Came across this today a garage in Germany is prototyping a stock looking electric fuel gauge https://www.facebook.com/groups/268211473364101/permalink/1799176236934276/
Thats using one of those £2.50 dashboard stepper motors with a 50p microcontroller chip and some other bits . . good idea. It should be possible to make it and sell it for lets say under £50 each, if you reuse the scale off the old gauge..
I read a bit more and its still a bit early - I was scanning the Dutch and google translating bits . OK, so I would do it with an STM32F032 with a dashboard stepper motor and a voltage regulator chip . Measuring the resistance of the fuel sender periodically to minimise heating. These chips are about 8x4 mm. Designed to accept power from either the pulsed voltage from a bimetallic regulator or the constant voltage from a zener regulator.. Or if it was run off 12 volts, the backlight would be from a digital RGB LED for more fun colours. .. Also you start with the broken fuel gauge and a NOS fuel sender at present .. Google translating the info : 1. All the meters we are going to make will work in the beginning with the original window (behind the pointer) which will have to be disassembled from the original meter quite simply and transferred to the new meter. We do this to be able to retain the original look of the original meter as much as possible." 2. The first model will be for the T2B, all further models will also be produced (as far as possible) so also for the T2A, possibly T1, beetle, kubel etc etc 3. The meter can work with both 6 and 12 volts. 4. We make sure that the meter can also be calibrated with the original built-in meter (mainly there at the T2 where the tank is not just accessible) so that the new meter can also be calibrated with built-in tank float. 5. This meter in combination with repro floats make a reliable combination due to the technique used, but we still have to develop a few things. The basis for the current setup is a NOS T2B float. 6. The resistance in the repro or other floats are used in a different way than in the original design. This makes the meter reliable and accurate. (this must be reducing the current over the stock heater based setup) 7 .There is a lot of asking about the price.. this is still unclear so far because we still have to go through the entire sample phase when it is closed we will be able to calculate a final price for this.. so it will come later. 8 . Please note: We do not answer in-depth technical matters, which we prefer to keep to ourselves. 9. Any person who has a serious interest in this solution wants to make the effort to write an E-Mail to info@harrysvintagegarage.nl. we will collect in our E-mail the interested parties and sort them by type.. please mention in the mail in which meter you are interested (beetle, T2a / T2B,) and please with year of construction. Please also have your further contact details.. we will then notify you by group and mail if there will be parts to order. And we will also continue to post on FB if there are new developments. Harry's Vintage Garage, The company that looks further !!
Might be worth dropping them an email as a group interest from the latebay. Although the early type gauge seems to still be available as a repo part the late gauges are like r h s to get hold of.
The difference is that you can make a normal moving coil meter movement into an early type gauge as it is a quality part, while the late bay hot wire part is a cheaper to produce crude but clever piece of hackery.
From the Harrys Vintage Garage facebook page: We found out in our workshop that the tank meters of the T2B Busses are currently a problem, broken clock meters and used meters that very incorrectly indicate the position of the gasoline in the tank. There is also no new Tank meter for sale in the T2B in trade and nowhere.. This is what we have started to pick up, and developed an electronic replacement for the tank meter. Unlike the original 2 additional features, this replacement has 1: the meter will adjust, so it will empty the position and complete the position, it will be done with this, it will show 2 green LEDs After this he is ready for deployment and indicates the current position of the gasoline in the tank. However, when the wiser goes into the reserve, the LEDs will light up (invisible to the eye, only indirect glow / glow will be visible after built-in) so you will be warned to start refueling in time Do you also suffer from a not functioning tank meter in your T2, let us know.. because we seriously intend to market these meters (these meters would also be for other cars such as beetles, cubes, buggies, etc. And so on. can be used.
Looks great but my experience and seeing posts on here it’s the sender at the other end that’s the problem especially with the new fuel senders units not lasting.
The late bay gauge is essentially a fuse, and you measure how close it is to melting by letting it expand under tension.
It is. Don’t test it by just shorting the gauge to ground. There’s nothing limiting the current through it.
Posted mine up on fb as a british reply to Harry's garage - video with the great escape sound track! Uses a mini servo and 8 pin arduino micro controller. Just up Mike's street. Although stepper motor is probably simpler. It forced me to preserver with the 8 pin arduino. https://m.facebook.com/groups/14907...cessed¬if_id=1634060093253067&ref=m_notif#
