The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Volt gauge installation

Where would be the best place for the hot wire and ground to go for a stewart warner volt gauge. It is a 235 with 12v.

bolted54,

I will say probably anywhere, but the guru's will probably shoot me down. If you are still using the stock ammeter, tie the hot side of the voltmeter to one of those 'big fat' wires, while the ground can go to any clean, shiny panel, frame, engine, or even the BATT negative itself.

There is no current flow with a voltmeter. It's merely taking the pulse of the system, and theoretically, that pulse is the same within the entire system.

Stuart

I agree with Stuart (as Usual ). It should reflect the current status of the system as a whole.

I suppose the "rubber meets the road" really at the battery posts, so that's one option. I would think the Bat. post of the voltage regulator would be another idea. The Ammeter idea is probably the most convenient.

My .02, worth what you paid for it!

-Michael

With regards to above mentioned location to connect a voltmeter hopefully you will install some sort of in line fuse to protect the voltmeter. without a fuse the full current from the battery will be avaible to "nuke" the voltmeter if it faulted not good too much smoke , my prefernce would be to connect it to the ignition system eg temp gauge positve terminal fuel guage positve terminal etc check with a test light to find the positive terminal with the ignition on the earth side of gauge to any clean metal nearby

usa050aus,

I think you hit the nail on the head! I didn't even think of that but you're right, that gauge would ideally be switched with the key to only be ON when the rig was running.

Stuart

Your voltmeter need not have a fuse to protect it, but connecting it to the positive side of a switched circuit (such as the load side of the ignition switch) is a good idea. Otherwise the meter will be 'hot' all the time. Technically, that is not a problem, but a moment of carelessness if you ground the hot side of the meter could cause smoke and damage, but the meter itself would not be damaged in that event. The internal resistance of a voltmeter will prevent it from being damaged by normal voltages within its range of measurement. I don't know the internal resistance of your Stewart Warner instrument, but it is probably several thousand ohms- something like three thousand or so. You can measure its resistance with an ohmmeter- the ohmmeter will show the voltmeter resistance, and the voltmeter will show the voltage applied by the ohmmeter. Start with the ohmmeter on a low range of measurement, then switch to higher ranges until the ohmmeter reads resistance at some level below infinity (open circuit) for the range you have selected. That is, if you want to go through all that, just for curiosity.

Given the measurement accuracy of dash-mounted voltmeters, it doesn't matter much where you make the ground connection, but technically, closer the battery ground is perferred.

Harvester

I think that you will want your voltmeter on a switched circuit. It doesn't draw a lot but it does draw some current.