DIY Mini Voltage Meter Gauge

[Atlant]

At one point I meant to grab one of georgegraves Volt Meter Gauges but alas he makes them no more so I had to improvise.

I picked up one of these at Adafruit for $7.95 +SH.


First thing I did is pop out my stock sound balance switch from behind and start to disablement it (Really simple just pried off the top and bottom off with a flat head.)


With it all apart the meter almost fit with no modification just had to file down this curve.

Here is one side done.

Then I took and rased the raised speaker icons with some sandpaper (obligatory bad pun)
As an after thought if I had used some higher grit sand paper the finish would have looked a little nicer.


Then I RTVed the gauge in place with some black silicon rtv. Both top and bottom.



Put both top and bottom ceramic panels back and and tested it with a 9-Volt.


Put both clips back in. The ceramic panels fit snug (in the front) but I did not want to permanently attach them in case I want to come back and take it apart so just a piece of electrical tape to hold the panels on.



To wire it up just connect the red to Acc +12v I used my radios (Purple and white) and the black to ground radios (brown and white I think)

Finished product.


Some shots of it in the car. (The gauge was too bright for my shitty camera sorry for the bad pictures)

There you have it for under 10$ and an easy hour or two you will have a snazzy looking voltage gauge that fits right in the dash and looks stock.

[JasonC]

Good find and thanks for the write up!

[blueapplesoda]

Never thought about using those stupid audio balance things. Maybe you should put a amber gel coat and transparency over it, so it looks more OEM. Sweet.

[evilnickwong]

I see you are getting power/reading from the purple/white radio ACC wire. Does that give a reading of 14+V when the car is running?

I took my voltmeter reading from the ACC wire which powers the glove light and it doesn't show the 14+ charging voltage. It's also affected by brake or signal lights. :-/

[george graves]

Although that is a cool little voltmeter, it's not designed to survive in a nasty automotive electrical environment. So, I hope you aren't too upset if it fails on you. I doubt it would catch fire or something. Most likely it will just stop working.

[Atlant]

Never thought about using those stupid audio balance things. Maybe you should put a amber gel coat and transparency over it, so it looks more OEM. Sweet.

Yea. Soon I plan on taking it back out and putting in something between the display and panel (I was thinking a piece of a ginger ale bottle)

I was also not to happy with the finish so I plan on spraying it with satin black from a farther distance to try to match the surface. Thanks to (Forced_Firebird) for the tip.

I see you are getting power/reading from the purple/white radio ACC wire. Does that give a reading of 14+V when the car is running?

I took my voltmeter reading from the ACC wire which powers the glove light and it doesn't show the 14+ charging voltage. It's also affected by brake or signal lights. :-/

Yes It reads 14 volts when the car is running.

Although that is a cool little voltmeter, it's not designed to survive in a nasty automotive electrical environment. So, I hope you aren't too upset if it fails on you. I doubt it would catch fire or something. Most likely it will just stop working.

I sort of assumed this. but thanks for the heads up. Ill be putting one of your narrow band gauges that will last a lifetime next to it very soon :)

[Jszy25]

Interesting...think I may do something similar seeing as how I've just replaced my battery and alternator. Good to keep an eye on things.

[evilnickwong]

Yes It reads 14 volts when the car is running.

Whoops, just saw you replied.

Does it jump up and down when you use the signal lights? I would assume the ACC powering the radio is the same as the ACC powering the glove box light, or am I wrong here? Thanks. :)

[bernzpeed]

great idea but i wish it was amber though

[Ryann]

Although that is a cool little voltmeter, it's not designed to survive in a nasty automotive electrical environment. So, I hope you aren't too upset if it fails on you. I doubt it would catch fire or something. Most likely it will just stop working.

It's $7.95 with numbers on it.

[george graves]

Yep - I know that - It just so happens that I work for the company that sells it - what's up? ;)

[Atlant]

That's what inspired me to start doing more EE stuff read your blog thingy and decided that having Arduino sit unused for almost a year was a crime.

[iwantspeed]

I made a digital volt meter.

Credit is goes to Atlant, I just tweaked his idea.
And George graves idea on the light output of the plastic.

[bernzpeed]

awesome! now that's what I'm talking about.

[george graves]

Good job! Hope you at least added a fuse - I would be the least you can do to keep that thing safe encase it blows w/o any real input protection.