Spitfliers,
A solid state voltage regulator will work to provide
10V to the dash instruments, but a voltage stabilizer
works better (reliability notwithstanding).
Because the instruments are bimetalic, they are affected
by ambient temperature. A bimetalic "stabilizer" automatically
compensates for the ambient temperature, i.e. takes
longer to heat up if it's cold, therby exactly allowing
for the bimetalic instrument to also receive the extra bit
of boost to keep the reading accurate in cold weather.
The converse is, of course, true for hot weather.
This works because the bimetalic elements in the instrument and
the regulator are virtually identical (and complementary).
This is why voltage stabilizers were still used on many "modern"
cars until recently.
Making an electronic version is not trivial, the voltage
stability is easy-peasy, but the temperature correction requires
look-up-tables, design data, temperature measurement etc.
LBC'ing U,
Bob
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