Date:         Sat, 5 Jul 2008 23:37:15 -0700
Reply-To:     neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Purpose of "Voltage Stabilizer" in Instrument cluster?
Comments: To: John Rodgers <inua@charter.net>
In-Reply-To:  <486FF833.4080305@charter.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

You got that right!

Neil.

On Sat, Jul 5, 2008 at 3:39 PM, John Rodgers <inua@charter.net> wrote:
> Ahhhh!
>
> Enlightenment!!
>
> I love this bunch of Volks!!
>
> John Rodgers
> 88 GL Driver
>
>
> Mike S wrote:
>>
>> At 03:18 PM 7/5/2008, neil N wrote...
>>>
>>> Hi all.
>>
>> Hi Neil.
>>
>>> Does the voltage stabilizer work in conjunction with the engine
>>> coolant temp gauge?
>>
>> Yes, it provides a constant 10 volts for the gauges.
>>
>>> i.e. if one took the engine temp gauge out of the cluster, connected
>>> it straight to the temp sending unit (sensor) and 12+, would this give
>>> an innacurate reading of engine coolant temp?
>>
>> Yes.
>>
>>> Like maybe too high?
>>
>> Yes.
>>
>> The gauges are bimetallic - they work by heating a special piece of
>> metal which bends as it gets warm. There's a heating coil wrapped
>> around tha piece of metal. 10 volts from the regulator goes to one end
>> of the heating coil, the other is connected to the sensor (fuel, temp).
>> The sensors offer a variable resistance. Less resistance causes more
>> current to flow, making more heat, bending the metal more, making the
>> gauge read higher.
>>
>> If you bypass the regulator, then you have 12 volts on one end of the
>> heater, so more current will flow than is intended, and the gauge will
>> read higher than it should.
>>