VDO Gauges

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the miz
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Location: Minnesota
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VDO Gauges

Post by the miz » Mon Jul 01, 2013 12:23 pm

Hi all,
...so I decided to install a set of VDO gauges in my 82 Westy. I opted for Cylinder Head Temp, OIl Temp, and Oil Pressure, as I thought these to be the most important, and as a 3 gauge mount fit nicely under the dash in front of my fuse panel.

I have been working on this project in 15min to 2 hour increments for about 2 weeks now and I am almost done.

I just need some help/advice on wiring the things up so that they work properly.

-All of the sender wiring wiring has been routed.
-CHT gauge seems to be working pretty well and is connected to data (it is "unpowered" for data, just uses a thermocouple)
-Oil Temp is wired for data- does not work properly- needle is "buried" as soon as ignition goes hot
-Oil Pressure is not yet wired for data
-the gauges are all wired +/- for lighting in series
-oil temp and pressure gauges are wired +/- in series for data power

So, lighting is wired to the headlight switch-split off at the back of the fuse panel from the wire that does my rear left marker light. This seems to work quite well
Gauge "power" is split from the wire that controls my horn at the back of the fuse panel. I chose this as it was easy to isolate/find, was 12v switched on by the ignition and downstream of the switch that activates the horn when closed...the horn works just fine, but when powered by the ignition switch, the temp needle gets "buried" immediately.

So, I realize that I may be overlooking something incredibly obvious here...but why is this not working?

Here are some pictures to help explain:
ignition and lights are off:
Image
ignition off, but lights on:
Image
ignition on and lights on:
Image
ignition on and lights off:
Image

Thanks for having a look...suggestions for how to remedy this will be greatly appreciated!

the miz
1982 Westy- Vana White

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the miz
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Location: Minnesota
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Re: VDO Gauges

Post by the miz » Tue Jul 02, 2013 2:34 pm

...so, I am going to reply to my own post here, as I have apparently solved my own problem. I was overlooking something incredibly simple, it seems. I had mixed up the connection to the backs of the gauges for S (data) and +. Oops! All seems to work now, a 3 gauges are hooked up to data, power and lights.

miz
1982 Westy- Vana White

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Amskeptic
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Re: VDO Gauges

Post by Amskeptic » Thu Jul 04, 2013 11:31 pm

the miz wrote:...so, I am going to reply to my own post here, as I have apparently solved my own problem. I was overlooking something incredibly simple, it seems. I had mixed up the connection to the backs of the gauges for S (data) and +. Oops! All seems to work now, a 3 gauges are hooked up to data, power and lights.

miz
I wuz gonna say . . . check those terminals. I have been dealing with very heavy banging and grease and rear axle nuts in a pine grove at 3,000 feet, sorry I missed your first post.
ColinNowInNevada
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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