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Gauges Reading Backwards

Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:47 pm
by The Dog House
I just installed a set of new Faria gauges. According to the wiring diagram in my Trojan F26 manual, the yellow wire from the accessory harness is the ignition wire and the white wire from the accessory harness is the ground. I connected the gauges accordingly. My gauges are working, but in reverse. My oil pressure gauge starts at 80 psi with the engine off, "decreases" to 50 psi with the engine running at idle, and "decreases" to 40 psi with the engine running at a fast idle. I added fuel tonight, and my fuel gauge went from 3/8 full to 1/8 full. I believe the tank should be almost ( ~7/8 ) full.

It seems that all of my gauges are working in reverse. I read that the ABYC standard for 12V ground is yellow. Is it possible that sometime in the last 40 years the yellow and white were reversed? Would switching the yellow to ground and white to ignition potentially fix the problem? If the wires are not reversed, would I damage the gauges by switching them? Since it is DC, I'm guessing that switching the two wires would reverse the direction of the gauges. Am I on the right track?

Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:52 pm
by prowlersfish
Your senders don't match the gages . Get the senders that match .

Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 12:10 am
by alexander38
from what I've read yellow is the old DC black, white is still the same. they went to yellow so the 110v black wouldn't get in to the 12v system, But some things we buy have a Yellow standby hot wire that keeps thing hot but not on, Lowrance has some things like this...I just never use it. I'd call them and check your work out before something gets broke..

Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 6:39 am
by prowlersfish
A volt meter will quickly answer the positive vs negative question .

Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 6:55 am
by The Dog House
This weekend I plan on removing both the yellow and white wires and using a voltmeter to confirm which is 12V and which is ground. It will be a little difficult since there is not another ground point near the gauge, but I think I can reach the ground bar with the leads I have.

Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 9:48 am
by davidsmith
If you had the original AC Delco guages then you will have to change the senders. The AC Delco guages did not follow the same standard as most other manufactures.

Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 10:04 am
by The Dog House
davidsmith wrote:If you had the original AC Delco guages then you will have to change the senders. The AC Delco guages did not follow the same standard as most other manufactures.
The engine is a Chrysler 318. Did the Chrysler engines use AC Delco senders?

Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 10:49 am
by davidsmith
My F36 has 440 Chryslers and still has the factory AC Delco guages.

Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 11:59 am
by prowlersfish
The Dog House wrote:This weekend I plan on removing both the yellow and white wires and using a voltmeter to confirm which is 12V and which is ground. It will be a little difficult since there is not another ground point near the gauge, but I think I can reach the ground bar with the leads I have.
Use a DVOM it will read - if backwards

Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 9:13 pm
by Big D
Confirm polarity, but I suspect as Paul and David that you`re dealing with the wrong resistance standard for matching gauge to sender; they must match. Check Faria`s website, they have a lot of info there including resistances of the senders to match thier gauges. You can then check your senders.

Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 12:06 pm
by The Dog House
My gauges are American standard gauges. If the polarity is correct, I'll look at the senders. I never even considered that a 1971 Chrylser V8 would have European senders. I'm still hoping it's a polarity issue, but we'll find out on Saturday when I check things out with my digital voltmeter.

Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 5:16 pm
by larryeddington
See below URL:

http://www.wemausa.com/specifications/T ... OTING2.pdf

And yess chrysler used on these boats delco "standard" gauges.

I am dealing with the newer fuel sending units are 33 to 240 ohm. The old ones in Trojan tank was 30 to 120 ohm. Talked to a well known mfg of gauges and said the only way they will recommend dual fuel gauges is having two sending units in each tank. That said if you have a lawn mower with two fuel gauges one sender will work them fine. :shock:

Then further shock, I have not fuel gauges on fly bridge, a guess is the same on all Trojans. :shock:

Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 7:15 am
by The Dog House
I checked the voltage at my gauges last night, and the polarity was correct (yellow = 12V and white = ground). Since the polarity is correct, the senders must not be matching the gauges. I'll eventually need to switch the senders, but for now I'll just be labeling the gauges to remind me they are working backwards.

The temperature sender will probably be the first one I change. The current sender takes a 9/16" wrench and I measured the threads at 1/2". Does anyone know if 1/2" is the correct temperature sender size for a Chrysler LM318?

Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:07 pm
by prowlersfish
I would belive its 3/8 NPT or 1/4 npt . 3/8 npt would be aprox 1/2" on the outside .