This is a Voltage limiter, for my Fuel, coolant temp, and oil pressure gauges in my '89 Dodge van.
It plugs into my gauge cluster and is not extremely simple to access.
My Factory service manual says this limiter sends out" AN EFFECTIVE 5 VOLTS" to these gauges
In another part of the manual, it says when testing this limiter, if the voltages fluctuate, then it is operating properly.
My voltmeter is jumping all around when attached to the output and ground tabs. The input is steady battery voltage.
Recently, because of high amounts of stubborn oxidation on the glass fuse holders, I decided to open up the dash and get some Caig Deoxit on the connectors and make them gleam like oiled chrome instead of white 320 grit sandpaper. The Fuel and temp gauges, in the past have swung in unison fairly wildly, So I really wanted to get to this voltage limiter and clean the contacts.
Anyway I did so, and now all the gauges read high. Much higher than normal, higher than they seldomly swung in unison before.
They say this can be a faulty voltage limiter, or a bad ground. It is not a bad ground. And I fear my aggressively cleaning the tangs of this limiter with a wire brush on a dremel, screwed up the internals.
It is 35$ for a new one which seems a bit ridiculous. The Pic above shows a few tangs that one could pry up and access the internals. The one in my dash cluster has a full perimeter seal making access to internals much more difficult.
So how do these things work?
Why is it not a steady 5 volt output but instead jumps all over the place?
How could my cleaning of it with a dremel and soft wire wheel, and Caig DeOxit d5 cause it to read so differently and raise all my gauges?
(The temp gauge now reads 25% higher than ever before, well outside the normal zone. The engine is running at its normal temps.)
If I were to give the dash gauges a steady 5 volts from a device like this, will they operate in their correct range?
http://www.amazon.com/LM2596-Voltage-Regulator-Voltmeter-Converter/dp/B00GN1SU0C
It plugs into my gauge cluster and is not extremely simple to access.
My Factory service manual says this limiter sends out" AN EFFECTIVE 5 VOLTS" to these gauges
In another part of the manual, it says when testing this limiter, if the voltages fluctuate, then it is operating properly.
My voltmeter is jumping all around when attached to the output and ground tabs. The input is steady battery voltage.
Recently, because of high amounts of stubborn oxidation on the glass fuse holders, I decided to open up the dash and get some Caig Deoxit on the connectors and make them gleam like oiled chrome instead of white 320 grit sandpaper. The Fuel and temp gauges, in the past have swung in unison fairly wildly, So I really wanted to get to this voltage limiter and clean the contacts.
Anyway I did so, and now all the gauges read high. Much higher than normal, higher than they seldomly swung in unison before.
They say this can be a faulty voltage limiter, or a bad ground. It is not a bad ground. And I fear my aggressively cleaning the tangs of this limiter with a wire brush on a dremel, screwed up the internals.
It is 35$ for a new one which seems a bit ridiculous. The Pic above shows a few tangs that one could pry up and access the internals. The one in my dash cluster has a full perimeter seal making access to internals much more difficult.
So how do these things work?
Why is it not a steady 5 volt output but instead jumps all over the place?
How could my cleaning of it with a dremel and soft wire wheel, and Caig DeOxit d5 cause it to read so differently and raise all my gauges?
(The temp gauge now reads 25% higher than ever before, well outside the normal zone. The engine is running at its normal temps.)
If I were to give the dash gauges a steady 5 volts from a device like this, will they operate in their correct range?
http://www.amazon.com/LM2596-Voltage-Regulator-Voltmeter-Converter/dp/B00GN1SU0C
My 7 dollar solid state solution is now in place, and my gauges no longer swing wildly for no discernable reason.
I mounted it so I can still fairly easily access the adjustment screw. It is at 5.12 volts now, and the gauges read a smidge lower than what was normal, on level ground with steady battery voltage, with no radio interference, or any other gauge swinging factors.
Red incandescent bulbs found their way into the cluster, and the green turn signal indicator and the blue high beam indicator got colored LEDS which are much brighter and richer in color than before. I went Incandescent on the background lighting as LEDS do not properly work with the stock dimmer, and I am not wiring up a PWM dimmer just to save ~1.25 amps that the 194s consume.
I mounted it so I can still fairly easily access the adjustment screw. It is at 5.12 volts now, and the gauges read a smidge lower than what was normal, on level ground with steady battery voltage, with no radio interference, or any other gauge swinging factors.
Red incandescent bulbs found their way into the cluster, and the green turn signal indicator and the blue high beam indicator got colored LEDS which are much brighter and richer in color than before. I went Incandescent on the background lighting as LEDS do not properly work with the stock dimmer, and I am not wiring up a PWM dimmer just to save ~1.25 amps that the 194s consume.
