A van of the same vintage should be the same.

 

I have like 4 Voltage regulators .. when I was going through my problems.

Original which fried = 0 Volts
2 Wells = 16+ volts

Then I bought a nice Shiney Ford Regulator, was a little pricey but Id rather use a regulator with a Ford stamp if I cant have my original.
Voltage was 14.5-15.5, finally fixed the problem, solid 14.5, not adjustable, good for me since I have the Two battery Camper special F250.

- Dan

 

I blame fast production using inferior parts from China and Korea.


Nothing to me beats the old adjustable VR like what's in my Mustang.

 

Funny thing about that is the Wells are made in USA, and the new Ford regulator comes from China ..

All my other vehicles have Internal regulators, 94 Tbird, 94 SC, 95 Tbird, 99 Blazer, 06 TrailBlazer, Im used to working on Fuel Injected computer controlled vehicles .. this 73 Ford is my only old vehicle.

- Dan

 

If you just need the curcuit board, there are some on ebay and also complet gauge clusters, Erv

 

I saw a couple on Ebay, Im going to try my local junkyard and if they dont have one, Ebay does for sure.

Just to update ..
I got around to re-wiring the alternator wiring harness, got everything back together .. then I went to test if the Ammeter was still working even with the fried circuit board.
I used a couple alligator clips to attach to the two leads on the gauge cluster plug, and bypassed the circuit board which is fried and hooked up the other end to the posts on the back of the Ammeter.

I dont know exactly how much it is supposed to move, but it moves a tiny bit to the right when it is on and charging at 14.5 Volts.
When I first start the truck, the gauge goes to the left a little. Other than that, I bypassed the Voltage Regulator and hooked the Power to the Field, and it was charging at about 17 Volts but the Ammeter didnt move all that far over to the right side. It just sort of stays in the middle, and a little tiny bit to the right when it is on and charging normally. Moves about 1/4" over to the left when cranking and engine off.

Is it possible that the Shunt wire isnt giving it enough resistance ?? (although I dont see why it should have any since it connects the Alternator to the Starter Solenoid ) Or that the Gauge itself isnt working properly ?

- Dan

 

Old corroded high resistance connections are usually what causes the ammeter to lose "sensitivity". Check all the crimps and connections.

 

I checked the wires for resistance.
There is 0.1 ohms in the wires to and from the ammeter.
The Ammeter has 0.3 ohms resistance between the two posts on the back.
All other wires, including battery cables have 0.1 ohms resistance.
Not a whole lot, the most resistance is in the Ammeter itself. How much resistance should it have normally ?

- Dan

 

The amount the needle moves is condusive to how low the battery is.

Battery low, needle moves to right further.

After starting engine with a fully charged battery you would be lucky to see half a needle width in movement

Lots these gauges actually "go dead"

Or In most cases of a gauge that works.... the needle very rarely moves but,
Put the heater,wiper, and headlights on and watch that needle

Note:
After numerous years of being on FTE it has been established that I am one of the very few that have a working ammeter in their truck.

Many found that so fascinating,that I made a video so they could see what one looks like. It's accessed thru my web site

 

Where is the link to the gauge on your site ?? I looked but I couldnt find anything specific.

My needle moves to the left when the Truck is started, I havent tried it with all of the accessories on, just the Lights and it moves a little more to the right than when it is normally charging but barely noticeable unless you're really looking hard. So as far as I can tell, the gauge still works but it may have lost its sensativity after re-wiring my alternator.

I always have a completely charged battery, its an Optima Red top that I use in my daily driver.

- Dan

 

Before this list/web page started, the only time I ever saw a Ford ammeter move was in the movie Close Encounters. Back when this was just an e-mail list, I actually started the first discussion about it. I actually added wire between the two splices for the ammeter to increase the shunt resistance.

 

DD,
Go to this page

http://mil1ion.clubfte.com/index.html

and scroll 1/2 way down until you see the hyperlinks to my videos.

They are in Zip Files so you will need Winzip to unzip them.

Winzip can be found on the Tucows web page.