How do I test my rally gauges

[hsb shadow]

I'm going to start going through my rally dash in the next couple of weeks and I was wondering if anybody had a write up for testing. I bought a rebuilt gauge set for my other cuda but some of the work inside was just terrible and had to be redone. The current car probably hasn't been on the road in over 30 years so I'm not sure the status of all the gauges. Thanks in advance

 

[Sinitro]

Is the ralley dash cluster out of the car??
Then EZ to test each guage on the bench.

Just my $0.02..

 

[Challenger RTA]

 

[Sinitro]

Basically the oil, temp and fuel gauges are a 5V dc gauge. Using some AA cells wired in series across each gauge, it should read about 70% scale. If no reading then bad gauge..

Just my $0.02...

 

[Xcudame]

If you haven't already, you'd be wise to purchase a $60 electronic voltage regulator from Real Time Engineering. The OEM regulator shorts out and drops 12 volts dc to the 5 volts dc gauges making them non-functional.
RTE limiter - rte

 

[hsb shadow]

Thanks for the info. I just pulled the dash and hope to be looking at the cluster over the next two weeks. From my reading so far you can check three of the four gauges by putting five volts across it but you're supposed to do something different with the amp gauge or you'll blow it out is that correct

 

[Sinitro]

If you haven't already, you'd be wise to purchase a $60 electronic voltage regulator from Real Time Engineering. The OEM regulator shorts out and drops 12 volts dc to the 5 volts dc gauges making them non-functional.
RTE limiter - rte

The RTE limiter is an awesome product but..
The 1 thing I dislike about the RTE limiter is that the Mopar OE dash gauges have a built-in thermal system that needs to warm up, and with the RTE's lower voltage output this takes a few minutes. Note that the OE voltage limiter applies a higher voltage just for an instant, which warms up the gauges faster when the ignition switch is turned ON so they are more accurate faster. My experience is with the RTE limiter the gauges will read about 25% lower until they warm up, this can take a few minutes. My recommendation to RTE would be to redesign using an inexpensive, smart processor that applies a higher voltage just for an instant upon ignition turn ON, and this will heat up the gauges thermal system faster...

Just my $0.02...

 

[Sinitro]

Thanks for the info. I just pulled the dash and hope to be looking at the cluster over the next two weeks. From my reading so far you can check three of the four gauges by putting five volts across it but you're supposed to do something different with the amp gauge or you'll blow it out is that correct

Correcto..
By applying a low DC voltage across the gauge's contacts, it should read something.. If nothing then the gauge is bad..
This applies to the gas , water temp an oil pressure gauges not the amp..

Just my $0.02...

 

[moparleo]

It doesn't hurt to let the car /oil/coolant to warm up anyway. It takes longer for those to warm up than your gauges.
These are 50 year old cars people. Things took longer back then when people had more patience.