Help! Is this the correct sender?
Help! Is this the correct sender?
Author
Discussion

ElvisWedgely

Original Poster:

2,715 posts

195 months

Thursday 2nd May 2013
quotequote all
I was given this new sender by the previous owner and told it's the right one for the 400SE but he just didn't have the time to fit it. Now I've seen where it is on the tank, I'm not surprised. Anyway, before I hand it over to the mechanic to fit, does anyone recognise it as the correct one? also my sender has only one round terminal in the centre and this has three. One has been blanked off, so I believe only two should be used. Is one the earth? Advise much appreciated.

Tony. TCB.

carob

3,585 posts

241 months

Thursday 2nd May 2013
quotequote all
Return To Sender music

Not much use i know, but seized the opportunity.

Rob

ElvisWedgely

Original Poster:

2,715 posts

195 months

Thursday 2nd May 2013
quotequote all
carob said:
Return To Sender music

Not much use i know, but seized the opportunity.

Rob
Well I need an answer NOW, so I guess it's 'Now or Never' :-)

Tony. TCB.

carob

3,585 posts

241 months

Thursday 2nd May 2013
quotequote all
ElvisWedgely said:
Well I need an answer NOW, so I guess it's 'Now or Never' :-)

Tony. TCB.
laugh

Wedg1e

27,040 posts

295 months

Friday 3rd May 2013
quotequote all
As it has a plastic body it will need an earth terminal; the original was earthed through its body.

As long as the screws go in, it'll probably work; what you may have to fanny about with is the float arm, to get a sensible reading in the Wedge's wedgy tank!
On my car, from full, nothing happens for 100 miles then the gauge drops like a stone... driving

ElvisWedgely

Original Poster:

2,715 posts

195 months

Friday 3rd May 2013
quotequote all
Wedg1e said:
On my car, from full, nothing happens for 100 miles then the gauge drops like a stone... driving
That's exactly what's happening on mine at the moment, hence why I want to change it, in the hope that this one will give a more accurate reading.

Tony TCB.

Wedg1e

27,040 posts

295 months

Friday 3rd May 2013
quotequote all
I think the float 'tops out' too low in the tank, plus the top third or so of the tank probably accounts for half the volume due to the shape so you're never going to get a linear response.
I suspect that if you altered the float arm to give a truer reading in the upper half of the tank, it'd run out of travel and be indicating empty long before the tank actually was...

Danny Hoffman

1,617 posts

292 months

Friday 3rd May 2013
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Wedg1e said:
nothing happens for 100 miles then the gauge drops like a stone... driving
You're obviously not pressing the right hand peddle hard enough :-)

Seriously though I very much doubt you'll see much improvement changing the sender.

Both my wedges exhibited similar characteristics and I got used to taking the reading as very rough indication of the amount of fuel in the tank.

Needle higher than zero = quite a lot of fuel in the tank
Needle bouncing from zero to full whilst driving = not that much fuel left in the tank
Needle stuck on empty whilst driving = must be close to empty

I just got in the habit of resetting the odometer at every fill as a backup.

IMHO a potentially fiddly job for doubtful benefit.



chapperssx

753 posts

201 months

Friday 3rd May 2013
quotequote all
ElvisWedgely said:
I was given this new sender by the previous owner and told it's the right one for the 400SE but he just didn't have the time to fit it. Now I've seen where it is on the tank, I'm not surprised. Anyway, before I hand it over to the mechanic to fit, does anyone recognise it as the correct one? also my sender has only one round terminal in the centre and this has three. One has been blanked off, so I believe only two should be used. Is one the earth? Advise much appreciated.

Tony. TCB.
Hi Tony.. I'm in the middle of refurbing the feul tanks so needed a new sender as the old one was completely shot, so look what came in the post today ...

I'm reliadly informed that these will work bud !! But i guess there is only one way to find out..

ElvisWedgely

Original Poster:

2,715 posts

195 months

Friday 3rd May 2013
quotequote all
Thanks for posting that picture Martin. That looks identical to the sender I've been given. Presumably then, this must be the correct one. Like you say, there is only one way to find out.

Tony, TCB.

ChimpOnGas

9,637 posts

209 months

Friday 3rd May 2013
quotequote all
You really need to check the resistance of the sender Tony.

You also need to check the resistance of your gauge.

The two should match.

I bought a sender for my auxiliary petrol tank (part of my LPG conversion), but the sender worked in the 0 - 90 Ohm range and my Chimp gauge works backwards on a 250 - 0 Ohm range (Typical TVR hehe).

We got over this by modifying the original TVR sender from my old tank.

The LPG sender gave the same issue, but that's more tricky.

The good news is you can now make any sender work with any gauge, even if they resistance works in opposite directions.

You just need a Fuel Gauge Wizard from my mate Chris.

The Fuel Gauge Wizard is a cunning little box of electronics, take a look at it here wink

https://www.spiyda.com/magento/index.php/

Chris offers lots of other clever ideas too, like a two speed radiator fan module ideal for hot & flustered Wedgies enjoying the summer.

Well worth 10 minutes browsing his website yes

Hope all this helps, Dave.


Danny Hoffman

1,617 posts

292 months

Friday 3rd May 2013
quotequote all
ChimpOnGas said:
The Fuel Gauge Wizard is a cunning little box of electronics
Looks like a neat bit of kit

Wedg1e

27,040 posts

295 months

Friday 3rd May 2013
quotequote all
ChimpOnGas said:
You really need to check the resistance of the sender Tony.

You also need to check the resistance of your gauge.

The two should match.
Interesting electronics principle, I don't see why they need to be the same? No more current can flow through the gauge than the sender will allow... whistle

ElvisWedgely

Original Poster:

2,715 posts

195 months

Friday 3rd May 2013
quotequote all
Wedg1e said:
Interesting electronics principle, I don't see why they need to be the same? No more current can flow through the gauge than the sender will allow... whistle
I agree with Wedg1e. Also, let's not jump to any conclusions and think negative even before fitting the sender. If it's not satisfactory when fitted, then we think of a solution.

Tony. TCB.

hallsie

2,185 posts

250 months

Saturday 4th May 2013
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Just fill up every 100 miles!!

Itll give people a chance to see what just scared the crap out of their kids!!

Stu