Re: Aftermarket Voltmeter Connect

[John Hofstetter <hofs@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

on 7/24/03 10:51 PM, jwgeorge at jwgeorge@domain.elided wrote:

> OK,
> I am going to all aftermarket gauges (yes, round) and I am wondering
> about the voltmeter connections.
> I pulled the volt/fuel gauge out once and noticed some pretty heavy duty
> wires coming out of the voltmeter side.

As Colin says, unless you added a voltmeter, you don't have a voltmeter. You
have a ammeter. Voltmeters require only very small gauge wires to read the
voltage in the system.

In the case of the ammeter, all the current except the starter's draw goes
through the ammeter. That's both the charge from the alternator and the draw
from the rest of the system.

My Scout has a kind of compromise system. I added the Ford solenoid and used
that as a terminal so that the alternator current doesn't go inside the
firewall at all. Most external "things" now draw off that terminal, but I
left the ammeter as it was so that I didn't have to mess with under the hood
wiring. The ammeter doesn't read correctly as much of the current doesn't
get under the dash, but it doesn't bother me. I added a voltmeter which
tells me much of the same information and some the ammeter didn't tell me.

If you're adding all round new gauges, you will probably choose to eliminate
the ammeter all together. I just wanted you to know you had some options.

Colin gave you good answers and I intend only to elaborate a bit.

John Hofstetter