The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Finally putting my wiring in

I went to the parts store yesterday to get 12v bulbs for my 53 Chevy dash cluster and got overwhelmed with all the bulb choices. Anybody know what bulb is best for the guage cluster?

Thanks Tim, but I get a Firefox can't find the server at www.1954advance-design.com. error.

It came right up for me. Try it again.
62Blue
Don

worked that time, I found that exact same thing on another site earlier this morning. So I think I need the #53 bulbs but there are still different candle power bulbs available in the size. Anything from 0.5 and up, I don't want to toast my gauges with too much heat.

Another quick question on the gas guage. I am using the painless 12 circuit wiring harness. I quickly touch tested the wire to the gas guage and it seems to work, shows about 3/8 tank, I know I have gas in the tank but I didn't think I had that much. Does the power to the gas guage need to be reduced to 6v? I have a reducer handy for that purpose.

Most people say "yes" you need a special "Runtz" resistor sold by most vendors. Some people have said that they get by fine without a resistor. I'd use a resistor.

You can use a 30 ohm 1 watt resistor. It should be wired in the supply line to the gauge. If you use a "reducer" which is a resistor, you need to know what application it is for. If you use the one that they sell for the heater blower motor, it will not drop the voltage enough for your gauge.

It's all wired except for some clean-up in the taillight section, I ran out of loom. All my gauges work using all the original equipment. pretty amazing, I figured I would have to replace something along the way. It's snowing here but I hope to get it outside for some pictures tomorrow.

Be careful with the gas gauge. I rewired my 53 to 12 volts and forgot the resistor for the gauge. Took a mili-second to fry the gauge.

I have a glitch, went out last night and the battery was stone dead. It seems I have a slight draw on the battery that I need to track down and I think it has to be in one of the last few things done which are the dome light, ignition switch, electric cooling fan, and alternator/amp guage. I had a good system before these four things with the truck sitting for a week with the new battery hooked up and holding charge. fortunately it isn't a long list, but anybody want to make guesses as to which is the culprit. There was a lot of confusion in the directions for hooking up the alternator with the amp gauge, I ran the "solenoid power" wire through the amp gauge then to the starter solenoid power. The white wire to field 1 on the alternator with a jumper from the hot post on the alt. to field 2. Is the jumper not needed?