The factory or dealer installed voltmeter gets connected to ignition-switched fuse 13 -- working only when the key is in KP-II, where it is normally when the motor is running. I prefer to have the voltmeter available before, during, and after cranking, but this expanded-scale volt gauge uses about 0.05 amps -- too much to just leave on the battery.

The 200 ignition switch provides a terminal "S" that is connected to battery whenever the key is in the lock. On our earlier 200's ('83 and '84 for example) this terminal was conveniently available on fuse 4. The wiring changed, and the later models run terminal S directly to the seat belt/key reminder chime.

This is great news for simplicity and speed to install, and that is the other "why" for my approach. Only two wires are required assuming we don't leave our keys in the ignition switch, the added 0.1A drain from the gauge illumination is acceptable.

I prepared the voltmeter with about 24" of 20-gauge wire. These accessory gauges never needed dimming, in my opinion, so the light is run in tandem.



Then, I pulled down the knee pad (airbag cars will have the bolster) and located the chime in the blue box.



The clock is slipped into the dash using the rubber spacers, in this case, below the small clock already occupying the upper slot. Its wiring is connected to the black and white/red wires that go to the chime.



You can splice your favorite way, Scotchlocks, solder, whatever. I am fine with splitting the strands and wrapping with the piggyback lead, and then using vinyl electrical tape to insulate the splice. The advantage is the load we are tapping does not consume much, meaning voltage drop is negligible, and its source is the ignition switch -- the point of distribution for all the vital electrical needs of the car beyond cranking.



Now I can see the battery any time the key is in. And wiring the gauge and light couldn't have been simpler.




--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible. - George Burns

This was a handy guide. Thanks for your - as always - thoroughness.

I just put a voltmeter in a 1991 240. It seemed easy enough to run a wire to fuse 13.

I used a split Y-spade to jumper the hot to the light; and I took the ground off the small clock.

I put the voltmeter above the clock.
--
240 drivers / parts cars - JH, Ohio

Art
I just discovered this thread 6 months after it started, I'm on the ball! Would this work to monitor voltage during starting?

I took over my daughters 4 year old battery and gave her a nice new one as it is getting old and seemed to be slowing down if you will. At least I will be able to deal with it when it's had enough.
Thanks
Dan

Would this work to monitor voltage during starting?

Yes. That's the "why" part of the thread -- or at least my why. The needle is pretty close to the bottom during cranking, but not resting on the peg.

Batteries last a lot longer up here in the frozen part of the South. But when it quits, I'm hoping to get some better warning next time from the gauge. What brand did you settle on? My last two were the kind Walmart carries - Maxx something. They keep showing up in Consumer's Reports - maybe because those 47's are getting hard to find.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.

Art
Got it installed, the hard part was finding and removing the chime relay!

Turned on the key, it reads 10 volts damn what did I do wrong? Try to start the engine and nothing happens, great what did I screw up now?

For the fun of it I check the battery voltage and it reads 10 volts. Looks like I should have installed it yesterday although the engine turned over noticeably slower yesterday giving me the only warning I got before it was dead. At least it happened in my driveway.

Off to Walmart and get another Maxx my wife gets this one and I get another several year old hand me down. At least I can monitor the voltage as it dies!
Thanks for the great idea.

Dan

Art
I used to buy new blems group 46 from a local battery store but they can't get them any more. The last two I got the Everstart Maxx group 48 from Walmart, which is probably manufactured locally by Johnson Controls. The Maxx and one from Costco consistently go better in revues I have seen.

