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Testing float senders - Help....again

W

Wills_9A

Active Member
:eek: Sorry for the "help" posts twice in two days, but does anyone know how I am supposed to test the float type senders...particularly how to wire up my 12v to it and get a reading? I have all of the parts needed, but have no idea where to stick all of the wires (no comments please :p ) and position the testers on my voltimeter.

Thanks again and hope to see some of you at Oshkosh...leave on thursday!
 
Wills_9A said:
:eek: Sorry for the "help" posts twice in two days, but does anyone know how I am supposed to test the float type senders...particularly how to wire up my 12v to it and get a reading? I have all of the parts needed, but have no idea where to stick all of the wires (no comments please :p ) and position the testers on my voltimeter.

Thanks again and hope to see some of you at Oshkosh...leave on thursday!
Click to expand...
Will,
You don't need to connect them to 12v. Just use your volt-ohm meter on the ohms setting and measure the resistance as the float travels from empty to full position.

I don't remember the values but I think it was something like 30 ohms full and 240 ohms empty.

-mike

It should be on the drawing.
 
Thanks, I never received the drawings and have no idea where to place the probes (postive on the screw, negative where, etc.). I will give this a try in several locations, but any suggestions would be helpful.

Ok, so now I am getting a reading, but I am only getting the right reading when full....I am getting around 30 at full but around 170 empty.....manual reads 260!!!!!! Both senders are giving me the EXACT same readings....what the hell am I doing wrong??? :mad:
 
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Fuel gauges

Are you using Van's fuel gauges and Van's float units? If so, I'll scan the instructions and email them to you.

Cameron Smith
RV4 #68 FAB
 
Will--

It shouldn't matter which probe you attach to which terminal. They will read the same either way, assuming you are reading resistance (ohms). Obviously, make sure the sender mechanism is at full travel. Mine read 30.2 and 248.0 at both extremes. Make sure your batteries in your multitester are in good condition is the only other advice I can give you. If, when it's all said and done, your still reading a max of 170, something is wrong somewhere, but since both senders are reading the same, it's probably you or your multi-tester, as you seem to have already surmised. There were no extra instructions that came from Van's for float senders other than the drawing and what they have in the normal wing section of the manual. Sorry I can't help you more. Good luck.

Steve
 
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I'm using Van's float senders, but no guage....using multimeter. I am starting to think I have a bad multimeter as the more I play with these things, the higher the number seems to be getting! Now I am up to about 209 empty on both senders and still 30 full. I am also considering the fact that these are sent from the factory with some oil on the resistor pads. Possibly as the oil wears away, the numbers are going up.

Any suggestions are always appreciated!
 
Wills_9A said:
Thanks, I never received the drawings and have no idea where to place the probes (postive on the screw, negative where, etc.). I will give this a try in several locations, but any suggestions would be helpful.

Ok, so now I am getting a reading, but I am only getting the right reading when full....I am getting around 30 at full but around 170 empty.....manual reads 260!!!!!! Both senders are giving me the EXACT same readings....what the hell am I doing wrong??? :mad:
Click to expand...
Will,
The readings should be proportional to the rotation angle on the potentiometer and that will be affected by your float wire geometry. Depending on the instrumentation you are planning to use for indicating fuel level, the readings you are getting could be compensated in that. That is, if the readings are consistent and linear with float angle, then you can set the instrumentation to read full at 30 ohms and empty at 170 or whatever you are observing.

If, on the other hand you are suspecting a problem with your ohmmeter, buy a few known resistors from Radioshack and check out your calibration (keeping in mind the tolerances of the resistors themselves)

-mike
 
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