Westach Ammeters.
- Thread starter Y-Blockhead
- Start date
Bob-A
Well-known member
I ordered two of the repops mentioned by Alwaysamopar74 off of eBay.
The one in my car I guess is an older repop with a small Ford blue oval on the face. I've never seen one like this before. It must of been for a Ford tractor.
Bob-A
"Skirts are for Women not Car Fenders"
The one in my car I guess is an older repop with a small Ford blue oval on the face. I've never seen one like this before. It must of been for a Ford tractor.
Bob-A
"Skirts are for Women not Car Fenders"
Jim/GA
Well-known member
Y-Blockhead
Well-known member
Jim, yes i received it but have not had time to install. Life got in the way. Appears to be a very nicely built gauge tho.
Jim/GA
Well-known member
Understood. Thx.
Diastole
Senior Member
Ammeter that came with my early '30 Coupe fried the insulators and melted the contacts to the case aka ground. Roasted the harness and coil too. It was one of those $18.95 cheap-o repros. Very similar to one that a certain Technical Director did a YouTube video on where he rebuilt it, soldered the connections, painted it, etc. That would have taken me a couple of hours.
I replaced my coil and harness. Inspected the T Box and everything else. Plus I installed a fuse.
I searched and read here on Ford Barn many positive comments about the Westech Ammeters. I contacted Pete via email at Westech in California. He explained to me they are custom made, set up, tested, and calibrated all in house using Americans and US parts. He said he moved the contacts from the back to the side for concern for shorts, but there was still 9/16" clearance with the contacts on the back.
I ordered one. I acknowledged the $95 cost. But, American made quality parts that does not require me to rebuild, solder, and paint before installation was attractive. I understand that a Model A used to be only slightly more expensive, "parts are too expensive", and "foreign made crap", are all comments I have read. I felt that there is an American shop designing and manufacturing a Model A part that looks good, responds quickly to me email in English, and does not need fitment or paint modifications, I would take a chance. I ordered a 6v ammeter with a back light.
I immediately received an email that were working on my order and it would be sent once it was built, tested, and calibrated. Upon arriving it was packaged well, included clear instructions, and a statement to contact Westech with any issue. I did email and ask how he suggested the back light is wired and Pete said Model A'ers do it many different ways. The bulb is incandescent and only draws 100 mAmps. (even though I measured 196 mAmps)
I am impressed with the quality, the heavy weight, and the looks. I benched tested it and the highest resistance I could get was 0.2 ohms. Then I checked the accuracy and found the device to be dead on accurate in both charging and discharging configurations - I ran 6 volts and various currents flows thru the ammeter, the power source, my multimeter and the Westech Ammeter all were within 1% difference. According to my testing it passed with flying colors. See photos.
I emailed said technical director and he said 0.1 ohms - 0.2 ohms is more than satisfactory and safe for a ammeter.
Upon installation it was a spot on match. The tabs and indent match perfectly. And, there is plenty of clearance to the gas tank. I am not worried about rubbing the wires at all, over 1/2" of space to the tank.
We discussed it in our club and we think that we are going to wire it to the taillights along with the instrument panel light. Since the back light is incandescent I do not want it on all the time, only when it is dark, and I would have headlights on.
Drove it last night and it works great. I set my generator at 8 volts for night driving. Gauge measured accurately in charging and with all lights on, it measured 1-2 amps discharge.
Overall, I am very pleased with the gauge. It is worth every penny of the $95 because of the build quality, the heavy weight components, it appearance, and the fitment. Thank goodness we have a business in America willing to invest the R & D into rebuilding parts quality parts for us. I will continue to support our US based business knowing that I will pay a bit more. Plus, I will be buying all me gauges from Westech in the future.
Thanks, Pete from Westech.
Diastole in the Smoky Mountains
I replaced my coil and harness. Inspected the T Box and everything else. Plus I installed a fuse.
I searched and read here on Ford Barn many positive comments about the Westech Ammeters. I contacted Pete via email at Westech in California. He explained to me they are custom made, set up, tested, and calibrated all in house using Americans and US parts. He said he moved the contacts from the back to the side for concern for shorts, but there was still 9/16" clearance with the contacts on the back.
I ordered one. I acknowledged the $95 cost. But, American made quality parts that does not require me to rebuild, solder, and paint before installation was attractive. I understand that a Model A used to be only slightly more expensive, "parts are too expensive", and "foreign made crap", are all comments I have read. I felt that there is an American shop designing and manufacturing a Model A part that looks good, responds quickly to me email in English, and does not need fitment or paint modifications, I would take a chance. I ordered a 6v ammeter with a back light.
I immediately received an email that were working on my order and it would be sent once it was built, tested, and calibrated. Upon arriving it was packaged well, included clear instructions, and a statement to contact Westech with any issue. I did email and ask how he suggested the back light is wired and Pete said Model A'ers do it many different ways. The bulb is incandescent and only draws 100 mAmps. (even though I measured 196 mAmps)
I am impressed with the quality, the heavy weight, and the looks. I benched tested it and the highest resistance I could get was 0.2 ohms. Then I checked the accuracy and found the device to be dead on accurate in both charging and discharging configurations - I ran 6 volts and various currents flows thru the ammeter, the power source, my multimeter and the Westech Ammeter all were within 1% difference. According to my testing it passed with flying colors. See photos.
I emailed said technical director and he said 0.1 ohms - 0.2 ohms is more than satisfactory and safe for a ammeter.
Upon installation it was a spot on match. The tabs and indent match perfectly. And, there is plenty of clearance to the gas tank. I am not worried about rubbing the wires at all, over 1/2" of space to the tank.
We discussed it in our club and we think that we are going to wire it to the taillights along with the instrument panel light. Since the back light is incandescent I do not want it on all the time, only when it is dark, and I would have headlights on.
Drove it last night and it works great. I set my generator at 8 volts for night driving. Gauge measured accurately in charging and with all lights on, it measured 1-2 amps discharge.
Overall, I am very pleased with the gauge. It is worth every penny of the $95 because of the build quality, the heavy weight components, it appearance, and the fitment. Thank goodness we have a business in America willing to invest the R & D into rebuilding parts quality parts for us. I will continue to support our US based business knowing that I will pay a bit more. Plus, I will be buying all me gauges from Westech in the future.
Thanks, Pete from Westech.
Diastole in the Smoky Mountains
Attachments
Diastole
Senior Member
I have been asked to share my wiring schematic we discussed in our Model A group about how to wire the incandescent back-lighting bulb. I chose option #3.
Whenever I turn on the headlights, my taillights are energized. This minimizes the time the bulb is on, and therefore elongates it useful life. I ran a light blue cloth covered wire from a supplier, Part # A-14303-B, to the taillight black wire on the undercarriage. Soldered it and insulated it. I used loom, Part # A-13412-LBS, to cover the wire as it proceeded down the firewall from the Terminal Box to the taillight wiring harness.
Diastole, in the Smoky Mountains
Whenever I turn on the headlights, my taillights are energized. This minimizes the time the bulb is on, and therefore elongates it useful life. I ran a light blue cloth covered wire from a supplier, Part # A-14303-B, to the taillight black wire on the undercarriage. Soldered it and insulated it. I used loom, Part # A-13412-LBS, to cover the wire as it proceeded down the firewall from the Terminal Box to the taillight wiring harness.
Diastole, in the Smoky Mountains
David in San Antonio
Well-known member
I’ve only been in the Model A hobby for two years, and have already purchased a number of parts and accessories which didn’t fit, or didn’t work. They’re doing me no good at all sitting on a shelf in my garage. Id rather buy once and cry once.