temperature displays

Im not sure if this is the right place to put this, but this seems like the "electronics" section, sorry if its in the wrong place. Are there any circuits available that will read and display temps for certain probes on an LCD screen, perhaps something a little nicer than a basic clock looking screen. I want to put a couple of temp probes in my trunk to keep track of temps, but I don't know how I would display it. I also want to be able to control a device if the temps get too low (a heater). Does anything like this exist? could I build one? (yes I could BUILD one.... design one, no)

This is something I want to look into, our winters are cold, and I want to mount a little heater in my trunk so I can keep an eye on temps in there (humidity would be the icing). I dont want to fire up my system when its been sitting overnight in -25C weather. If I had a heater in there, it could be turned on to get the temps in the trunk up to something a little more acceptable. I was also considering using a peltier to keep my amps cool(either directly on the heatsinks, or making a chiller of sorts like those electric coolers) but I just don't think thats an option... not one worth doing anyway....... gonna have to just go with a ton of fans :D

What about a heater with a built in thermostat?  You could power it off the ignition and possibly even set up a "low temp" light off of it.Kevin Pierson

thats not a bad idea, but I would still like to see what the actual temps are. I'm a very visual person, and I like to be in control of my machines. What I'm looking for I guess is some form of temperature controller. I see an ad above for custom electronic design.... I wonder if they can design something for me..... more importantly, what would it cost lol.

They make all types of temperature controllers and displays - places like www.omega.com would be a good start.   These are more industrial devices though, so you'll need to make sure they'll work down to 12vdc. Kevin Pierson

I'm kind of lost there, I'm not entirely sure what it is that I'm looking for, so it makes it a little hard to find there. Also from what I've seen of their controllers/displays, they are the big blocky ugly LCD displays..... I want to make my car look like its from the future, not back to the future ;) ...... although I do need more jigawatts......1.21 of them.

I've found this, http://www.geocities.com/ CapeCanaveral/Launchpad /3632/scriptherm/scriptherm.htm It might work, But I can't exactly follow the diagram, its a little bit beyond me ..... on top of that, the biggest problem is where would i get a PCB for this?

ok, here is a slightly better one, or more ready to go anyway. http://..ca/Digital-Thermometer -Temperature-Meter -Gauge-C-F-PC-MOD _W0QQitemZ250396214426Q QcmdZViewItemQQptZ Weather_Devices? hash= item250396214426 &_trksid= p4634.c0 .m14.l1262 But would there be some way to tap into it to activate a heater when the temp is below 10C?

For the price it's worth a try.  I would say it is safe to assume the signal coming back on the probe is a voltage, so I would think it could be modified to work with other applications.Kevin Pierson