Bad Volt meter?

[DennisM1358]

HI Everyone,

We have had our used boat about 8 months now and the volt meter stopped working right. When the ignition is turned on the volt meter pegs all the way to the top?

I removed the gauge this afternoon and ran a wire from the I to the pos terminal on the battery and ran a wire from the G to the ground on the battery and it did the same thing.

Do these gauges go bad?

Thanks for your input in advance

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Bad Volt meter?

Is it a voltmeter or an amp meter? There is a difference. A voltmeter is calibrated from 0 - 18 volts or so. An amp meter is calibrated something like this: -30 0 +30. If it is indeed a voltmeter it is apparently toast. If it is an amp meter it will likely peg the meter and that is not the way it shoud be wired.

 

[DennisM1358]

Re: Bad Volt meter?

It?s a volt meter. It had been working for about 6 of the 8 months we have had the boat and then one day when the motor was cranked over the volt meter pegged out at 18 volts and stayed there. Since the tach was not jumping around I was not worried about the charging system. I pulled the volt meter out this afternoon to clean all the connections and hooked it directly to the battery and it did the same thing, pegged out at 18 volts

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Bad Volt meter?

Sounds like a bad gauge.

 

[mthieme]

Re: Bad Volt meter?

Yup, a bad gauge would be my guess too.
But, what does it do after the motor starts?
Stay all the way up, go to 0, or sits somewhere in between 12-14?

 

[DennisM1358]

Re: Bad Volt meter?

When the motor is off the needle sits in the middle but as soon as there is power to the gauge it pegs out at 18 volts. I ran the motor on the muffs last night and checked the volts at the battery with a multi meter. Before cranking the battery was at 11 volts and depending on how fast the idle was I had reading of 12.8 at 1000rpm and 13.8 at 2500rpms. I guess this gives me a reason to replace all the gauges.

Thanks for everyone?s input!

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Bad Volt meter?

Because you have a bad voltmeter does not mean you need to replace ALL of the gauges. Try Greatlakesskipper.com for an exact replacement.

 

[DennisM1358]

Re: Bad Volt meter?

I was going to replace all the gauges anyways I just needed the right excuse. The boat had sat on the side of previous owners house uncovered for 2 years so the gauges were all faded and the tach and volt meter were the only two that worked.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Bad Volt meter?

11 volts on the battery may tell you its about time to replace it too...
Nothing to do with the bad gauge but may be a future problem.
A charged battery should read at least 12.5 on the meter.

 

[TerryMSU]

Re: Bad Volt meter?

Sounds like you rotated the needle on the shaft. If there is a screw in the center of the meter, you can re-set zero by adjusting the screw. You may need to pop off the front cover some how to find it. The fact that it drops to mid-range when you have the motor off whould hint that the meter movement may be OK. Where did it sit when the motor was off before?



TerryMSU