solid state instrument voltage regulators

[Ghoste]

Yes, I know you can make them yourself for a couple of bucks, but as far as the ready made ones which look stock and plug right into the 2nd gen dash, who has the best deal on them?

[Dino]

RTE specialties.  $50 + $10 shipping. 

It's the IVR4.  The only one that mimicks the original.  You can't tell it's solid state looking at the gauges, they do indeed react like they did with the old limiter.  It's also the only one that will not fry your gauges when something goes wrong.  I didn't like spending $60 but the piece of mind is priceless.

[W4ATL]

The advantage of the IVR4 is that it runs cooler and provides the initial higher voltage to get the gauges reacting faster on startup. The homemade ones using the 7805 voltage regulator chip works but the gauges startup slower and you have to be careful to properly heat sink the regulator. The 7805 runs hot. I run the IVR4 on both my cars.

[mickelsdogs]

GO RTV mess with da rest  u get what u got the greif just moves to the next WEAKEST link . PERFECT NO GUAGE RECLIBRATION  EVEN FUEL GUAGE   

[AirborneSilva]

GO RTV mess with da rest  u get what u got the greif just moves to the next WEAKEST link . PERFECT NO GUAGE RECLIBRATION  EVEN FUEL GUAGE   

I think I just got a nose bleed WTFO 

[Ghoste]

I thought TRV was a type of silicone?

[Cooter]

Built my own using the little thingy from Radio Shack..Works awesome.

[A383Wing]

Built my own using the little thingy from Radio Shack..Works awesome.

yup...me too.....I mounted the 7805 chip on an original limiter to act as a heat sink....gutted the OE one and installed the capacitor inside...

Bryan

[Dans 68]

RTE Specialties. No worries ever....

Dan

[Fred]

RTE Specialties. No worries ever....

Dan

x2

[Highbanked Hauler]

Built my own using the little thingy from Radio Shack..Works awesome.

yup...me too.....I mounted the 7805 chip on an original limiter to act as a heat sink....gutted the OE one and installed the capacitor inside...

Bryan

  Bryan at some point could you explain that because I failed electronics in school

[A383Wing]

  Bryan at some point could you explain that because I failed electronics in school

took one of the OE limiters apart...gutted the points & wiring inside....installed a 100 mirofarad capacitor inside to take care of voltage spikes....then took the little 7805 5v transistor chip and mounted it to the outside of the OE limiter body and soldered wires to the appropriate terminals on the limiter prongs....

then just mount the limiter into the dash as the original was...I would post a pic, but my desktop PC decided to take a crap on me and I'm in the middle of doing a restore from scratch...luckily I had everything backed up on a separate drive externally.....I'll post pic when I can....

My limiter only cost less than $5 from Radio Shack parts...took about 1/2 hour to build....there was a big write up in one of the older Mopar magazines.....granted, it's not as elaborate as the new RTE ones, but I have had these in all my Chargers since the mid 90's...never had one go out yet...all gauges are rock steady....

Bryan

[Ghoste]

You have it wired into the 1st gens as well then?

[bakerhillpins]

Hrm... sounds like something to put on the short list.  Used this same trick to bypass the battery packs on my electric RC Cars in high school. I didn't fail electronics class. 

The 7805 is almost bullet proof. If you are able to work a soldering iron you can easily do what A383Wing suggested. 

Looking forward to seeing some pics.

[mauve66]

when i search for rte specialties in find nothing
rt specialties web site doesn't show anything either....................

[Ghoste]

Try here;

http://rt-eng.com/rte/index.php/Main_Page

[A383Wing]

You have it wired into the 1st gens as well then?

yup....had to gut the limiter out of the gas gauge.....mounted the new one to the rear of the cluster

Bryan

[Ghoste]

Mine is still working in the 67 but I made one of those solid state ones years ago in case it fails.  Have never tried it out so obviously don't know (yet) how to hook it into the stock one.  So if the day ever comes, I need to take the fuel guage apart then, can't just tap in there someplace and ignore it?

[A383Wing]

nope...the limiter that is in the fuel gauge must be omitted, if the points inside are closed and you connect the transistor limiter, smoke will be let out, somewhere....not a good thing.

Bryan

[Ghoste]

Gotcha.    Although won't it already all be smoked if my limiter fails?

[A383Wing]

what I meant was if you install the new limiter without gutting the old one.....more smoke will occur

the points inside the OE fuel gauge must be taken out....just because the wire that wraps around the bi-metal strip inside is smoked, that does not mean the points are open....the wire heating the metal strip opens the points...think of it as a flasher

Bryan  (not sure if I'm explaining it right...it's getting hard to make the fingers type what I'm thinking)

[y3chargerrt]

The only real drawback to using the 7805 is it will get hot.

[mauve66]

seems like they have instructions for 1st gen folks to follow

http://rt-eng.com/rte/index.php/RTE_Gauge_Faq#Fixing_dash_clusters_that_have_internal_limiters

http://rt-eng.com/rte/images/e/e7/InternalLimiterFixUsingIVR3.pdf

[AKcharger]

what I meant was if you install the new limiter without gutting the old one.....more smoke will occur

the points inside the OE fuel gauge must be taken out....

Wait wait...you're just talkin 1st gen's right???

[A383Wing]

yes, first Gen Chargers and the "A" body cars with Ralley dash cluster such as 67-69 Barracuda's

Basically, if fuel gauge has 3 terminals on it, the limiter inside must be removed....if gas gauge only has 2 terminals, it will have an external limiter that can be just swapped out with a transistorized one

Bryan