86 12 Brutus Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 If you tinker with radios I'm sure you have a few potentiometers to play with, and know the difference between linear, audio and logarithmic tapers. I still want to dig and find what three resistors Ford suggested. IIRC, they are called out in the test procedures of my EVTM. Christopher; you say you mess with antique radios. Would you have any idea where i can get some dial string? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delco1946 Posted November 29, 2020 Author Share Posted November 29, 2020 Christopher; you say you mess with antique radios. Would you have any idea where i can get some dial string? Hi Nick, Thankfully I’ve never needed dial string yet knock on wood. I did a quick search of antique electronic supply out of Arizona(Tubesandmore.com) and too many off hits occurred although I’m sure I’ve seen dial string on the website before. I personally have bought capacitors from Sal at his website located below, he is a very nice older gentleman from New Jersey as I recall. And he has quite a few dial string options. http://www.tuberadios.com/capacitors/ I’ve also bought from Dave at justradios.com. He’s out of Canada as I recall. Very nice and responsive and what a selection of caps and resistors! Looks like he has some dial string, too. https://www.justradios.com/dialbelts.html Also, if you havent found it yet, Antique Radio Forum is an amazing site for tube and record enthusiasts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86 12 Brutus Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 Hi Nick, Thankfully I’ve never needed dial string yet knock on wood. I did a quick search of antique electronic supply out of Arizona(Tubesandmore.com) and too many off hits occurred although I’m sure I’ve seen dial string on the website before. I personally have bought capacitors from Sal at his website located below, he is a very nice older gentleman from New Jersey as I recall. And he has quite a few dial string options. http://www.tuberadios.com/capacitors/ I’ve also bought from Dave at justradios.com. He’s out of Canada as I recall. Very nice and responsive and what a selection of caps and resistors! Looks like he has some dial string, too. https://www.justradios.com/dialbelts.html Also, if you havent found it yet, Antique Radio Forum is an amazing site for tube and record enthusiasts. Great, thanks so much, i'm going to check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delco1946 Posted November 29, 2020 Author Share Posted November 29, 2020 Great, thanks so much, i'm going to check it out. So I tested my gauge. I first connected the wire through a 10 ohm resistor and based on the feedback I heard on this forum I was expecting the needle to register hot. However it didn’t even go halfway up normal, resting around the O or the R. Since it sounds like that is not whats supposed to happen I connected it straight to ground. Slightly higher but still not the right response. During these tests I noticed that the sweeping of the needle was not very smooth. Then suddenly the needle climbed all the way to the hot side, or the right side of the gauge face. Finally the correct response! Afterwords I went back to the 10 ohm resistor and it seems to be functioning and responding as expected. Based on this and the somewhat erratic sweeping of the needle I think it might be more of a physical problem - I’m guessing the needle is very delicate and any dirt or corrosion could be a problem. There was also a spider in the gauge yesterday so maybe a spider made a home nearby which I think would be enough to disturb the mechanism. I’ll run some errands to see if it behaves any better today. I also cleaned the connector boot that slips over the sender. Let’s hope it’s not the sender as that looks very hard to access with a bracket in front of it ( for the alt?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 So I tested my gauge. I first connected the wire through a 10 ohm resistor and based on the feedback I heard on this forum I was expecting the needle to register hot. However it didn’t even go halfway up normal, resting around the O or the R. Since it sounds like that is not whats supposed to happen I connected it straight to ground. Slightly higher but still not the right response. During these tests I noticed that the sweeping of the needle was not very smooth. Then suddenly the needle climbed all the way to the hot side, or the right side of the gauge face. Finally the correct response! Afterwords I went back to the 10 ohm resistor and it seems to be functioning and responding as expected. Based on this and the somewhat erratic sweeping of the needle I think it might be more of a physical problem - I’m guessing the needle is very delicate and any dirt or corrosion could be a problem. There was also a spider in the gauge yesterday so maybe a spider made a home nearby which I think would be enough to disturb the mechanism. I’ll run some errands to see if it behaves any better today. I also cleaned the connector boot that slips over the sender. Let’s hope it’s not the sender as that looks very hard to access with a bracket in front of it ( for the alt?). The needle is VERY delicate, so if it is dragging, or hitting a spider, that could be the problem. How hot did your 10 ohm resistor get? The wattage formula is IxIxR, and it should be pulling .5A, so it is .5 x .5 x 10 = 2.5 watts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzFace2 Posted November 30, 2020 Share Posted November 30, 2020 So I tested my gauge. I first connected the wire through a 10 ohm resistor and based on the feedback I heard on this forum I was expecting the needle to register hot. However it didn’t even go halfway up normal, resting around the O or the R. Since it sounds like that is not whats supposed to happen I connected it straight to ground. Slightly higher but still not the right response. During these tests I noticed that the sweeping of the needle was not very smooth. Then suddenly the needle climbed all the way to the hot side, or the right side of the gauge face. Finally the correct response! Afterwords I went back to the 10 ohm resistor and it seems to be functioning and responding as expected. Based on this and the somewhat erratic sweeping of the needle I think it might be more of a physical problem - I’m guessing the needle is very delicate and any dirt or corrosion could be a problem. There was also a spider in the gauge yesterday so maybe a spider made a home nearby which I think would be enough to disturb the mechanism. I’ll run some errands to see if it behaves any better today. I also cleaned the connector boot that slips over the sender. Let’s hope it’s not the sender as that looks very hard to access with a bracket in front of it ( for the alt?). Not a 400 but my 300 six also runs cold on the gauge but the motor & hoses feel hot and the heat is great. When I painted the needles I am sure there were no spiders in there LOL I think I did ground the wire when I first put the truck together to make sure the gauge & wire was ok. I will have to ground the wire again to see if it will fix my gauge LOL. Think I will also run wires to the oil / temp to swap them to see what out come that gives. I knew of this but forgot I could use it as a tool. Dave ---- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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