Check out this thread: http://forum.sunbeamalpine.org/index.php?threads/jaeger-voltmeters.25222/#post-171905
Mike
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Gauge of wire needed for amp gauge?
- Thread starter SIVAllan
- Start date
Check out this thread: http://forum.sunbeamalpine.org/index.php?threads/jaeger-voltmeters.25222/#post-171905
Mike
There is a readily available one that is upside down relative to other gauges (https://www.ebay.com/itm/Smiths-Cla...ash=item33e78be150:g:MSAAAOxygo9Q7-Qt&vxp=mtr). I know that a "correct" version of this exists and have seen them on eBay before, but not in a long time and they appear to be very rare. Fortunately, another Sunbeam owner has had some reproductions made and advertised them here last year: http://forum.sunbeamalpine.org/index.php?threads/jaeger-voltmeters.25222/#post-171905. I have one of these and am very happy with it. It isn't a perfect match to my other SV gauges, the text is just a hair thicker, but it is very close.
Also, if you don't want to spend $100 and only want to get 'sort of close', you might find this interesting: http://forum.sunbeamalpine.org/index.php?threads/9-voltmeter.22453/#post-152267 . I am not seeing that particular gauge anymore, at least at Advance Auto where the link no longer works, but there are many others that look pretty close, especially with a stock bezel added.
loose_electron
Donation Time
If you are sucking that much current from the car into a sound system, you need to protect your hearing first. The alternator has the capability to provide 60 amps but how much it puts out is more a function of the load. Load is going to be a function of what you have turned on and how depleted the battery is.
With all new modern electronics gauges, electronic ignition, and LED lights everywhere, the whole car now drains under 20A. However my electrical system is not typical of the Sunbeam.
I do the same thing. Inexpensive, gets the job done, and it disappears when not desired.
todd reid
Gold Level Sponsor
Thank you all for the gauge info! The follow-up question is what wiring changes need to be made to install the voltmeter? I'm sure it has been covered here somewhere, but my searches keep leading to Nick & Bill's running debate as to which gauge is better- entertaining to read, but doesn't answer the question.
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!
Easy! Just connect the neg terminal or lead to ground ( assuming Neg earth car). Connect the pos terminal to some point where there is switched 12 V, i.e. after the ignition switch, and better yet to a switched and fused point. On an Alpine it's probably best to connect to terminal 4 on the fuseblock , where the green wires connect.
That's another advantage of voltmeter vs ammeter, it's a lot easier to wire in.
Tom
That's another advantage of voltmeter vs ammeter, it's a lot easier to wire in.
Tom
Yes, all the current going INTO the battery or OUT of the battery (except the starter motor current) goes thru the ammeter. So if you want to eliminate the ammeter you must connect the two wires that run to it. BUT if you just do that you still have the risk that most voltmeter fans are trying to avoid - the risk of that high-current-capable wiring passing thru the firewall and possibly shorting out if the insulation gets cut. Soooo, if you want to eliminate that risk as well as your ammeter, you need to "connect those two wire"s somewhere in the engine bay. It's really much simpler than that - Just find where the two wires from the ammeter end up and simply use one of them to connect where the other one ends up. And disconnect the other wire and discard it. And make sure you use a small gauge wire to connect the voltmeter, so it does not have the same risk as the heavy gauge ammeter wires. Very, very, little current goes thru the voltmeter wire, unless it shorts to the chassis.
Tom
Tom
Not sure what you are describing here, phryman. If you add a shunt like you describe to an ammeter already designed for a car it can then measure a larger current. Or you can take an ammeter designed to measure milliamps and add a shunt to allow it measure amps. An ammeter typically has a shunt already built into it, to allow the large current of the automobile to pass thru and have a tiny, tiny, bit of the current go thru the coil that moves the needle.
loose_electron
Donation Time
When you connect the voltmeter up, make sure that it is on some fused side of the battery. If not, an in-line fuse near where the voltmeter connects to the battery is suggested.
Never use a small gauge wire as a sacrificial path, always put a fuse n the circuit close to the source of power.