I know the spedo recordes the hours the top is down but what does that needel do as it moves up and down. I'am i missing something?

 

The needle in the openometer (to the left of the tach) shows top down time for the trip. The digital read out in the tach shows the Trip Time Down (Left) which is resettable, and the Lifetime Time Down (Right) which is not resettable.

The openometer also has lights in the center of the circle, each light on represents 1 hour of open motoring. So 3 lights and the needle at 20 would be 3 hours and 20 minutes of top down.

 

And they all add up to the most useless gauge I've ever seen on a car!

Love my Mini convertible but they could have used that gauge for so many other much more useful purposes!!!

 

Unless you reset it, the Openometer (in my 2009) shows time open up to 7 hours, then resets to zero. Each light is 1 hour and the hand makes one (partial) sweep per hour, then goes back to zero. If you happen to catch it at 6 hours 59 minutes, you can watch the reset but it happens fast. If you see it happen once it's enough. To me, the Openometer was interesting till the first reset.

If anyone were to offer a temperature gauge that would fit, I would replace it in a heart beat.

 

Well said an oil pressure guage would also be nice.

 

The gauge is useless. It would be cool if the values in the speedo showed total hours driven so you could see or figure out percent of time driven with the top down.

Any secret ways to get more info out of the speedo display? With my old Audi, you could get all kinds of useless info from the computer once you knew the secret key sequence to hit.

 

SO...what you want is more useless info?

 

I know I could do without this 'openometer' gauge....! At least it's not a bud vase...

 

lol Every one tells me i have a cute car what there really telling me is i have a girls car. should have gotton the bug vert.

 

Many Americans don't "get" the MINI because the U.S. doesn't have a long history with small, nimble cars the way Europe has. For decades, the desirable American cars have usually consisted of two tons of steel wrapped around a large-displacement V-8. Don't get me wrong - I love those too, but if more Americans had grown up with Triumphs, MGs, Austin-Healeys and the many small Porsches, they wouldn't be as spring-loaded to think of the MINI as a "girl's car".

 

Well said Scott.

As for me I would like an oil temp gauge. Then I would know when I can push it hard.

 

Does the Openometer record time when the top is in the sunroof mode or only when it's totally down?

 

Only totally down.

 

I want to swap the "open" gauge and put an oil temp in it's place . Anyone know if I can use the stock pod? If not can it be removed without effecting the tach?
Thanks

 

I have yet to see a response to this, but I'm darned curious.

I get the openometer joke, but I'm tired of it now.

 

That openometer is really dumb. I agree with gr8ful, I wish it was oil temp, water temp anything but what it is..

 

I mounted my GPS unt on it and it looks like it is supposed to be there.

 

Maybe you did and maybe you didn't...It only counts if you post a picture, e.g.

 

It seems to me that the Openometer is useless as an analog gauge past the first 6 hours. It's like having an odometer with 6 digits on it. Does "6" mean you've driven for 6 miles or 100006? I know you can go in and pull up the total time on the trip computer, but it seems like a dial that recorded something more than 6 hours before resetting would have been better. Not sure what a better option would have been. How about just an odometer type gauge that records total time. I think it's a clever idea for getting people excited about driving with the top down, I just think the execution was a little off.

 

Jumping an old thread. Anybody figure out if openometer pod can be removed/swapped?

 

Answering old question. Yes it can be removed. I took it apart unplugged the ribbon and hacksawed it off. I replaced it with a boost gauge and reinstalled everything.

Installed in oem housing and put back on the steering column

Picture removed from housing and you can see the ribbon. Then cut off.

 

I prefer the boost gauge. Coolant temp gauge would even be better.