New Guages - First Things First

[egaito]

So we're planning to replace the gauges in the lower and upper helm. There are enough that either don't work at all, don't work well, and/or look cosmetically bad that it's worth doing as a project.

Before going to the gauge store and buying a box, I decided to do a little troubleshooting as one of the latest symptoms sent the water temp gauge to pins on the high side, without the motor running. I found the fuse between the small voltage converter and the stb gauge cluster to be blown, and replaced it. This didn't get the gauge to come back, but the others "powered up", going to 0. I noticed after a couple of minutes the bezels of several of the gauges were warm to the touch, which wasn't confidence inspiring, so I pulled the fuse again (so we could run the boat).

Today, I put a meter on everything to see what was going on, to find that the gauges on the stb side are getting 34 volts sent to them, which I confirmed as the output level of the little black box.

So I guess the little black box is bad.....but why did it start putting out 34v instead of 0? A little dangerous it seems based on the heating I was getting.

The other thing I'm wondering: With a little tag above it that says "do not disconnect negative while powered on", why is there a fuse on the negative wire, which of course disconnects the negative with the "power on" if it blows?

I'd like to blame it on a PO, but the wires are all still factory loomed and tied down.....

Before I start hunting for a new voltage converter, is there enough amperage in the Port side to push the Starboard gauges if I jump it over?

Thanks,

 

[egaito]

So does anyone have an opinion on whether or not one of the two converters can run both sets of gauges? 6 amps sounds like a lot of power for gauges, but then I started thinking about all of the bulbs for backlighting....wondering how much they draw.

Perhaps there are LED replacements for them though.