Mon Jan 27, 2014 4:49 pm by Buzzman72
A fully-charged 6V battery should be capable of providing 6.9 volts, or 2.3 volts per cell x 3 cells. A fully charged 12V battery should also be capable of providing 2.3 volts per cell, or 13.8 volts.
Why do I bring this up?
Well, with those nominally 6V gauges, with a fully-charged new battery they'll be seeing almost 7 volts. I also know that not everyone back in the day kept their electrical system up to snuff, so a lot of those gauges probably saw a lot of days of 5V, and possibly less. So the knowledge of what voltage a 12V system "should" be stepped down to, in order to use the 6V gauges, eludes me. [Now, I also know that when it comes to modern computer-controlled engines, the standard for the throttle position sensor is 5 volts. But that means little to this discussion.]
Other than the ammeter, I don't think ANY of the L-R-S gauges actually had any numbers on them...so at best, they were, as Pappy once told me, "a fair guessing stick." So what level of accuracy SHOULD we expect from a gauge with no numbers? Your guess is likely as good as mine.
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