> At 10:23 PM +0000 1/13/98, Scott Gardner wrote:
> > My brother's BMW had the 1/4-tank marks spaced unevenly
> >along the face of the gauge, but they were accurate. Perhaps this
> >was to compensate for problems with the gauge?
>
> A fuel tank sender is a variable resistor. The uneven spacing of
lines on
> a guage is because the resistance output of the sender is not linear
per
> quantity of fuel in the tank.
>
> CTP
>
>Which begs the question, "Why aren't all cars done this way?". Is
>there a way that other automakers use to get linear output from the
>sender? I would think that this would be a pretty mature technology
>by now.
I haven't seen the BMW gauge, but I'll be the marks are farther apart
towards the empty end. When the tank's full, you don't often care if
it's 7/8 or 15/16 full. On the other hand, it may make a big difference
whether the tank's 1/8 or 1/16 full. The precision is put where it
makes a difference.
Matt Kulka
Who used to own a
'60 VW Beetle - which was built without a gas gauge at all.
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