pinky Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 hi guys have been replacing the amp meter with a volt metre understand the volt metre is taken of the ignition switch so rather than remove the ignition switch i took it from the fuse box were the ignition switch is connected but it did not work set up-----wire from ignition switch to volt gauge then earthed connected the volt gauge to the battery nothing is the gauge U/S or am i doing something wrong regards pinky Quote Link to post Share on other sites
johnny250 Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 (edited) hi guys have been replacing the amp meter with a volt metre understand the volt metre is taken of the ignition switch so rather than remove the ignition switch i took it from the fuse box were the ignition switch is connected but it did not work set up-----wire from ignition switch to volt gauge then earthed connected the volt gauge to the battery nothing is the gauge U/S or am i doing something wrong regards pinky afraid it sounds like you could have fried the voltmeter when you disconnected the battery with engine on full chat Pinky...... There are other switched 12Volt points a bit closer to the meter....(heater switch for example) john Edited February 9, 2009 by johnny250 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike Collins Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 If you earth the negative side of the voltmeter and connect the positive side to the battery, through a fuse for protection, the pointer should slowly climb to the battery voltage. If it does not, is your battery charged and are you certain of the polarity of the meter terminals? It won't give an instant reading, wait a few seconds for it to respond. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 I'd test the voltmeter by connecting it directly to a battery charger and check the reading is around 12V.Watch out you don't short out the battery charger leads in the process. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tthomson Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 hi guys have been replacing the amp meter with a volt metre understand the volt metre is taken of the ignition switch so rather than remove the ignition switch i took it from the fuse box were the ignition switch is connected but it did not work set up-----wire from ignition switch to volt gauge then earthed connected the volt gauge to the battery nothing is the gauge U/S or am i doing something wrong regards pinky Hi Pinky, Without a means for testing your voltmeter remotely, I don't know if you have cooked it, but connecting directly across the battery should give a decent reading, but as others have said, you need to give it time to respond. (typically 10 seconds or so). Some voltmeters are polarised so make sure you connect it the right way around. As a general rule, volts are measured across something, and amps are measured through something, so Ammeters need to be in-line with what you are measuring, whereas voltmeters can be used to measure volts between any point and ground. So connect the negative side of the voltmeter to a ground point and then prod the other end onto whatever you want to measure. In a car, because the battery voltage is relatively low and most electrical devices draw quite a lot of current, wires tend to lose some voltage due to their resistance, so always better to measure battery voltage as close to the battery as possible. Good luck TT Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pinky Posted February 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 Hi Pinky, Without a means for testing your voltmeter remotely, I don't know if you have cooked it, but connecting directly across the battery should give a decent reading, but as others have said, you need to give it time to respond. (typically 10 seconds or so). Some voltmeters are polarised so make sure you connect it the right way around. As a general rule, volts are measured across something, and amps are measured through something, so Ammeters need to be in-line with what you are measuring, whereas voltmeters can be used to measure volts between any point and ground. So connect the negative side of the voltmeter to a ground point and then prod the other end onto whatever you want to measure. In a car, because the battery voltage is relatively low and most electrical devices draw quite a lot of current, wires tend to lose some voltage due to their resistance, so always better to measure battery voltage as close to the battery as possible. Good luck TT Hi TT Thanks for the info It turned out to be the volt gauge U/S I had another one, this one worked but had a red needle sorted that out got the gloss paint out and with a very thin brush painted it white matches in very nicely regards pink Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike Collins Posted February 12, 2009 Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 You probably were not going to but, don't chuck the bad one away. It may be easily repairable. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tthomson Posted February 12, 2009 Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 Hi TT Thanks for the info It turned out to be the volt gauge U/S I had another one, this one worked but had a red needle sorted that out got the gloss paint out and with a very thin brush painted it white matches in very nicely regards pink Hi Pink, Sorry to hear the gauge is U/S. Speedy Cables may offer a repair service. (I honestly don't know if they do). I have found them very helpful, but there may be other companies who do similar things. TT Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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