Good Earth In The Instrument Cluster

[Glyn Harper]

I've got an SPA fuel gauge now.. but when I turn my lights on, it suddenly reads about 1/8 of a tank extra fuel!

SPA reckon it's because the earth I'm using for it is an earth for the bulbs in the other instruments, and that will cause it.

So.. anyone know of a good earthing point inside the instrument cluster that isn't likely to be affected by the lighting circuit?

I don't really want to run a new earth, as that will require another plug fitting, etc..

There is a big multiplug with some nice thick wire which I assume are for the main lighting, but I'm not sure which of these is an earth. The wiring diagram in the manual has the instrument cluster wiring spread all over the place.

Cheers,

Glyn.

[Artie]

I've got an SPA fuel gauge now.. but when I turn my lights on, it suddenly reads about 1/8 of a tank extra fuel!

SPA reckon it's because the earth I'm using for it is an earth for the bulbs in the other instruments, and that will cause it.

So.. anyone know of a good earthing point inside the instrument cluster that isn't likely to be affected by the lighting circuit?

I don't really want to run a new earth, as that will require another plug fitting, etc..

There is a big multiplug with some nice thick wire which I assume are for the main lighting, but I'm not sure which of these is an earth. The wiring diagram in the manual has the instrument cluster wiring spread all over the place.

Cheers,

Glyn.

Glyn,

I would use a wire with a ring connector and connect it to the metal under the binnacle mount.(where the 4 long bolts attach the binnacle to the dash assembly(put the ring connector around the bolt coming up into the binnacle, you may want to sand off some of the black powdercoating to make a really good contact). This metal is attached to the main scuttle beam, this should prove to be a nice earth(gnd). If this doesn't suit you, look in the two harnesses attached to the binnacle, any black wire should be earth, just plain black without any stripes.

Artie

[Glyn Harper]

Ah, yes.. I was looking at the binnacle as a seperate item last night. (it was about 2am)! It didn't occur to me at the time that the mounts that the bolts go in are in fact earthed against the scuttle beam! I'll stick a self tapper through one of them. That'll do the trick perfectly.

Cheers Artie..

[Artie]

Ah, yes.. I was looking at the binnacle as a seperate item last night. (it was about 2am)! It didn't occur to me at the time that the mounts that the bolts go in are in fact earthed against the scuttle beam! I'll stick a self tapper through one of them. That'll do the trick perfectly.

Cheers Artie..

Cheers Glyn,

No Sweat, glad to help. I was having grounding problems with my high powered ICE amp. Finally the light bulb struck (then quickly burst) but not before I had the idea to use this ground. Actually made a nice fat gold plated stereo connector with several reusable outputs for grounds I may need later! Still got at least 2 good brain cells left!

Artie

[Glyn Harper]

I screwed it to the bracket last night with mixed results. It's working better than it was, but still not 100%.

Defitinitely helped moving the earth to the bracket though, so thanks for that Artie.

Now my fuel gauge only goes up 1/16 when i put the lights on and not 1/8 !!!

It's power drop related though, not a lighting issue, as the same thing happens when you put the fans on.

I need to get in touch with SPA and report what's going on, now I know I've eliminated all the other possibilities..

Regards,

Glyn.