temperature sender with dual stations

[Jeff F]

I have a Cummins 6bt in my boat, with two sets of instrumentation. I bought the boat recently and on day two of the delivery trip the temperature gauges stopped working. They appeared to have been slightly under reading when I checked them against some spot IR readings I took before they quit.

I found in testing that the original sender is no longer functioning. In my research on a replacement I found that to properly support dual meters there are dedicated senders with a higher resistance. The original sender was meant to support a single meter. The gauges are wired in parallel and are VDO, but looking through the VDO catalogues and sales sites I don't see a sender for dual meters that meets my specs -1/2" floating ground. I considered dropping the floating ground configuration as the motor is well tied into the common ground, but still didn't find the dual meter sender listed.

I'm tempted to replace the old one with a comparable new one on the assumption that the meters will under read, and just apply an eyeball correction.

Any advice/wisdom/experience on this? Non-VDO alternatives?

 

[psneeld]

Vdo guages have changed enough the old senders don't work with their new guages from what the emailed me.

The off the shelf Faria guage worked to replace my flybridge one....and the old Vdo square bezel sorta snapped right over it though the guage is still a bit recessed.

So my guess is a Faria dual sender would be compatible.

 

[dwhatty]

Did you try Tony Athens' Seaboard Marine site. They have dual station senders VDO for Cummins. Give them a call if you don't see what you need or need an answer to your question. Very helpful and knowledgable.

 

[kchace]

I had your exact problem with dual VDO gauges. I was able to find the complete VDO sender listing online and found the correct sender at a marine shop online. When I get home this weekend I'll look up the place.

Ken

 

[kchace]

Looks like a few places have them. You just have to match yours.


250 Farenheit / 120 Celsius - VDO Ohm Range - eGauges.com

Ken

 

[markpierce]

Immediately after acquiring my boat, the builder said I was equipped with the wrong engine sensors designed for dual helms.