Amp meter / volt meter

[duncan scott]

Bit of technical advice needed.
Sarah’s charger has a charge discharge gauge in the dash. Question is does it measure voltage or amps ? Car is a 1971 charger


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[ScottyDave]

Pretty sure its Amps I have one in my 73 Charger. I'm going do a bypass on it as the back of the gauge got stupidly hot.

[MattH]

They are all designed as amps and one of the big problems with our cars, that ALL the power from the alternator goes through it before anywhere else. Many fires have started here. Worth bypassing it.

Steve did a brilliant article on here about this, Ive done it but now have no charge indication, but i do have a bit of peace of mind.

[Blue]

The whole charging system isn't especially good or reliable, even new alternators and regulators fail with alarming regularity. If you are not totally hung up on originality, changing to the bombproof Denso alternator is a very good upgrade. Mancini racing among others stock conversion brackets and you can fit a charge light which can usually be fitted unobtrusively on the dash somewhere.

[morgan]

Search for 'madelectrical' - plenty of bits abiut it. Do the bypass, fit a voltmeter.

[duncan scott]

Yeah decided to not use it as most amp meters are designed for a max of sixty amps. I’ve fitted a modern 90 amp alternator so no chance of the gauge putting up with that. Shame as I did want the whole gauge cluster working and I hate extra gauges randomly appearing because of such things. I can be a pedantic prick sometimes. I annoy myself.
On the upside I got all the under bonnet wires run today and the engine side of things all terminated. Started to sort the light loom out but then got called to dinner so that’s it for today. I’ll get Sarah to start a build thread in the garage section soon.


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[morgan]

Doesnt have to be on show. I'll post a pic of how I did it - hidden in the ashtray ! Ammeter just stays in the middle when disconnected.

In fact here ya go - its still on here -
Redneck engineering voltmeter £1.76 and hidden. http://www.moparuk.com/forums/viewtopic ... =voltmeter

The whole bypass-your-ammeter thread. Invaluable. Do it !
http://www.moparuk.com/forums/viewtopic ... voltmeter

[MrNorm]

And if you want to keep the gauges looking original you can retrofit a voltmeter in place of your original ammeter, but keep the existing face, or modify it so it shows voltage but still looks original. A number of people have done this and there are some examples out there on the web - particularly IIRC for a Charger (there is a cheapo sun? voltmeter that fits nicely)

[Dave999]

or you do as i did recently

and i don't recommend it its a pain in the behind

trace every inch of the wire from the battery up to the ammeter
then trace wire from the alternator up to the splice in the loom
then trace the wires from the splice to the ammeter fuse box and off to the horn and lights
repair any damage

clean up all contacts re wrap in cling tape
dismantle ammeter renew or repair the insulation around its studs so they can't short on the metal gauge housing
put it all back with spiky washers and locktite and wrap the whole lot in tape.

then

never use an over specified battery and never use a more than 45 amp alternator so you can never push the full 45 amps through the wire and gauge when the battery is 70% flat

by-passing the bullets in the bulkhead connector, for the red battery wire and the black alternator wire would be a good idea.
that is the standard set up on all aussie cars but on US cars the power goes through bullet connectors in the bulkhead connector.

i was prompted to do this due to previous owners potentially 20 year old bodgery finally coming unstuck battery lead had a corroded connector hidden half way up the under bonnet loom wrapped in tape and in a plastic conduit. when i found it it fell to bits.

car runs way better now.

ammeter isn't a bad thing its just not a very good thing with hindsight
mine works so i left it. i may regret it but have had 14 years worth of trouble free service before i needed to do anything

dave