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volt. limiter
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Author:  1967cuda [ Thu Feb 17, 2011 9:47 pm ]
Post subject:  volt. limiter
I was having some issues with my dashboard gauges on my 1967 Barracuda not working properly (fluctuating temperature, oil pressure and fuel gauges). A friend told me a common problem is a faulty voltage limiter, and gave me a used one to try. Only when I got the instrument panel off, there was no voltage limiter to be found.

What I did find was that one of the pins on the circuit board that leads to the fuel gauge--the one that the radio interference capacitor is connected to--was broken, and hanging on my a couple of molecules, so we soldered it in place. Problem solved; My gauges and all dash lights now work properly.

But, I'm confused as to why I couldn't find the voltage limiter? I took all of the gauges off of the circuit board (when we soldered it), and I didn't see it anywhere. Where else would it be? I don't want or need to replace it, apparently, but I am losing sleep over the mystery.

[img][img]http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q48/scorp04/instrumentcluser.jpg[/img][/img]
Author:  bcschief [ Fri Feb 18, 2011 3:30 am ]
Post subject: 
may be built into the fuel gauge as the early a bodies were

Brian
Author:  wjajr [ Mon Feb 21, 2011 3:56 pm ]
Post subject: 
Whatever that capacitor is hooked to is where your regulator is hiding.
Author:  1967cuda [ Mon Feb 21, 2011 6:58 pm ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
Whatever that capacitor is hooked to is where your regulator is hiding.
That would be one of the three prongs belonging to the fuel gauge.

So being that there was clearly no voltage limiter visible, could that mean I have a solid state v.limiter on the fuel gauge? (I wouldn't know what that looks like).
Author:  wjajr [ Tue Feb 22, 2011 5:07 am ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
could that mean I have a solid state v.limiter on the fuel gauge?
I don’t think you will find a solid state device.

I have never looked at a fuel gage voltage limiter, so I can’t speculate as to how it is wired up within the fuel gage, but I do know that the capacitor is connected to it to limit electrical noise, and arcing from mechanical points making & braking.

For those experiencing similar problems with their gages the following may be helpful:

There are ways to retro fit an external voltage limiter to your car, and vendors that rebuild fuel / voltage limiter equipped gages. Perhaps someone on the site that has first hand experience resurrecting one of these gages, or converting to external can better explain how they did it.

First you need to determine if the voltage limiter is faulty or not. Chances are high the there is a loose connection associated with your circuit board and wiring causing a problem, not the limiter.

Below is a photo of my Dart’s circuit board. It also had several feed pins detached from the upper right hand corner that either melted off, or fell apart I couldn’t tell. There was a five or six pin female connector the plugged onto those pins.

I soldered lengths of wire to the circuit board replacing the old pin method of connection, and ganged those wires into a connector forming a little sub harness that mated with car’s wire harness. This will enable the next poor slob, me, to easily remove the gage cluster in the future.

A sharp eye will catch three copper slots near the center lower right where the external voltage limiter is plugged into the board, and its accompanying capacitor mounted adjacent to it.

Image
Author:  KBB_of_TMC [ Tue Feb 22, 2011 9:26 am ]
Post subject: 
The mechanical voltage limiter is a little bimetallic strip with points that is wrapped with resistance wire; it works by heating up, flexing, and opening and closing the points. I've found them very difficult to repair, but it is not difficult to disable the internal limiter inside a fuel gauge; then you can use an external limiter, either mechanical or solid state. I would strongly recommend disabling the internal limiter before adding on an external one.
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