You don't need to tell me about heat killing batteries, I have lived it for the last 40 years. The last one that died in my car was slow to start in the morning and would not start after work that afternoon. That is why my daughters get replaced preemptively and I get the old soon to fail battery, it adds excitement to my life!
Dan

As I get closer to getting my voltmeter (OEM) installed on my '92 245DL, the more excited I become. I do have a question concerning accessing the chimer (schematic #94) wires, R-W and SB. This chimer is hard to access even after unlatching it from its mount. There is very limited length of wire harness to easily bring those wires conveniently into reach. I disconnected the chimer and have drawn the socket up, so, now I'm working through the cavity in dash with the gauge cluster removed. Still, it's a struggle. Due to the limited space, I'm using Scotch-Lok connectors. I have yet to get one Scotch-Lok connector to adequately secure to its intended chimer harness wire. One connector broke when squeezed with slip-joint pliers. In a second attempt, the gauge wire slipped from the connector as I was squeezing the connection with the pliers. I had to pry the connector off the R-W wire. I used a few short lengths of heat shrink tube to pair up the two wires coming from the gauge. So, with this setup, if I get the first connector to mate properly, and the second one fails in gripping the intended harness wire, I'll have more struggle to work the wire connection.

I'm using 20AWG wire. Unfortunately, I am stuck with 18-14 AWG Scotch-Lok connectors. I used heat shrink at the end of the gauge wires to fix the problem of the gauge wire slipping out of the connector. This builds up the circumference of the 20AWG and with it, it fits snuggly into the connector.

This brings me to a few ideas I need comment on. I noticed a few other R-W wires in the area that are more accessible. Just need to know if they would cause the gauge to function as it would connected to the chimer. One R-W wire with female socket is the one that would attach to the small tach. I currently do not have a tach. The second idea it to splice into the R-W wire leading to the circular connector (31/3) on the gauge cluster. Ground might attach to the "half moon" connector (32/4).

I noticed in your photo that you have sufficient length of harness to drop the chimer and work from below. It doesn't seem that way with my circumstance. As you know the wires lead into a larger harness that is wrapped in black-vinyl tape.

Any tips?

For the fun of Volvos,
Mike
--
'83 245 GLT, '92 245DL, '90 760 GLT

Hey Mike,

You are right.

I have an airbag car to look at, with the dash off. There are only 4" of wire between that chime plug and the bundle on that car. And dropping it straight down like in my photo is not likely to be as easy and open with the cruise actuator in the way. I hadn't thought your mileage would vary quite that much.

No, there are not any other white/red wires you want for the gauge. The object of having the gauge on the key-insert circuit can only be had by getting that one particular white/red. The ground, could come from any place.

Scotchlocks are great time savers, but only reliable when you have the right size. You might get it to stop wiggling on the insulation, but the size is really made for the wire itself. Someone needs to invent a close-quarters splice using insulation displacement -- sort of like a miniature Scotchlock, but with a built-in pigtail and a long install tool. Otherwise we suffer with scraped knuckles and unraveling gooey harness tape.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

King Ozymandias of Assyria was running low on cash after years of war with the Hittites. His last great possession was the Star of the Euphrates, the most valuable diamond in the ancient world. Desperate, he went to Croesus, the pawnbroker, to ask for a loan.

Croesus said, "I'll give you 100,000 dinars for it".

"But I paid a million dinars for it," the King protested. "Don't you know who I am? I am the king!"

Croesus replied, "When you wish to pawn a Star, makes no difference who you are."

I have good news to report on the installation of a voltmeter on a '92 245. Your installation procedure works as advertised. I can remember the chimer on my '83 dangling like low hanging fruit. Not so on the '92, so many additional things crowding the limited space. It's like reaching into a funnel.

Patience and planning helped overcome the barriers. To prevent the Scotch-Lok from slipping on the R-W wire, I wrapped that wire with black vinyl tape, about 1 and 1/2 turns. This held that wire in the connection snuggly. If I saw that black tape exposed, I knew the connector slipped on the R-W wire. (On my first attempts reported on here earlier, I had cut through the insulation and wanted to cover these cuts with the protection of the connector.) About a 1/4" from the end of the voltmeter wire I set about a 1" length of black heat shrink shrunk to wrap tight around that wire. To this I wrapped a layer of red vinyl tape cut narrow so that it would not be seen once that wire was inserted into the Scotch-Lok. If I saw red, I knew that wire had slipped out of position. Without these, it was very difficult to hold it all together at the end of the "funnel" and then squeeze the connector latch with slip joint pliers.

