I've Got My Oil Pressure Gauge, Temp Gauge, And Tach All Working, But I Don't Know How To Connect The Amp Gauge.
It's Got 2 Wires. One Red, One Black.

 

I have the same question.

 

Black goes to ground, red goes to an "ignition on" hot source.

 

OK, be careful here...

I have heard of TOTAL truck fires because someone hooked up their amp gauge to he wrong place. Just a word of caution, unfortunately I don't know the correct answer. Fund out exactly where that red wire should be hooked up.

 

Gene's right - if you're not sure, DON'T hook it up! Ammeters carry full current flow and can cause a fire real quick! IMHO, cheap ones are worse than none.

Steve

 

Thread moved to proper forum.

If it is a true AMMETER and not a voltmeter hooking the black wire to ground will cause immediate smoke and fire when the key is turned on.

What gauge are the wires? Are they tiny thin wires or are they big heavy wires? Didn't you get instructions with the gauge?

A voltmeter is way better than any aftermarket ammeter, way safer too.

 

Yes. tell us what the numbers look like on the face of the guage. Are they like 8 to 16 or are they 60-0-60 or D-O-C or something like that?

 

As David said, there are several kinds of ammeters. Don't attempt the installation until you are sure what type of ammeter you have. The factory "ammeters" are realy "voltmeters" that measure the voltage drop across a resistor in the charging circuit. The following procedure is for the type of ammeter where all of the current being measured flows through the ammeter itself. This procedure worked on my '84. If your truck isn't similar to an '84, stop here and seek furthur help.

Disconnect the negitive battery terminal. Follow the positive battery cable to the start relay terminal. Note that the start relay terminal terminates the battery cable and several smaller wires. Remove the smaller wires. Connect one of the ammeter cables to the start relay terminal along with the battery cable. Connect the other ammeter cable to the wires you removed from the start relay terminal. Make sure you well insulate the connection joint between the ammeter cable and the smaller wires you removed from the start relay terminal. This connection between the ammeter cable and the smaller wires is problematic because it just hangs out there in mid air. A good ammeter installtion would include some kind of terminal block for those connections. In any case, make sure the connection is well insulated.

Reconnect the negative battery cable. If the ammeter reads "backward", just reverse the cables at the ammeter itself.

Several cautions. If you study your work you will see that all of the battery current, except for the starter, now flows through the ammeter. Make sure the ammeter cable you use is large enought to safely carry that current. #6 is as small as those cables should be. #4 or larger is better. Keep in mind that those ammeter cables are connected directly to the battery without any fusing. Be very careful to make sure those cables are not run near hot surfaces or sharp edges. Make sure the terminals on the ammeter itself are well insulated and protected from being grounded. This isn't the place to skimp on quality or workmanship. Bad wiring here could cause an under-the-hood or under-the-dash fire.

 

The gauge has 60-30-0-30-60

 

Ok. This is how you should hook it up. The lower diagram has the ammeter installed.




FordF150Fixer basically explained what the diagram shows. He recommends 6 guage wire, which is ok(bigger is better), but for a stock electrical system, 10 guage usually works ok.

 

Thanks for the diagram David. A picture is indeed worth a thousand words.