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Posted by David Sherman on Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 14:53:31 :
In Reply to: Fuel Gauge Question posted by Leon in PA on Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 08:29:43 :
After so many hodge-podges of gauges and senders on my various rigs, I've given up trying to guess which gauge goes with which sender. If it doesn't work right, I take out the sender, measure its resistance while moving it between empty and full, and solder a wire between the wiper arm and the housing while I'm at it. I write the resistance numbers on the top of it for future reference. Then I take out the gauge and bench test it, using a variable resistor to find out what it takes to make it read full and empty, and also whether it's sticking anywhere. At that point, I know what I'm dealing with and whether it even ought to work.
Although a 6 volt gauge will appear to function on 12 volts, doubling the voltage causes 4 times the heat in the coils inside the gauge which is likely to burn it up eventually. I would not attempt it. Better to buy or make something to drop the voltage. It doesn't have to be extremely accurate, because the 2-coil system compensates for voltage variations, but it should get the voltage down to the point where it doesn't overheat the gauge.