How to deal with a gas guage problem?

Bruce, if you drive the car in reverse the gauges should read correctly. Happy Fourth buddy! Henry

 

No problem I see

 

Is there a fuel gauge in the same product line that works properly with an inverted input?

 

Perhaps an EE can chime in, but I'd guess you can wire in an inverter chip to flip the voltage for the gauge?
like a 4069 IC?

 

Time to chew on some finger nails

 

This might work by the look of it. Not sure about the output voltages. Maybe a call to them would answer some questions. I know someone has something that will work.
13W, 9-20Vin - +5.0 & ±15Vout

 

Just to eliminate the possibility of incorrect wiring: on many VDO gauges, one of the pins at the back is marked "G" which does not mean "ground" but stands for "geber" (sender).

 

If all else fails, can you access the face of the unit? If so maybe you could modify it by putting the "full" on the left and the "empty" on the right?

 

Bruce, if it was my car I would fix it. Little stuff like that can drive me nuts, with my ocd and all.

Hey, where are our resident electrical experts JohnK and Tim? They might be able to help you find a solution if possible.

 

I love these cars

Just like a red hot lulu

Simply gorgeous but full of weird stuff that bites when you don't expect

Good luck...

 

switching the wires may do it as it works "backward"

did it come with a schematic? let me know

 

Plugz
Shoot a pic of the gauge and I can prolly find the european version you ned. The ohm values are not just reversed.
Bertil

 

Found this with a google search

"VDO wants you to by their senders too. They wire it backward so full is high resistance and empty is low resistance. The rest of the free world has full as low and empty as high.
You could take the unit out and move the resistor ground to the gauge terminal and the gauge terminal to the ground. Or if it has two wires just reverse them. I don't think the latter is going to do anything but with VDO you never know. Also check for a third terminal on the sender. If it has three then you are in luck. One set will read high-low, another will read low-high and the remaining will either not show any change or read twice the resistance value. worth a look."

worth a shot!

 

I don't think this is the solution for Plugzit. as the Euro version and the US version use different Ohm values. The Euro gauge sender works from o (zero) Ohms with empty tank to 180 Ohms with full tank. The US sender works from 240 Ohms at empty tank to 30 Ohms with full tank. So either replace the gauge or the sender is the only way to go.
I have replaced many senders in boats imported from "the free world"
Bertil

 

Bertil

Roger that. wasn't aware that this was a euro model

btw did I plagiarize your quote from "boaters world"i?? lol

 

O.K, I'll see,,what I can find. All the VDO senders and gauges are availble ( htf are you spelling that) in both US and Euro versions.
Bertil

 

Plugzit,
After consulting some friends of mine, we find that the cheapest way is to replace the sender to a VDO sender. However, there are other solutions. VDO has the Euro version of the CookPit gauge. Check with the VDO dealer in Palo Alto. The other way to go is to check with these guys:
Fuel Gauge Interface Module - Speedway Motors, America's Oldest Speed Shop
Or:
TechnoVersions - MeterMatch for Analog Gauge Correction
Bertil

 

Bruce,
If you can't find the euro version of the gauge in US, let me know.
Bertil