gauge installation

[JCG]

I am adding an additional control consol and have purchased new Stuart Warner electric marine gauges. I was hoping that I could use one sender unit to supply both gauges ( one on the bridge and one in the salon). I tested them and I get an incorrect reading. Is there someway to add a resistor or something to avoid trying to locate another sender on the engine?

Also, I would like to have a second pair of tach's .....how is this accomplished?

 

[Genesis]

Nope - you need a dual sender to make that work. The sender resistance is balanced in the gauge; you can't (accurately) do what you're attempting.

 

[TedZ]

For what it is worth, that is not my experience.

With Faria you can order a sender for two gauges and it works fine with two. Will not read right with one gage connected obviously.

You can parallel or series precision resistors if you know what the values are that the gages are looking for but i wouldn't play with it for long. For one thing you need a very good meter and even precision resistors are not expecting engine room heat. Thermistors are a pain to get precision...all in all it would be easier to find another plug or drill and tap one.

Ted

 

[MikeP]

I have never looked at the wiring diagrams for this but am curious - For the oil P or water temp gauges as an example - Do the oem hatt gauges use a single sensor wired to both the lower helm and FB gauge or are there two sensors, one for each gauge?

 

[Avenger]

Just to clarify. S-W and most other manufacturers make a single sender for two gauges. So you would replace your existing single-gauge sender with a dual-gauge sender. I guess the redundancy of seperate senders would be nice, but if I'm going to tap for seperate senders I'd probably put a set of mechanical gauges in the engine room and use them to verify the electrical gauge readings. Also very handy when you're servicing things by yourself and don't want to climb out of the hole to check your instruments.

 

[Genesis]

There are two basic designs for dual-gauge senders.

One is designed to be hooked in either series or parallel (usually parallel) and the second actually has two TERMINALS in one unit, and is really two sending units in one can.

 

[captddis]

To answer Mikes question. Yes they use a single sender. However AC gauges are unique in that the oil and gear oil gauges have a single or dual station sender. This is standard procedure. The temp gauges use the same sender for single or dual and they have a dual or single station GAUGE. I can't tell you how many people have replaced temp senders when the problem was one gauge. Dave TODM

 

[JCG]

Ok I'll find dual sending units.


What about the tach's?