Message text written by "Bob Kramer"
>No responses yet on the voltage stabilizer question I asked. I was looking
for a simple way to determine if one is bad, or what else might cause the
stabilizer to work when separated from the speedometer (not grounded) but
fail when properly connected. I opened up one yesterday, and found what I
think might be the problem. I think all 3 that I have are bad. The
electrical engineers on this list can explain it better, but it looks like
the unit basically has 2 sets of contacts that are connected only when the
power is turned on. A wrap of the ground wire (connected via a tab to the
VS
case) around one of the contacts must form an electromagnet holding the
contacts together. My guess is that this is done to prevent unwanted short
term voltage disconnections when the sender drops its signal (sloshing
gasoline?) to keep the gauge from registering bouncy readings. Therefore, I
have determined that the ground coil must be bad, burned through the wire
coating, causing a short to the case, and I need a new voltage stabilizer.
Can anyone enlighten me as to wether my thinking on this is correct?
Bob Kramer
<
If your gauges work with the unit not grounded but donot work with it
grounded then you need a new one reguardless of how it works inside.
For the record, the voltage stailizer is a thermal device with a heater
wire wrapped around a bimetal device that will open the contacts after it
reaches a certain temperature. However after the contacts open the heater
is shut off and the bimetal device will start to cool down which will close
the contacts and the cycle starts over again. The stabilizer is factory
adjusted to provide an average voltage of 10 volts. With this device there
will be no fluctuations in gauge readings as the battery voltage varies
with system load and engine speed. Voltage can change from 11.5 volts at
idle with all loads on to 14.5 volts at speed with no electrical loads.
Dave
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