ChromeDome
Well-Known Member
Our mobo, with two Nanni (Toyota Landcruiser-based) engines, is now 21 years old, 14 of which we have owned her.
Apart from upgrades and ‘necessary’ accessories, it has only had servicing and maintenance. Oil, coolant, and filters plus timing belts every 5 years - approximately.
Never missed a beat. Less can be said about the VDO instruments Nanni has woven into the existing Toyota wiring harness. Sometimes they show the right thing, other times they show the wrong thing – or nothing at all.
On that account, this spring I replaced the tachometers with digital ones and a regular hour meter.
So far, so good.
Recently, the voltmeter on the starboard side stopped working. A couple of seasons of incorrect readings hadn't mattered – there was plenty of power on the boat (both engines charge via a Sure Power battery isolator, all three banks are supplied regardless of whether one or both are running).
At first I thought: New generator. Or refurbished. Probably best to replace both. I browsed to the last page on the internet.
££££
Then I took apart the Nanni panel with the indicator lights, because it's located in the middle of the cobwebs. Something didn't look right inside, so I did a little work with a soldering iron. Nice, I think.
But it didn't help the voltmeter.
Then I connected a multimeter to the voltmeter cable. There was plenty of power and the readings were reasonable, so the voltmeter must be faulty. Best to replace both. A quick check on the internet. £££
To double-check, I connected the voltmeter to a known good power supply using test leads.
Now it worked perfectly!
After thoroughly cleaning the connection on the instrument and “refreshing” the connectors on the cable, everything was back in place and working fine.
Now £0.00
So, from overthinking it at ££££, it ended up costing nothing in the space of an afternoon. And no downtime.
That just leaves one problem: What's saved is earned, so what should I spend the ££££ I've just earned, on?
Apart from upgrades and ‘necessary’ accessories, it has only had servicing and maintenance. Oil, coolant, and filters plus timing belts every 5 years - approximately.
Never missed a beat. Less can be said about the VDO instruments Nanni has woven into the existing Toyota wiring harness. Sometimes they show the right thing, other times they show the wrong thing – or nothing at all.
On that account, this spring I replaced the tachometers with digital ones and a regular hour meter.
So far, so good.
Recently, the voltmeter on the starboard side stopped working. A couple of seasons of incorrect readings hadn't mattered – there was plenty of power on the boat (both engines charge via a Sure Power battery isolator, all three banks are supplied regardless of whether one or both are running).
At first I thought: New generator. Or refurbished. Probably best to replace both. I browsed to the last page on the internet.
££££
Then I took apart the Nanni panel with the indicator lights, because it's located in the middle of the cobwebs. Something didn't look right inside, so I did a little work with a soldering iron. Nice, I think.
But it didn't help the voltmeter.
Then I connected a multimeter to the voltmeter cable. There was plenty of power and the readings were reasonable, so the voltmeter must be faulty. Best to replace both. A quick check on the internet. £££
To double-check, I connected the voltmeter to a known good power supply using test leads.
Now it worked perfectly!
After thoroughly cleaning the connection on the instrument and “refreshing” the connectors on the cable, everything was back in place and working fine.
Now £0.00
So, from overthinking it at ££££, it ended up costing nothing in the space of an afternoon. And no downtime.
That just leaves one problem: What's saved is earned, so what should I spend the ££££ I've just earned, on?
?
.