gauges?

[3dodgedoobie]

Ok I got a working speedo. From kevin. Looks great. Now on to the other gauges. I need to convert over to 12volt use. Gas gauge and volt gauge is biggest concern. Since they r voltage specific. Anyone done this? Or what's other options? I know I can install aftermarket but like using stock gauges.

[ggdad1951]

put resistors inline and you canuse the originals, at least for the gas gauge.

[Plymouthy Adams]

you have a number of vehicles owned in your profile...what vehicle is this for..if you are referring to the vintage stuff..that should not be a volt meter but an ampmeter..not voltage specific but the current rating indcated on the guage should not be exceeded....you have ways to half you reading and there is a couple ways to do this should you think your new accessories will bust the drain on the current meter being used..

[Rocket-bob]

In line resistor will take care of the gas gauge, you will need to send the voltage gauge out to be worked on. This is especially true if you have converted from a generator to an alternator as the voltage ranges are significantly different.

[3dodgedoobie]

Its for the 52. And what type of resistor do I need to use? To drop it down to 6volt? If I can get the temp., gas, and oil working i can do without the volt.

[Plymouthy Adams]

personally I would use of the the three as I saw fit, a late model spade lug CVR with leads attached, rebuilt CVR with load resistor and zeneer diode or maybe even use an

LM341 chip and make a good filtered suppy...

[41/53dodges]

normally the old PH's have a amp gauge, not voltage. the amp gauge does not care about voltage, it just reads current, so the amp gauge will be perfectly fine if you have the polarity right, with negative ground it is reversed.

[Plymouthy Adams]

normally the old PH's have a amp gauge, not voltage. the amp gauge does not care about voltage, it just reads current, so the amp gauge will be perfectly fine if you have the polarity right, with negative ground it is reversed.

and...with the added accessories and such the 12 volt cars will normally have compared to the 6 volt units, higher ouput alternator conpared to the avg 35 amp generator...and given the stock ampmeter is 30 amp indicated...can you also tell the man HOW to use the 30 amp guage and still indicate up to 60 apms without pegging the unit and still be somewhat accurate..? you need to fill in the rest of the equation

[Don Coatney]

In line resistor will take care of the gas gauge, you will need to send the voltage gauge out to be worked on. This is especially true if you have converted from a generator to an alternator as the voltage ranges are significantly different.

What is the significant difference? Can you explain further?

I did not use a resistor on my fuel gauge (P-15) when I converted to 12 volts.

My car (and to the best of my knowledge all cars built by Chrysler in the 40's) does not have a volt meter. It has an amp meter that measures current flow irrevelent of voltage.

In very basic terms, amps times volts equals watts. And watts are what is consumed for an electrical device to function.

So if you have a device that requires 120 watts and you are using 6 volts then an amp gauge reading would be 20 amps to maintain this device.

If you have a device that requires 120 watts and you are using 12 volts then the amp gauge reading would be 10 amps to maintain this device.

My point being that the factory amp gauge will work fine using 12 volts and an alternator.

[B1B Keven]

Actually his '52 should have a 50 amp amp gauge.

[TodFitch]

...

My car (and to the best of my knowledge all cars built by Chrysler in the 40's) does not have a volt meter. It has an amp meter that measures current flow irrelevant of voltage. ....

The '63 Plymouth I learned to drive on had an ammeter. As did the '63 and '68 Dodge D200 trucks I drove for a while. As did the '82 Plymouth TC3 I once owned. Not sure when Chrysler switched to volt meter (my '92 Chrysler built Jeep had a voltage gauge), but I wouldn't be surprised to hear that all Chrysler products through at least the 60s and maybe 70s had ammeters rather than volt meters.

I know the ammeter on the '82 was on a shunt and maybe that would be true of all the ones with high current charging systems. Don't know when that started or if it was on a model by model basis.

[Plymouthy Adams]

shunt models read only an portion of the amperage and is significant only to show direction of currently flow thus an idea to the driver the current status of his charging system..

[TodFitch]

shunt models read only an portion of the amperage and is significant only to show direction of currently flow thus an idea to the driver the current status of his charging system..

In the case of the '82 TC3/Tursimo, the connection to the flexible circuit on the back of the dash had lousy contacts unprotected against any corrosion at all. So after a few years the ammeter ended up being isolated from the shunt wire by high resistance connections with the result being that the ammeter would only read zero regardless of what was actually happening in the electrical system. P.O.S. design.

Near as I can remember, the ammeter on the '63 D200 was not on an external shunt and it read accurately up until the time I sold it in 1991.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Tod, you are right..these were not the best of guages..but cost of these compared to a real meter being used was significantly less to my understanding..

[3dodgedoobie]

Well I will try to see what amp meter I have. And as far as fuel gauge being it was a 6volt system figured it need reduced. Everything in the truck as in wiring harness fuel tank, fuse box etc etc is out of a 87 or 88 5th avenue. That's why im asking what needs to b to use factory gauges. I know bulbs etc needs changed. Just wondering about gauges.

[Plymouthy Adams]

it would be nice to know up front when asking a qeustion as to what modification have been done to the vehicle..most here are going to answer your question based on stock configuration in the abscense of known details..if the tank and guage and harness is out of a 88 then your guage will need to match the reistance value of the sender for proper indication...I tend to think off the top of my head that the ohm scale for these tanks sender was 10-100 ohms...single wire...a search online may net the exact value you looking for here..

[3dodgedoobie]

Yea I was reading my post and forgot that info. But the gas gauge in truck is the stock 52. The tank and sender is out of the 5th avenue. And I do think they work of ohms . But being 6 volt system originally I figured it need reduced for the gauge to work properly.

Just to verify 52 factory gauges, with 87-88 5th avenue wiring harness, tank, motor, tranny. With 88 Dakota rear end.

[Plymouthy Adams]

yes..they do drop the voltage across the gauge through the tank sender via a wound resistor on a wiper directly to ground..but the guage and sender have to be of matching values for proper indication...as you have the book for the 52 Dodge gauge, what was the matching resistance of the sender for stock configuration..is this equal to that of the stock 88 sender now being used...and without having access to the 88 book and specification I am not sure of the entire circuit and whether or not the CVR's were still in use for this era of vehicle...I am sure you have a copy of the doors schematics on hand also while doing this modification to ensure their compatability..what does that bood say..look to the trouble shooting section for porper resistance values when testing..