Hot Rods Voltmeter pegs right

Just completed rewire. Voltmeter pegs far right. Checked gauge + & - wiring. OK. Dedicated ground. OK. Swapped gauges. No change. Battery reads 12.5 with engine running. Should not be regulator issue. What next?

 

Can you post a picture of the volt meter?

 

Where does the positive wire come from? Normally, it can be taken from any place in the system. If you are coming off the alternator or output of regulator, it might read differently. Not sure why, though.
Try a jumper from gauge ground connector to battery negative. If that solves problem, clean area where grounds attach.

 

Wrong scale, perhaps?

 

Going out of town for two weeks. Will follow-up on return.

 

yeah, leave us all hanging....

Without knowing what kind of meter it is, we can only guess.

 

Ron Francis wiring with power jumped off fuel gauge positive per instructions. Stewart Warner Deluxe voltmeter gauge

 

Did you try removing the volt meter, and connecting it directly to a 12v battery?

could be it's just defective.

 

Removed the gauge and replaced it with a new gauge. Same issue. Fully pegged to right.

 

did you measure the voltage at the gauge, using a handheld multimeter?

somehow, you need to either measure the voltage at the suspect gauge, using a known good volt meter. Or else put the suspect gauge across a known voltage, and see what it reads.

 

No, not yet. Will do upon return. Checked voltage with multi-meter at battery with car running and read 12.5 volts

 

Reads 12.5 at battery with ignition off. Voltmeter at gauge reads 12.5-14.5 with car running. After Cruising the Coast will change gauge and check ground. Could electric speedometer cause interference? Speedometer, gas gauge

 

should have read gas, temp, and speedometer read correctly Mechanical oil pressure

 

It's pretty difficult to come up with a scenario where the gauge itself is not defective...

 

If it is a voltmeter, it might only have one wire (not including the light) or, it might have two, one positive and one ground. Either way, the positive on the voltmeter should go to a nice crispy 12v source, like the fuse panel or something like that. Powering it from the fuel gauge bothers me. The other wire should go to a GOOD ground. Some voltmeters ground through the gauge itself, so make sure the paint is scrapped off the mounting surface and the dash and everywhere it could lose the ground.

If your charging system reads 13 or 14 volts running with a hand held multi meter, then your system works and the issue is with the gauge. Try moving the positive to something other than the fuel gauge, if that doesn't work, switch the wires on the gauge and see if it matches your hand held multi meter.

Good luck, -Abone.

 

sounds like a defective gauge , S and W quality is not like the old days ( pre 70's) versions and you should measure from keyed control source off the buss bar or battery . and like abone said it should be between 14.5 -12.8 volts sometimes as high as 15 volts after you do a long crank start, as after you start it for several minutes its doing a high charge to try to recharge the lost current in the battery.

 

check your grounds, gauge to panel, panel to dash, dash to body and body to frame and motor

 

Thanks guys for the input. Will follow it. Agree with flameabone about fuel gauge concerns. Using Ron Francis Bare Bonz. Instructions read "VM wiring is jumped from the gas gauge brown (ignition) to the positive on the VM".

 

THat's pretty common, it's just the nearest source of switched power. You can connect it somewhere else if you want, but that won't fix the gauge.

 

Must be a 6 volt meter.

 

Never reported dumb solution. Failed to place insulated washer between gauge terminal and power source causing bad ground. Lesson, don't over think a problem and make it complicated.

 

I always remember a cartoon when I'm wiring. Back in the day when computers took up a whole room. About 3 scientists standing in front of the monster computer checking wires, gauges, big vacuum tubes, clipboards, etc. Off behind the 'puter in the corner is the electric outlet and the plug lying there on the floor.