6 Volt voltmeter

J Witt

J Witt

Well-known member
I'd like to add a 3 gauge cluster to my '36 with a water temp, oil pressure and voltage. I have had no luck in finding a suitable voltmeter since everything seems to have a 8 to 18V range. I'd like to have about 3 to 12V.

Has anyone tried to modify a 12V gauge for 6V?

I have difficulty in seeing the stock gauges, especially at night, which is the basis for the search.

Thanks,

John
 
How about these? I also understand that SW still makes a 6v volt gauge. DD

VDO

vdo.jpg


MOTO METER

Motometer.jpg
 
Thanks for the input, but Moto Meter apparently went belly up in the 1990s, SW and VDO don't list any 6 V voltmeters on their company web sites.
 
Its got to be very difficult to find a matching 3-gauge set that has a volt gauge reading below 8 volts. I seem to remember a thread that mentioned someone who rebuilds dash gauges. I would think such a person could take the voltage gauge from your 3-gauge set and alter the face and works to suit. Do a "search" and see if you can find the thread.
 
Last edited:
Maybe Williamson's in Arkansas?

Drbrown said:
I seem to remember a thread that mentioned someone who rebuilds dash gauges. I would think such a person could take the voltage gauge from your 3-gauge set and alter the face and works to suit.

I have a nice volt gauge on Ebay but its 2 inch diameter and wouldn't match any 3-gauge set you bought.
Click to expand...
 
j Witt: Found this random data in my files. Rebuilding can be pricie but your project might be reasonable. You'd have to google some of these names to track them down or run searches in HAMB, V8 Club and Ford Barn .... R & S in Arizona; Ron at Williamson's Instruments, 2018 E. Front Ave.Chester,Arkansas 479-369-2551 www.williamsons.com; service@williamsons.com; Bob's Speedometer 800 592 9673 per their website they fix gauges; APT Instruments in Minnesota; Morris Gauge.
 
Thank you for replying.

I think I will put in mechanical OP and Temp gauges and adapt a digital voltage gauge to the third hole. I don't want to make this into an expensive proposition.
 
Those step-up regulators look useful for several things, especially for powering my GPS. Probably would work for a radio as well, as long as the current limit was not exceeded.

However, if I read the specs correctly they regulate to a specific output voltage, which means the voltmeter needle wouldn't move very much.

I think I may get one of those for my GPS.

Thanks,

John
 
Here is the step up converter that I bought. Doesn't solve the voltmeter problem, but works fine to drive the GPS. 6.3 volts in and I adjusted it to give 12.0 V output.

Worked just fine and the GPS starts up and has a stable readout. I plan to use it to drive the gauge lights also when they are finally installed. This was by DROK, about $11.00 USD postage paid from Amazon. I put it in a plastic box scrounged up from my ham radio junk, I think that came from Radio Shack.

The black object at the top is a plug strip made by Anderson Powerpole which will accept several AP connectors to fan the 12 V power out to different devices. Max current from the DROK device is 5 A. I don't plan to have that much current, so haven't ventilated the box.

John
 

Attachments

  • 20161006_153841.jpg
    20161006_153841.jpg
    41.1 KB · Views: 49
Gps will run on 6 volts. Get a PowerPort at the parts store and run power to the case and the center point to ground. Make sure the case is isolated as it will short out if it touches anything.
 
On mine I was going to hide small led bulbs inside the gauges ---steal power from the gage feed inside, run the bulbs all the time the key is on ----figured I had to do it that way to light up the dual temp gauge I am making out of 2stock gauges
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top