Blew up Autometer Electric Speedo

[Northern Goat]

In the process of doing an LS conversion and added a full set of Ultra Lite electric gauges. Hooked up power, ground and speed sensor wires (no signal from ECU as the ECU was no installed).
Day 1 and all is good. Gauges all sweep and Speedo shows 2 km. Continue to check all other electrical items run from the dash and all is good.
Day 2 everything works except the Speedo. No sweep, no odometer only backlighting works. Even jacked up the car and ran it but o speed signal.
Called Autometer and they say it’s my fault even though they cannot tell me what I did wrong.
Now obviously not happy about having to shell out to buy a new Speedo, but I’m more concerned about what could have gone wrong so I don’t blow another gauge up.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[dhutton]

My initial thought is that the signal from the ECU is a 5 volt signal and the one from the speed sensor is a 12 volt signal. This is purely a guess but something you could look into. Best way to proceed is to check the speed sensor signal with an oscilloscope if you know someone who has one. Maybe you are missing a pullup resistor but that would not explain why it worked initially.

[Joseph From Auto Meter]

Hey Andy.

Saw this thread cruising the forums. I wanted to apologize if you weren't treated properly by a member of my technical staff. That is not the way we train our people and as professional technicians, not the way we act. We've done the same thing for over 50 years and our reputation as a company with top notch technical help is incredibly important to us. If you know the name of the person you spoke to at my company, please PM it to me and i will personally talk to them.

With that said, I'd like to offer my help in getting your speedometer problems rectified. The odometer showing nothing under any circumstance is a big clue. When the unit is initially powered up, does the needle jump to the 12 o'clock position and then zero out or is it dead as well? How big is the inline fuse on the speedo itself? The lighting circuit should be a totally separate power supply so I want to verify that we're working properly in that regards.

Also, what type of speedo sensor are you using (does it have 2 or 3 wires)? I can get you an easy test procedure for either using a standard DVOM (a scope is always nice, but most of us don't have one kicking around the garage).

Let me know and I'll get this sorted out for you. Again, I sincerely apologize that your experience with our tech department wasn't a good one. I will do my best to make this situation right for you and get you back up and running.

Thanks for your patience and your business.

Joseph
Auto Meter Products

[CarlC]

Joseph,

Thank you for stepping in and offering your assistance.

[Northern Goat]

Thanks for your response Joseph. I called back today and talked to Corey and was very happy with his response. While we haven't determined the cause, Corey did ask me to send the gauge to your service department and that you will make it right. Which is greatly appreciated.

Just to fill you in:
I am using a 1 amp fast burn inline fuse
I have the an Ultra Lite Tach and four other gauges and they appear to be working properly
When we first turned the key, the gauge did sweep and the odometer read 2kms. The next day everything else worked properly but the gauge did not sweep and the odometer is not reading anything. The speed signal is coming from an LS2 ECU, but was not installed at the time. I have since installed the ECU and am taking the signal from the ECU.

[Northern Goat]

I learned a valuable lesson in dealing with Manufacturers. If something does not pass the sniff test call back, because they can't control what their staff tell customers.
I never doubted Autometer's commitment to their customer and was quite taken back by the response I received from the customer service rep (the one that said I was screwed). Upon calling a second time and speaking to a more educated representative and not to mention Joseph's interjection the matter is resolved. I just received a brand new warranty replacement guage and I am once again a happy camper.
Thanks to Autometer for their great customer service.

[Gandalf]

That's great news Andy - pays to keep a cool head even when these situations arise. Well done.

Joseph - well done for stepping-in. Things like this don't go un-noticed in this community so thanks.

I want to add my 2c by saying I had an excellent experience of your tech staff ("Brett") on Friday. It was completely an exploratory conversation based on a custom scenario. He took the time to explain the options and more importantly to me - WHY those were my options. I found him completely knowledgable not only on the gauge side but in discussing the standards and signals involved.

G.

[Joseph From Auto Meter]

I'm thrilled we were able to get this properly sorted. We don't have many issues with our instruments, but when there is one we want to do right by the customer and fix it. I've made sure to forward this thread along to our staff. Thanks for the understanding!

[crustysack]

I will have to agree that Autometer is a great company with top notch customer service. I have had to call them on 2 separate occasions regarding technical installation info for gauges into a LS1 swap into a 65 GTO. The answers I received were direct and helped me solve the problems immediately. I recommend Autometer to everyone but I usually let the dash do most of the talking for me