Gauge replacement
 

Hey all, I decided to update my original dash with a new set of sierra/Teliflex Eclipse series gauges and a new switch panel. I replaced the tach and replaced a broken amp gauge with an hour meter with no problem. However when I got to the trim and temp gauges I noticed on each gauge their seems to be a small black fuse like element linking two of the terminals together . It started to get dark and it was really hard to see it . What is this about any help Would be appreciated,,,1988 evinrude 175 !!

Truthfully, I have no idea. But, with all the movement to LED lights instead of filaments, I wouldn't be surprised if that was a resistor to reduce the 12v current to what the LED uses. Again, this is just a guess. :beer:

i should have explained it better. This black link or resister as you called it is on my original gauges from the 80's

I would tend to think it doesn't matter... Just hook up the new ones as directed and don't sweat what was on the old ones...
Just my $.02

Oh,that's the plan Smoke,i was just curious . As soon as the sun comes up and I have my captain crunch with crunch berries of course.. I'm on it. I'm not scared!!!!

Amp gauge not volt gauge?pictures will help, you sure that wasn't on the amp gauge?. You will need to check the wiring on the amp gauge if it had a heavy wires run to it, if it did, go back to the engine, find the two wires and hook them together, they should be red and orange. If the amp guage had small wires run to it, then it was just a shunt on the gauge to make it read amps and yor wiring should be fine

Thanks spare, it was absolutely the trim and temp gauges. I replaced them this morning and the trim gauge worked fine. I couldn't start the engine at 9 am on Sunday so I couln't make sure the temp gauge worked but I'll run it tomorrow.

I installed all my new gauges and everything is working well. I have started on my new switch panel and traced out and tested almost every wire. I see that I have two wires powering the windshield wiper motor. can someone shed some light on that please? thanks

One is constant hot for self park feature and the other is switched

Got all my wiring done dashand gauges are working well . Not to bad it took me about 2 days.

I remember reading a thread recently where someone had asked if connecting an hour meter to the tach is a good idea or a no no, I decided to put in an hour meter just to prove to myself how much time I don't spend on my boat..

i'm a big fan of hour meters, makes regular maintenance easier.
i use these on my smaller outboards

http://www.amazon.com/Docooler-Induc...+small+engines