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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1102
 
Location: Hayward, Calif | Hey Guys, 59 Chrys, Can I just remove the wires from the amp ga. and put them on a voltmeter. The wire harness is in good shape so plan to use it. Also an alternator will be installed. Very high probability of A/C also will be installed, so will need a high amp alt. There is a multiple fuse box in this harness. I would really like to accomplish this without creating overloaded circuits and the resulting disaster. thanks, Jerry |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 8443
  
Location: Perth Australia | Jerry
You join the amp meter wires together if its a full current flow type (big fat wires going to it)
Your volt meter wires just pick up off any (almost) ignition source and a ground (frame) so it only comes on when the key is on
A small nut and bolt can be used to join the amp meter wires and best to insulate it with dual wall heat shrink (like what you use to fix the shift cable for the trans)
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1102
Location: Hayward, Calif | Mick, OK, thats about what I was thinking, just hoping someone could validate where I was going with this. The ampmeter was tampered with so will put it back in the cluster so appears as all the gauges are there. Between the ga clusters is dome shaped piece that originally housed a clock, so will mount the voltmeter in it. Auto Meter makes some Mopar ga's that looks close to the stock ga cluster. Thanks, Jerry |
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Expert
Posts: 1906
Location: Ontario, Canada | To hook the two ammeter wires together routes all the charging current all the way to that point and then all the way back to the battery. As was done originally. Maybe not the best idea when using a "high amp" alternator??
Greg |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 524
Location: West Jordan | You need a relay, or your volt meter will be “on” all the time the way you are talking about. You can still use the wires but you want to run them both to the 30 terminal of the relay, 87 goes to the gauge +. You could also attach both wires to the positive of the gauge and relay the ground, less cutting wires that way. But if you are going to do any upgrades to the alternator I would run a 10 gauge or 8 gauge wire from alternator to battery +, wire size depends on alternator output and length of wire. Or we convert amp meters to voltmeters. You retain the stock look of the amp meter but it is actually a volt meter, we set them up so a letter in gauge name is 14 volts, for example if marked “amp meter” the “t” is 14 volts. |
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Expert
Posts: 2312
Location: Arizona | As a suggestion for a voltmeter there are many very inexpensive digital ones on ebay and amazon, less than 10 bucks, with several choices of color for the lit up numbers. I put one in my Dodge down by the parking brake release. These draw very little power so I left it so it's on all the time and I can just look in the window and see the state of the battery.
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 voltmeter guage.jpg (109KB - 121 downloads)
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Expert
Posts: 3778
Location: NorCal | rushpowersystems - 2015-08-24 11:28 PM
You need a relay, or your volt meter will be “on” all the time the way you are talking about.
Or simply hook the (+) wire on the volt meter to the IGN terminal on the ignition switch. Hook the (-) wire on the voltmeter to a good ground. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 524
Location: West Jordan | That would work but keep in mind you are reading wires with a load on them, which is fine, the gauge will be off by 1/2 to 1 volt depending on the quality of the gauge and the additional load. also be sure to tape up the amp meter wires, or remove them from the system. if they ground out you will have a bad day. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1102
Location: Hayward, Calif | I took a quick check on that wire harness yesterday, got interrupted so didn't get finished. there is a red wire, looks about a 12 ga from batt side of starter solenoid goes to amp ga then to ign switch. I think I will elimanate this circuit. There is also a 10 ga wire on the starter solenoid I think it goes to the ign switch but didn't get it traced out yet. The wires going to the old gen. are 14 or 16 ga so I will have to replace them with heavier ga wiring. The eng/trans and accessories are coming out of a 76 Dodge Minnie Winnie camper truck type vechicle. Was planning to use that alt and reg unless the amps are way too high. I'm thinking this 59 Dodge harness will handle about 50 amps when A/C gets turned on, although this car was probably originally set up for a 35 amp sys. Hope I'm not expecting too much from these old wires. Jerry |
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Expert
Posts: 3778
Location: NorCal |
Best way to relieve the strain on the old wires is to power high-current devices through an ISO relay that draws current directly from the battery. |
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Amp to Voltmeter
