I installed a mini 3 gauge cluster under my dash (as ugly as I always thought they were ) so I could monitor my engine with some real gauges, not just lights and a factory temp gauge. I'm running the original generator. It seems to charge fine, in the 14v range, but the needle shakes and vibrates constantly, very very fast. Is this normal with a generator? Could I have regulator issues or is there some kind of resistor/capacitor/frankenstein thingamajigger that I need to wire inline with the gauge?
By mini gauges you mean those teeny tiny cheap Sun Pro gauges or some other teeny tiny off brand cheapo gauge or are they the larger ancillary gauges that most people run in a good known brand. Sounds like you just got wonky gauges and it is going to wiggle a but. No offense intended.
Could be the voltage regulator doing it, if the field relay is chattering. A capacitor across the two terminals of the volt gauge will dampen the fluttering a bit.
Exactly, cheap sun pro mini gauges. The regulator seems very very old. I may try replacing it for good measure.
My eaxperience with the Sun pro gauges is that they do shake a bit, they have real cheap movements in them. But it could also be catching the fluctuations of your volatge regulater as well, and it would be pretty cheap to find out and that would guve you a spare to throw in the glove box. Let me give you a thumbs up for going with a volt gauge over an amp gauge. It gives you a much better idea of what your charging system is doing.
Amp gauges scare the **** out of me. Let me rephrase that, HAMB research on amp gauges scared me out of them. Not a big fan of fires.
Gauges that are too modern cannot cope with elderly electronics, and I would suspect that. Test your voltage with an OLD ****og multimeter or a volt gauge borrowed from a friend with antique gauges and I bet you will see proper stable readings. The volt and amp regulators within your regulator actually function with vibrating points to modulate the evil spirits to the correct numbers. Modern digital gaugery is capable of reading the vibrations and accurately following the violence while old ****og gauges read the average by simple inertia...their needles and innards don't jump fast enough to keep up with the evil spirits!
re: Bruce Lancaster - "digital gaugery".....I love it - probably be included in the next edition of the OED
It's like Early Cuyler was replying to my post. "Are you insemanatin' than my digital gaugery is malreadin' my generatorial productivities?"
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