Volt meters

[Amberjack]

Time to replace my at least 30 year old volt meters. What brand is most used? Are these even used anymore? I need to put something in the openings when the old ones come out.

[pschauss]

I replaced my original ammeters with Stewart-Warner volt meters. They fit properly in the holes where the ammeters were and match the other gauges on the panel.

[Amberjack]

Images I forgot to include with the original post

[Carl]

They look like Stewart Warner Volt gauges.

As far as sizes, they are pretty standard. 2” is pretty common, just pull and measure the hole size.

Volt gauges are still pretty commonly used and I like knowing if my batteries are charging…you may be thinking amp gauges. Those kinda fell to the wayside. All that juice to a shunt had a way of creating problems.

VDO, Stewart Warner are good. Faria, Sierra work fine…

If you decide not to install the gauge, they make blank plugs. Goes in just like a gauge. When I made my gauge panel I wanted to make room to grow so laid out for 2 extra gauges and use a pair of these.

https://defender.com/en_us/faria-blank- ... E#493=2172

[Amberjack]

New volt meters are finally in. One more “to do” crossed off the spring commissioning list.

Original old Stewart Warner volt meters. Evidence of corrosion is visible around edge of the right hand gauge


Seems it ought to be easy so why did it take me three trips to the boat?


The old gauge didn’t agree with regular B31 cold salt water showers


New volt meters are finally in. Faria were the only ones I found that somewhat matched the existing a Yanmar gauges.


It was only a couple of volt meters so I didn’t expect it to occupy the best part of 10 days. But if any of you have wormed your way into the electrical bay under the console of a B31 FBC you’ll understand.

[Rawleigh]

Oh yea! It is even more fun with the bench seat in place. Has the bruise across your back from the edge of the hatch digging into you gone away yet? LOL

[Carl]

Mine used to be a Royal pain as the only access was through the bathroom...Opps, the head. Had to remove the panel behind the commode and dash was reachable through an overhead cutout, a nice dark cutout. Lots of fun holding a light and reaching up there with my hands in front of me blocking my vision. At least the wiring was on the bulkhead...but that dash, what a pain.

When I rewired in conversion I made one smart move...longer leads. Now I can just lift dash out, spin it around and work on is as needed, than flop back in place.

[Amberjack]

Raleigh the bench seat was still in place. After all it was just a couple voltmeters right? Well at one point when I was upside down and wormed into the starboard cabinet I wondered if I’d be able to reach the phone to call my wife for help if I got stuck.

Carl, the one project left on Amberjack is rewiring but that I think will be for the next owner.

[Yannis]

I just finished replacing the instrument frame that holds all the instruments, in my 28.
Which means I had to remove all the instruments first, number all cables with a tape and number and reposition and connect them on the new frame. So far, so good, as this job is done on the flybridge.

But then, someone has to reach behind the panel to tighten a few screws and connect and tighten the steering wheel.
It was definitely mind warping to observe how a 220 lbs male can squeeze through the opening on the flybridge that serves as an entrance to the area behind the panel!
The bruised area on the left of my rib cage is showing some improvement just now, a few weeks after the project’s completion!

[Tony Meola]

Removing the bench seat greatly improves the job but does not guarantee that you will not get stuck or be able to stand up after working in there.

I saw somewhere a 31 in which they had made a larger access that allowed you to lower a section of the section under the steering wheel. It was a hinged opening, but you would need to have the bench seat out or whatever seat you have moved back.

[pschauss]

On my boat there is enough slack in the wires that I can lift the flying bridge instrument panel up far enough to access the back sides of all of the gauges. Replacing the existing ammeters with voltmeters was a relatively simple task.

[Carl]

On my boat there is enough slack in the wires that I can lift the flying bridge instrument panel up far enough to access the back sides of all of the gauges. Replacing the existing ammeters with voltmeters was a relatively simple task.

That is exactly what I did...a huge improvement. Of course this improvement was one after I fixed all the bugs on the old panel the hard way.