[Staowners] [Fwd: Alpine Mk 1 tank gauge]

[Mal Clark]

Hi everyone I have had 2 fuel gauges repaired successfully, by my local instrument repairer,apparently there are two windings in the back of each gauge,at first they thought they may not be able to repair them,but they did ok,I had 3 gauges on the bench and came up with the same answers as a few others,to zero only,I can only assume all the gauges you have tried are faulty,I will find out from my instrument man correct way to test them on the bench, Mal Clark.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: George Simpson - Forums 
  To: S-T Alpine Owners Mailing List 
  Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2008 5:00 PM
  Subject: Re: [Staowners] [Fwd: Alpine Mk 1 tank gauge]


  Roland - no replies yet. I read that the voltage to the gauge usually comes through a small voltage regulator and will be a little less than 12 volts. This makes sense because if the petrol gauge is effectively a voltmeter, the voltage in the car's system changes depending on whether it is charging or not. I tried to activate the gauge with a 9v battery but got the same result.

  I have a couple of other old petrol gauges, including a round Smiths and get the same results - 12v applied to the terminals gets the needle to react but only to the zero mark and reversing the polarity makes no difference ... a 12v bulb in series with the sender can be dimmed with the arm lowered.

  How can I simulate the working of the gauge on my workbench?

  George 
  Cognac


  Mr Roland RF Rolandthompson wrote: 
    Hi George, have you had any advise on how to cure the problem?? I have the same problem. Roland T.
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: George Simpson - Forums 
      To: S-T Alpine Owners Mailing List 
      Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2008 2:26 AM
      Subject: [Staowners] [Fwd: Alpine Mk 1 tank gauge]



      Ernie - following our correspondence of a few months ago, last week I got a complete set of instruments from Mark Chatel and now I'm home again, I took the petrol/temp gauge out of the frame. I have a spare AC sender so I started as suggested and tested the sender with a 12v supply and with a 12v 6W bulb in series  .... good news, the bulb went from dull to bright as I raised the float arm.

      Then I looked at the petrol gauge. Funnily enough, if I hold the instrument upside down (I know - Alpines are not often in the position!!!), the gauge slowly goes round to FULL. I then gave the two terminals a brief 'jolt' with 12 volts. The needle came off its stop and sat on Empty - ah-ha, I thought, a good start. Then I reversed the wires to see if anything changed ...... no - the needle just came up to Empty again. Being a perverse character, I turned the gauge upside down and tried again. The needle still moved to the Empty mark.

      Next step, connect them all up. Once connected, the gauge came off its stop up to the Empty mark but when I raised the float, the needle moved about a millimetre into the range - it was a barely imperceptible movement but there was a movement. I then reversed the terminals on the gauge but got exactly the same result.

      All of this I did before getting the old gauge and sender out of my car to be sure everything worked but, as you can see, I have not made a lot of progress. The sender is an AC unit looking identical to the one shown on p. 144 of the Parts Supply book. It came with a paper tag showing 764 which might or might not have been some sort of reference at an AutoJumble.

      All suggestions are welcome

      George
      Cognac







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