Installing a voltmeter
 

Just picked up a VDO voltmeter from the local salvage yard.


Where do I hook this thing up to if I want to do it right?




(wrong way to me is running a wire to the battery)

Depends on what you want to measure the voltage of :-), I would speculate that you might want to measure the output of the alternator, but then i have no clue either.

I've been googlin and it appears any 12v supply will do..

Weeeelllllllll,


Aren't auto voltmeters designed to measure the voltage from the battery?

That should also measure alternator as well...ie

12 volts with the key in the acc position

13.6 volts when the alternator is charging the battery if all is well


?

Correct?


Soooooo,

I need to wire it to the fuse block at an unused terminal I guess.

I would further guess that is does NOT need to be fused??? (important question there)

an inline fusible link is an option in case the wires rub something and you have an unexpected grounding condition.

I guess I could just use one of the "empty" fuses on the block?

run it to both terminals on the battery.

Ahhhh Yes,

Now that I think about it the three guages that I pulled were all wired together.


Boost ------ Oil Temp -------- Voltmeter



Duuuuuhhhhhh.


Thanks Wilk

Not sure just yet FR.


I would LIKE to put it where the a/c control is but I imagine that is not the easiest switch. Also, where would the ac go.

I am getting ready to start a whole 'update' of the dash...nothing crazy, sticking to VDO, but adding a few bells and whistles (like a stereo) and really making it look nice.

I may even do the "center speaker conversion to guage pod thingy" if I can think of a few other things to put in there.


Any ideas?

Maybe I can take all the guages and move them up to the centerspeaker space....

Then figure out what to put in that space.

If anyone put those in their 944 and it looked good, i think i'd do it. I just don't want to be the guinea pig.

TCM, just shove socks in the empty hole if you move your gauges up. no biggie :D

No offense to anyones preferences but....


I never have really liked digital guages in any form. Just ask anyone with an 80's corvette how much they like theirs. As for putting on of the new C-6 corvette type in with the heads up display.....that would probably cost as much as the car.



Bryan.........I have the stealth version. All my socks holding on hidden components....behind the panel a single sock holds each guage.

Thats sock technology behind there you know. ;)




NO LIE - there is a guy down the street that bought a 84 944 for a song. I went to check up on his progress because I noticed it hadn't moved in a while.

I looked in the engine bay and his repairs were being held together with shoe strings and lamp cord! Very, very, very bad.

I just hope he doesn't ruin it before he has to sell it to me :)

why do the two wires, not in the harness, drain the battery?

Because it would always be "on" a connected circuit.

The others will be on the acc. circuit

[edit]
BALEDETED!!!

Pull the center console gage cluster. You should find at least one set of spade connectors that is always hot. Then you can pull those leads up to the center speaker area and mount the meter there. Don't forget the wires for the gage lighting.

If you can't find a good hot lead you can tap into either the clock or the cigarette lighter power.

That sound like the best so far cliff.


I will tap into the other guages methinks.

That's how I installed a volt meter in my old '84 NA

No matter how much luck you have, that POS clock will never run again. Take it out. The VDO guage fits perfectly there. Wire it as described to a fused guage hot and ground.

Have you thought about an A-pillar gauge pod? I think that would look better than the speaker grill placement...only because I've never seen (yet) grill mounted gauges that look good. They alway look like an after thought, to put it nicely. If you add the A pillar pod, you can put in an oil temp gauge, too. They make the sensors that replace your oil pan plug so it's an easy switch. Just a thought.

Here's where I installed the voltmeter and the ammeter.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1088608628.jpg
Stan

That looks pretty good stan.



BTW- my clock has always worked perfectly (don't hate me)



I am thinking of fabricating a special insert for the speaker grill instead of going through the grate. I will let you guys know if I go through with it.


Good scan FR

If you are willing to give up or relocate your lighter, you can relocate the AC switch to the lighter location fairly easily. You can then mount the voltmeter in the AC switch location. I did this on my 84 and it allowed me to keep my clock. I also mounted a 12v receptacle in the glove box.

Now THAT I like.


The lighter is very useless to most of us unless you are running accessories from it. Honestly I would probably just instal an inverter somewhere if I really wanted to run a dvd or other.

HHmmmmm, lots of good Ideas guys!!

BTW, I wired mine to the oil pressure switch as shown above.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1088636772.jpg

Cup holders? We dont' need no stinkin' cup holders!

:D

Never noticed that.


You are wrong though Bryan.....That is a motorized can crusher.

I still prefer the A pillar pod. It's difficult to get an accurate reading on the gauges in the center because their not in a good line of sight. Maybe if they were angled towards the driver a little......circa 240Z.

A pillar are a little too "please give me a ticket officer" for me.

I am going for subtle. I may angle a few guages though. I had 260z back in the day and thought it was well setup.


I am considering installing the oil temperature guage I picked up. (I am a freak about running temps).
Any thoughts?

I guess I don't get the correlation between tickets and gauge pods. You mean a little to "boy-racer" set up? Or are you thinking it would be obstructing your view, according to the local law?

I would think if you angled them in the speaker cover, they'd be more readable at a glance.

Let us know how the oil temp gauge thing works for you. I'm considering the same but looking for a white face gauge to match my other white face ones.

Maybe a little boy racerish but also

cops down here in Fl always love to stop the tuner guys. They just look for a reason. I am not a really big speeder but I do know that apillar pods catch the fuzzes attention.

I have several cop friends that tell me the same thing.



I have the lenses off the guages now and am considering a slight altering. I actually saw a set that had been done with a transparent computer printout and looked really good....Never would have noticed it wasn't origional

so what, all that's being done is measuring voltage at the battery.

i guess you could monitor battery drain from something else, but running wires directly to the battery isn't/wasn't ever a problem, didn't drain the battery when i've done it over the years, unless there was something else pulling the batt down.:eek:

I can understand that too.


I just don't like too much going to the battery ---looks bad.

Depends on how much the accessory draws yes?

i want to know what the batt is doing and if it's run thru the clock/oil pressure gage, to the bat cave and back, it's not an accurate reading.

i ran both a vm and an amp meter(pos on the batt/b+/the big one, on the alternator at various times without any problems.

when so many things are tied together electrically in these cars, it's no real surprize at the maze of electrical problems that come up.

So.......


You think running it to an unused portion of the fuse block (origional idea) might be a better idea? You should get pretty unadulterated volts there.

Yes?

Or, does it really matter? Most of the factory instals are in series..?

assuming no corrosion and is a good connection.

a vm is in parallel, an amp meter is in series like xmas tree lites like the alternator lite.

I don't think it really matters but if you want to read directly from the battery, run a fused wire form the battery to a relay that is closed with a switched 12V power source, and then to the voltmeter. BTW, mine works fine connected to the oil pressure gauge.