I investigated connecting to the R-W wire right out of the "S" terminal from the ignition switch. Concluded that it's really crowded there and didn't want to separate the plug. Decided to go back to the chimer.

Thanks for the support. Nice project. I look forward to enjoying this newest feature.

For the fun of Volvos,
Mike
--
'83 245 GLT, '92 245DL, '90 760 GLT

I meant for it to be a lot easier, but the details of your success should be a great help to someone. Thanks for writing this.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Duct tape is like 'The Force'. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

Thank you Art, for this great tutorial.

I am ready to put a voltmeter in my wagon and then I thought, could I just swap out the non-working clock (till I get-around-to-it and fix it per your other post on that) ?

Does the voltmeter use any more current than a clock ?
--
84 244GL and 85 245DL

On which car?

The voltmeter uses about 100 times more current than the clock, but still little enough it might last a couple weeks directly on the battery. I wouldn't leave it in the long term lot while on a cruise.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Dancing cheek-to-cheek is really a form of floor play.

Thanks Art. It's for the 85 245.

--
84 244GL and 85 245DL

Thanks for this post Art!!! This is exactly what I was looking for!!! You are the best!!!!!

Hello Art:
I just love the pictures you have posted. I have a series of photos I took while I was installing the IPD polyurethane rear trailing arm bushings on a 93 245 using the homebrew tool. I modified the proceedure a bit from the IPD directions and would like to post it here.
BUT, I am not savvy on how to do it.
Could you please post on how to set up a series of pictures to show a proceedure?
Thanks,
el raidman

Thanks! Here's my opinion--

Not quite as easy as on some forums, but possible:

Get it down to 4 images or less* - preferably 640x480 and less than 60kB. Host them somewhere, like photobucket, if the Brickboard Gallery is too confusing.

Then include their URLs in your post using the img src= html tag surrounded by less-than and greater-than arrows.

* Brickboard thinks you're spamming if you include more than 4 links, I guess.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am.

Nice. After I did the big tach small clock replacement, I always thought that the panel looked out of balance. The second gauge finishes it up.

One additional thought - if you wanted to put the gauge light in the dimming curcuit, you could just as easily tap into the small clock light wiring. If I recall correctly, the feed from the tach is in that circuit.

And a question - how reliable in terms of accuracy is the volt gauge, and do they lose sensitivity over time? Your picture indicates a reading of about 14 volts - I assume the car was running when you took the picture?

if you wanted to put the gauge light in the dimming curcuit, you could just as easily tap into the small clock light wiring.

Certainly could do that, but having done it before, I know it wouldn't be "just as easily."

Good point about the accuracy. In an earlier post (years ago) I reported doing some tests on the gauge to learn the heat generated by the lamp inside did have a small effect on the voltage displayed. If you want better than a +/- 0.5V accuracy, you're better off getting a digital device, something like this aftermarket example.


--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Art, I looked at eguage at your suggestion and found lots of beautiful guages. I want to order one, but don't know which guage I actually need. Please advise me. Thanks in advance, Ken.

I had VDO "Cockpit" oil pressure and voltmeter gauges in the 83 for some time, and thought they were an excellent match for the look of the gauges in the instrument cluster. This was in '84 or so, but egauges.com still list them.

I had the proper snap-in bezels, but no rubber feet to secure the gauges, so just wrapped them in layers of vinyl electrical tape until they were a gentle force fit into their receptacles.

The VDO "Vision" gauges are close in appearance to the Cockpit, but use a larger light bulb to illuminate - I think a #194 or similar wedge-base.
--
Bob: son's 81-GL, dtr's '94-940, my 83-DL, 89-745(V8) and 98-S90. Also 77-MGB and some old motorcycles.

Hi Ken,

I don't know either. You have to look at them and see which looks most like it matches, I suppose. I bought a VDO gauge from them once, and I think it was the Vision series.

The problem with getting the aftermarket gauge is you will still need the bezel and rubber isolators that are Volvo parts.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

"A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: "Duh." (Conan O'Brien)

If it wasn't for ART i would another of the minions driving a honda!!!

I just now came in from mounting the heater back in the Yellow Peril, now that it has finally
gotten temperate enough to work outside. Being a 73, it was quite a job getting it out and
a fair job refurbing it with cannibalized 1976 240 heater parts, and dash parts still fill the back
seat and some of the space behind it.
Your post made me wonder if that S terminal is also on the later 140s. The ignition switch
has LOTS of things connected to it and I don't think they are very well identified.
One thing I DID find was the annoying seat belt buzzer, btw.
Would you guess that the 73 model 145 has the S terminal to hook the voltmeter up to?
How would I find it?
Many thanks!

George, the closest reference I have is a really early Haynes 240 book, claiming to cover 74-77. Its electrical wiring diagram is dated 1974 (and the first 240 is '75), and it shows the "S" terminal on the ignition switch dotted-line to fuse #9 - using the same white/red color. I think it would be safe for you to assume the S terminal exists if 240 didn't bring a brand new switch, especially if you pull the plug off of the ignition switch and see a white/red wire in its cabling.

Someone surely has volvo docs for the 140, right?


--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life. - Herbert Henry Asquith

Art

The S terminal is present in the '73 wiring digram. This is the diagram in the Haynes 140 book.

It is wired a bit different than your '74 description. In fact it seems to foreshadow your later models description.

S goes to the warning buzzer which is apparently only a reminder for 'key in ignition' and from there it grounds via the door switch.

I looked at the '74 140 diagram. It matches your '74 description.
--
'80 DL 2 door, '89 DL Wagon

This is a great contribution. Thanks. Where can I get a voltmeter and small tach? I want to get my brick some bling. ( did I just coin a word?....brickbling?.....)

Look for the original Volvo gauges on Ebay, or if you decide you'd like something that looks similar but is about 20 years newer (and therefor more likely to be trouble-free), see:
http://www.egauges.com/vdo_grou.asp?Series=Vision

I've recently installed oil pressure and voltmeter from this series, and am very pleased.

John

John

Thank you very much for the information. I think I might try the eguages.com route for the reason you mentioned. I am excited. Thanks.
Ken

Very nice Art.

The why part is not so evident. In all my 240's, sometime around 150K to 200K, the brushes wear out. When you're a neophyte like me, or a 17 year old that is strangely attractive to old Volvos, you don't replace the brushes preemptively unless you have a voltmeter that tells you that trouble's brewin' and you spend some "educational" time on the BB. In fact, now that I've had problems with alternators on every single 240 I've owned, I've learned that a spare (rebuilt) alternator on the shelf is a good investment, especially when I get a call at 10pm from sonny boy stranded 100 miles away. The problem is that in most vehicles, the alternator along with the car is in the junk yard, while our cars are still on the road, and these alternators do wear out.

I've since installed a cigarette lighter volt meter that works swell, but certainly a nice orig Volvo meter is much more attractive and, of course, frees up the cig lighter for some other 12v accessory.

Nice job Art.

Marty

Hi Marty,

You caught me -- yes I was freeing up the cigar lighter jack for a road trip -- Mrs. B loves her second female voice in the car telling us where to turn (re-calculating woman - that second voice), which leaves no room for that nifty voltmeter you sent me. The other "why" is the gauge was just moldering in a box of stuff I pulled from our deceased 84.

Of all the road trouble I've encountered in a Volvo, battery failure or lack of charging for one reason or another - not always short brushes - has repeated more than any other issue. The idiot light is useless in most of those cases.

An alternator on the shelf is truly a good idea when you have several of the same kind of old car.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

The cardiologist's diet: If it tastes good spit it out. - Unknown

Thanks for another clear and concise procedure! Also, the pictures are terrific! If I may ask, what camera did you use?

Best,
Tom

Thank you Tom. My toolbox camera is a Nikon 995 - almost 10 years old. Its swivel lens is great for taking a picture looking up from the floor mat.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. - Mark Twain