VU meter driver cards: Measuring? DIY kits? Where? 24V DC?

[Reptil]

I came into the posession of a fair number of VU meters. (none damaged thankfully) As there are some large ones, I guess they need some amplification.
Does anybody know a resource, where to get this? (I prefer a DIY kit, but a finished amp would also be fine.)
How can I find out what card I need for which VU? The PSU of the gear I want to use it with is 24 V DC or +/- 15V. Do I just measure the resistance, ampify the signal, and feed it to the VU?
There are also some smaller ones, maybe I can connect these directly?
Then, when setting these up, what is the correct way of realigning those?
How do I generally go about this?
Thank you for helping me out. I'm not a tech at all, but learning.
Cheers,
Reptil

[Tim Farrant]

Big VU meters do not need anymore power than smaller ones! Most VU meters will have an internal rectifier and a resistor to calibrate it (approx) to +4dBu = 0VU with an external 3600 ohm resistor in series. VU's can be directly connected across a balanced or unbalanced (hot/cold) line BUT they do generate distortion due to the rectifier diodes. Best to have a simple opamp buffer between the line and the meter.

I made a batch of such buffers to retro fit to an Ampex MM1200 years ago. I might still have some boards left over if that is of any interest to you. They ran on +24V.

Cheers
Tim.

[Reptil]

Hi Tim,
that would be very kind!
I've sent you a PM,
cheers,
Reptil

[wiz1der]

Originally Posted by Reptil

I came into the posession of a fair number of VU meters.

Do you care to maybe help a poor soul out with a pair? I would need a buffer board also Tim, depending on how many you have.



I got paypal.

Let me know.

[Reptil]

sure thumbsup but I have to know first which ones are usable and which are not, this might take a while.. It's a box with random VU, amp, voltage and more kinds of meters

FYI I got these on evilbay, from the UK
in the US these are offered regularly
******//search.ebay.com/search/search...trypage=search