Voltage Stablizer question

[John O from Jersey]

Hi folks, I'm putting together a '71 IIA with the voltage stabilizer for the fuel and temp gauge. All is going well but I noticed on assembly my gauges aren't moving. (Yes, I have fuel in the tank :-) ). I took a voltmeter to the upstream side of the voltage stabilizer and got my 12 volts as expected. Downstream side is all over the map - it fluctuates hitting 0, 12, 0, 4, etc. when I was expecting to see 10V. Is this because you can't test a voltage stabilizer with a digital voltmeter???

Should I
A) Borrow an analog meter and test it (what am I looking for)
B) Skip the voltage stabilizer altogether (not likely)
C) Stop overanalyzing and drop 20 bucks on a new voltage stabilizer.

Thanks as always for the advice,

John O

[Terrys]

Is this because you can't test a voltage stabilizer with a digital voltmeter???

It may very well be one of those items, but generally it's the high freq things, or JK flip flop things that digis don't handle well. My Fluke is useless for somethings, but my trusty Simpson 260 is great for everything.

$20 ? Hmmm, I thought they were more. If you're not getting ANY gauge movement, try by passing the stabilizer, just to see if they work at the higher voltage. Wont hurt the gauges( just wont be accurite), and it will pretty much tell you the VS is shot.

[John O from Jersey]

I think I will try that - wasn't sure if it would hurt but now that you mention it there's really no way 12V would kill anything that 10V would'nt. I imagine that would give me my answer and it's a lot quicker than finding an analog gauge.
Thanks - and yes you can get them for like 23 bucks from Trevor at RovahFarm.

Thx

JO

[superstator]

The old stabilizers worked by switching voltage on and off such that the average was about 10 volts - so it's conceivable that a digital multimeter expecting clean DC would get confused, especially if it's not particularly fast or can't average voltage over time.

That said, I bought a solid state stabilizer for $16 when I redid my harness and haven't looked back. My fuel gauge actually reads low now, but I'd rather it tell me I'm empty too soon than too late...

[BackInA88]

I bought a solid state stabilizer for $16 when I redid my harness and haven't looked back. My fuel gauge actually reads low now, but I'd rather it tell me I'm empty too soon than too late...

Solid State is the way to go!

Steve