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temp gauge calibration

To: "'TR6 List'" <triumphs@Autox.Team.Net>
Subject: temp gauge calibration
From: Peter Zaborski <peterz@merak.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 13:21:23 -0700
Atwell, last weekend I went through a test which you might find
interesting. Put a new sender in a pot of water on the stove to measure
temp vs resistance. I think many of our cars use the same senders (at
least TR5-8, Spits and GT6s). Here is what I found (hope these columns
line up).

res (ohms)      deg C   deg F
500                     42.0    107.6
450                     46.0    114.8
350                     49.0    120.2
250                     55.0    131.0
200                     61.0    141.8
150                     70.0    158.0
100                     92.0    197.6

Then my VOM started going funny. I thought it might be from the leads
getting hot from being in contact with the hot sending unit. So I
measured (with different leads) as the water was cooling:

res (ohms)      deg C   deg F
70                      78.0    172.4
100                     68.0    154.4
125                     60.0    140.0
150                     52.0    125.6
180                     50.0    122.0
380                     48.0    118.4

I live at about 2000' above sea level so the boiling point is lower than
212 F (100 C). Never did get to the 50 ohm value you saw.

(This was a brand new Intermotor sending unit from TRF - I have not
tested my old one yet but it seems to show on the low side, never gets
above 1/4
unless idling in hot summer weather, then maybe almost 1/2).

(  If you recall my earlier post on this, the gauge reads 1/4 at 200
ohm, 1/2 at 100 ohm and 4/4 at 50 ohm. Unfortunately when I did this
test, I connected the gauge to the battery directly without going
through the voltage regulator. As I can't get to my car 'til the weekend
to redo this part of the test properly, I don't have the actual voltage
regulated values for the gauge.  )

Peter Zaborski
76 TR6 (CF58310 UO)
Calgary AB Canada


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Atwell Haines [SMTP:carbuff@scooter.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 1998 12:37 PM
> To:   triumphs@autox.team.net
> Subject:      RE: Spitfire Temp gauge (repeat)
> 
> 
> I just installed the new sending unit for the temperature gauge, and
> it
> works fine now.
> 
> So in case anyone else has this problem, the resistance of a working
> sender
> is:
> 
> COLD:      1000 ohms
> HOT:           50 ohms
> 
> Measurements were taken with the sender wire diconnected, terminal to
> block, with a digital VOM.
> 
> Atwell Haines
> '79 Spitfire  FM96062 UO (On the road soon!)
> 
> "47.5% of all statistics are made up on the spot."


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