For those whom are interested, here's a mod I made to display battery voltage.
I've always found voltmeter gauges quite useful on old cars - Tells me if the battery is dead, tells me if the battery is charging, tells me if the alternator is dead. But, there was no way to install a standard 2 1/8" gauge in the dash of my Scorpion without a tear-up (unlike my 124 Spider in which I just replaced the cloudy clock). Yet there were two items in my center console I never had use for: The heater door vacuum switch (which never worked and was just forced in floor mode all the time) and the fiber optic rheostat for the lights on the switches (which were always on full illumination and yet still had low output). Previously, I ended up removing the rheostat and retrofitted it with a switch in its place to manually turn on the cooling fans, but now even that's not needed (since everything in the cooling system works fine).
So, I decided to buy one of those small three digit 12vDC LED voltmeters off ebaY. $10 bucks. I removed the vacuum switch and retrofitted it to house the meter. Here's the before:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1.../IMG_20130910_205723_zps0fbadfdb.jpg~original
Here's the mod:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1.../IMG_20130910_205651_zpsee6bbb94.jpg~original
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1.../IMG_20130910_205634_zpse6cd130b.jpg~original
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1.../IMG_20130910_205643_zpsc23f5c10.jpg~original
And here are the results:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1.../IMG_20130915_170546_zps2db974cd.jpg~original
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1.../IMG_20130915_170606_zpsadde04bf.jpg~original
The voltmeter is on an ignition switched circuit (orange lead originally used for the emissions controls warning lights). However, I decided to actually use the electrical switch formerly used for the cooling fan override to turn off the voltmeter when not wanted, i.e., at night since I know that LED meter will be the brightest thing on my dashboard (and I was right).
Here's a short video of the operation:
http://s2.photobucket.com/user/tjcu...rior/VID_20130915_170630_zps70bba353.mp4.html
T. J.
I've always found voltmeter gauges quite useful on old cars - Tells me if the battery is dead, tells me if the battery is charging, tells me if the alternator is dead. But, there was no way to install a standard 2 1/8" gauge in the dash of my Scorpion without a tear-up (unlike my 124 Spider in which I just replaced the cloudy clock). Yet there were two items in my center console I never had use for: The heater door vacuum switch (which never worked and was just forced in floor mode all the time) and the fiber optic rheostat for the lights on the switches (which were always on full illumination and yet still had low output). Previously, I ended up removing the rheostat and retrofitted it with a switch in its place to manually turn on the cooling fans, but now even that's not needed (since everything in the cooling system works fine).
So, I decided to buy one of those small three digit 12vDC LED voltmeters off ebaY. $10 bucks. I removed the vacuum switch and retrofitted it to house the meter. Here's the before:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1.../IMG_20130910_205723_zps0fbadfdb.jpg~original
Here's the mod:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1.../IMG_20130910_205651_zpsee6bbb94.jpg~original
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1.../IMG_20130910_205634_zpse6cd130b.jpg~original
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1.../IMG_20130910_205643_zpsc23f5c10.jpg~original
And here are the results:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1.../IMG_20130915_170546_zps2db974cd.jpg~original
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1.../IMG_20130915_170606_zpsadde04bf.jpg~original
The voltmeter is on an ignition switched circuit (orange lead originally used for the emissions controls warning lights). However, I decided to actually use the electrical switch formerly used for the cooling fan override to turn off the voltmeter when not wanted, i.e., at night since I know that LED meter will be the brightest thing on my dashboard (and I was right).
Here's a short video of the operation:
http://s2.photobucket.com/user/tjcu...rior/VID_20130915_170630_zps70bba353.mp4.html
T. J.
Last edited:
