Toggle switch for gas gauge

[FORD*DIEHARD]

Which of these photos are the correct way to connect the wires to the toggle switch. One shows the middle angled spade on bottom and one shows it on top.

I have the electric tank switch valve but when looking up the wiring I found the different diagram s.

Thank you in advance for your time/help,

Sonny

 

[73azbronco]

Need to be careful, the dash mounted OEM tank selector is only for fuel indication which uses resistance in the tank sensor.

The fuel valve use 12v. I was going to use that very valve but never could come up with a good way to make it work with one switch. Unless you go buy a 9 pole 2 throw switch. Where three are 12v feed, valve one way, valve other, and remaining 6 do what stock switch does.

Th

 

[FORD*DIEHARD]

So you shouldn't use the OEM selector? I just bought a brand new one because that wasn't mentioned.....(minor detail)

What switch is recommended to use? Will it fit in the stock location or will it have to be modified?

If you have pictures/part numbers/where to buy them and how to correctly hook up the wires I would really appreciate it.

Thank you in advance for your time/help,

Sonny

 

[FORD*DIEHARD]

Just found this from BC Broncos.

I didn't see any instructions/diagrams of the back spades on how to hook up the wires. Anyone using this and have pictures of how the wires are connected?

Thank you in advance for your time/help,

Sonny

 

[DirtDonk]

Which of these photos are the correct way to connect the wires to the toggle switch.

Looks to me like either way works as far as your connections are concerned. Which center spade is angled does not really matter.

One shows the middle angled spade on bottom and one shows it on top.

I don't think that aspect matters electrically, though it would be nice if they were consistent in the drawings.

I have the electric tank switch valve but when looking up the wiring I found the different diagrams.

I don't think you need to read anything special into the differences. The concept is the same no matter what.
The switch is simply two separate switches internally. The top row and the bottom row work exactly the same, and are independent of each other. A switch is a switch in this case however, so all it is doing is closing two sets of contacts in the opposite corner of the way the toggle lever is pointed. (I think I may have stated this incorrectly in another recent thread about this. Was that one of your discussions?)

So if your toggle is pointed to the left in either of those diagrams, then the two right side connectors are connected to the two adjacent center posts in their row. For this reason if your switch was only controlling the gauge readings and it ever went bad, then you might be able to save the day without buying a new switch by moving the three original wires to the opposite row.

So ignoring the angle on the center spade terminal for the moment, just do what both diagrams state. Attach your input power wire to the unused center spade, and connect your single valve wire to whichever spade terminal equates to the AUX sender. This way the valve is only activated when the switch is in the AUX position and your main tank runs off of the de-energized valve position.

I have mine using both terminals because I have the motorized valve rather than the single wire solenoid type valve. Works fine.

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

...the dash mounted OEM tank selector is only for fuel indication which uses resistance in the tank sensor

Sort of. But it's the senders themselves that vary the resistance, while the dash mounted switch is simply passing varying amounts of electricity.
The switch does not have it's own resistance valve (other than basic resistances that are in any switch I suppose) but the voltage passing through the switch contacts changes with the position of the sending unit variable resistor.

So if your tank is full, almost 6v is passing through the switch constantly. Or whatever 5-6 volts is, reduced by the roughly 10ohms of the sender before it reaches ground.

I probably did not word that correctly, and someone like Viperwolf could put it correctly. But the point I was making was that the switch is simply passing voltage. Just like any switch on our old vehicles.
In the case of the solenoid valve, it's just 12v rather than a lower value.
I don't know how many amps the switches are rated for, and the motorized valves would use less current in the long run, but apparently plenty of people (and Ford?) figure it's capable of handling the valve too.
Same as later model Ford trucks with dual tanks. Different design switch with it's plastic rocker rather than a metal toggle, but is probably rated the same. Or more if they have to pass any current from a fuel pump too, like I think some of them might.

Paul

 

[Rightpace]

Use relays to power your fuel pumps and your problem is solved. You will only use switch to energize two relays and power/ amperage will be customizable at relay and fused power wire controlling each pump independently. Switch will not be carrying amperage at this point except to energize relay solenoids.

 

[twodogs]

Just found this from BC Broncos.

I didn't see any instructions/diagrams of the back spades on how to hook up the wires. Anyone using this and have pictures of how the wires are connected?

Thank you in advance for your time/help,

Sonny

I can't believe I actually had a pic of mine. The original owner did some wire mods, hence the old electrical tape on the blue one. Hope this helps.

 

[FORD*DIEHARD]

So I finally got the Bronco out of the stable today for the first time in about 5 months, since then a lot of work has been done. But staying on topic, I connected all the wires to my new OEM style toggle switch and for some reason it will read my aux tank but when I flip to my main it reads empty (I know there is fuel because I just put 10 gallons in and it's a brand new (23 gallon Aero tank) with the (23 gallon fuel se ding unit from hyghlnder).
Is there something I could be missing? Where/how do I start to narrow down the issue?

Thank you in advance for your time/help,

Sonny

 

[70 sport WA]

So you shouldn't use the OEM selector? I just bought a brand new one because that wasn't mentioned.....(minor detail)

Others have much better info and recommendations. I will only say that I have two tanks, the dash switch indicator, and all works fine. Seems accurate and does the job.

 

[gnpenning]

So I finally got the Bronco out of the stable today for the first time in about 5 months, since then a lot of work has been done. But staying on topic, I connected all the wires to my new OEM style toggle switch and for some reason it will read my aux tank but when I flip to my main it reads empty (I know there is fuel because I just put 10 gallons in and it's a brand new (23 gallon Aero tank) with the (23 gallon fuel se ding unit from hyghlnder).
Is there something I could be missing? Where/how do I start to narrow down the issue?

Thank you in advance for your time/help,

Sonny

I bought the same unit, since mine won't be installed for awhile the first thing I did was test it and verify, works perfectly. Trust but verify, did you verify?

Anytime you go from a working system to non is to test everything you changed first. Also you could have a bad connection from moving wires and components. Start at the tank and test your wiring, switch and connections. If it is not working properly move forward till you find the issue. If everything works perfectly move back and test, don't forget grounds. Ran into that last night working on a winch. Didn't have a heavy enough ground wire.

Fair warning, after moving things around while testing it may start working telling you it's a connection or wiring problem. Don't let it confuse you.

Hopefully Paul or someone else will clean up and add/fix anything I said.

You got this

 

[billh1289]

So I finally got the Bronco out of the stable today for the first time in about 5 months, since then a lot of work has been done. But staying on topic, I connected all the wires to my new OEM style toggle switch and for some reason it will read my aux tank but when I flip to my main it reads empty (I know there is fuel because I just put 10 gallons in and it's a brand new (23 gallon Aero tank) with the (23 gallon fuel se ding unit from hyghlnder).
Is there something I could be missing? Where/how do I start to narrow down the issue?

Thank you in advance for your time/help,

Sonny

How was the gauge reading with the old switch? Same or accurate to what was known to be in the tanks? If it was accurate one easy test would be to switch the wires at the switch. New part could be bad. If not, check power and ground at the new tank.

 

[lars]

So I finally got the Bronco out of the stable today for the first time in about 5 months, since then a lot of work has been done. But staying on topic, I connected all the wires to my new OEM style toggle switch and for some reason it will read my aux tank but when I flip to my main it reads empty (I know there is fuel because I just put 10 gallons in and it's a brand new (23 gallon Aero tank) with the (23 gallon fuel se ding unit from hyghlnder).
Is there something I could be missing? Where/how do I start to narrow down the issue?

Thank you in advance for your time/help,

Sonny

For what it's worth, the OEM Ford selector switch is just a prettified two position double pole double throw (usually abbreviated DPDT) switch. Other than the appearance of the toggle itself, it's nothing special electrically. In fact when my 50 year old original switch failed last year, I swapped in one of these, because I had a couple on hand, and it happens to be a much better quality switch.

As for the tank reading, disconnect the sender and check the resistance between the sender wire and ground. Full is 10-ish ohms, empty should be around 70. If it's reading closer to the latter, try filling the tank if you haven't already, and try again. If it doesn't approach 10, then it could be a stuck sender, leaking float, broken wire (broken will still read empty) etc.

Good luck.