPARS · #2 (**permalink**) 09-01-2011, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesignerNate

Hey Everyone,

Alright so i seem to have issues with Ultragauge's accuracy. My Ultragauge seems to boast the AVG MPG i'm getting at least 5 extra miles. So where my Dashboard readout said i'm getting 35.8 AVG MPG the UG says 40.3 or so. (fluctuates between 39-40) This seems to affect pretty much all the info the UG gives because its factoring in the AVG MPG as being 40 when my car only is really getting 35.8 so the DTE is at least 50 miles off and i either have to constantly tell it to Recalibrate or eventually it will magically just go from like 50 miles till E to 10. It seems the gauges aren't updating accurately and my guess is again because of such a high MPG readout.

Now a couple of things. First I've had the Dashboard AVG MPG readout pretty set for a good month so its had a while to have an "AVG" where as the UG i've been running for a week. (however i have had this problem in the past and i ran the UG a good two weeks). Also noticed something that i feel affects the AVG the UG displays: Any time you take your foot off the gas or break i believe the fiesta cuts off fuel and this causes the UG to display that i'm getting like 159-200 instant MPG now i've read the manual of the UG and some cars do this and you can factor this in which is what i did a few months back and instead of reading 159 instant MPG it read out 999 instant MPG any time the fuel cut out. I don't know if the Dashboard AVG MPG factors this in as well it just doesn't display it so its not as obvious? Now also for Fuel Tank size i set it to 12 gallons.. i don't know if i have to be more precise but from what i understood it was a 12 gallon tank. And engine liter to 1.6 again what i thought was the case.

So for those of you with UG do you have these issues? I feel that i can't really trust my AVG MPG or the DTE on the Ultragauge because the AVG seems so off. Its great for reading MPH and RPM and Engine Temp and Battery Volt etc... but thats not the main reason i got it... I wouldn't mind if it was a couple of miles difference but this seems to affect the core of the way UG calculates info. Also originally i did the Fuel Cut off calculation (i think it was like 11.7 or something like that) which gave me the 999 instant readout however im not doing that this time around because i don't think it made things any more accurate... do you guys use this? Any advice or help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I reset my UG at the same time as I reset the Fiesta MPG. The UG is higher than the Fiesta by about 1.8 MPG. I can deal with that.

Reddog99 · #3 (**permalink**) 09-01-2011, 12:43 PM

Read the instructions and do the calibration routine. This probably varies from unit to unit, as I've never had to calibrate mine.

DesignerNate · #4 (**permalink**) 09-01-2011, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6769MOPARS

I reset my UG at the same time as I reset the Fiesta MPG. The UG is higher than the Fiesta by about 1.8 MPG. I can deal with that.

Do you do the Fuel Cutoff thing where it displays 999 on Instant MPG when your foot is off the gas? Yea if i was getting a similar number i really wouldn't mind either but 5 MPG seems to throw it off a good bit.

6769MOPARS · #5 (**permalink**) 09-01-2011, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesignerNate

Do you do the Fuel Cutoff thing where it displays 999 on Instant MPG when your foot is off the gas? Yea if i was getting a similar number i really wouldn't mind either but 5 MPG seems to throw it off a good bit.

Nate, never noticed the fuel cutoff thing. Maybe that is a Powershift feature and not a 5-speed feature.

satterfi · #6 (**permalink**) 09-01-2011, 05:03 PM

The tank is 12.4 gallons.

Out of the box, mine read at least 8 mpg high. I entered in a calibration factor of 1.2 to lower the output. It now reads a couple of mpg low but I'm in the process of running a tank through it to do a more precise calibration.

DesignerNate · #7 (**permalink**) 09-02-2011, 09:39 AM

Thanks the Calibration was all i needed to do to lower that number... Also can you change the distance to say your actual odometer or (odometer minus milage read on your last service receipt) this would be handy as i had to reset the UG a after a month of owning it because it was messing with things when i left it plugged in when i did a battery disconnect. What remains to be seen is if my DTE will average out i assume that may take a few cycles to even out completely but as long as the MPG is calculating correctly i'm happy. i'll let you guys know.