Re: Instrument panel voltage regulator
Posted by:
Russ
(65.83.194.---)
Posts: 188
Date: July 25, 2009 02:44PM
Jimmie, you have the wrong idea about why the guages don't move erratically with the voltage swings. The guages don't follow the sending units because of the design. The guages are by design slow to move. They use the similar principle of the voltage regulator. Current through the guage causes a bi-metal strip to bend slightly. The design of the guage causes the needle to move farther than the movement of the bi-metal strip, so that they can sweep the full dial. The bimetal strip doesn't heat and cool as fast as the voltage swings or the sending units move so the guages don't move noticeably. I suspect,but not sure, that the reason the voltage is reduced in a twelve volt system was to continue using the same guages as used in a six volt system.
Your hundred dollars worth of spare parts senario is the reason that I advise everyone to get a cheap volt meter. You can diagnose electrical problems without throwing money at it. When you start randomly changing parts you are subject to creating additional problems.