Help. I want to replace my amp meter with a volt meter. However the amp meter has 2 leads and the volt meter has one lead. Do I take both of the amp meter leads and connect them together to the volt meter, or what???
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66 Coupe - CandyApple Red, 2 barrel 289, C4.
66 Coupe - (father-daughter project). Tangier Orange, 302 with AOD, 17 inch Bullit wheels.
69 F-100 - 351c. Emerald Green Metallic paint. Still "in progress".
68 Barracuda - Rusted out project. 318 in the frame rails for now. Maybe a 360 in the future.
00 Mustang - (son's car) V6, 18 inch Saleen wheels.
ummm. no just connect the one wire from the volt gauge to any 12 volt source. like straight off the battery. and it has to be before the fuse box bc everything is limited in power after it.
66 Coupe - CandyApple Red, 2 barrel 289, C4.
66 Coupe - (father-daughter project). Tangier Orange, 302 with AOD, 17 inch Bullit wheels.
69 F-100 - 351c. Emerald Green Metallic paint. Still "in progress".
68 Barracuda - Rusted out project. 318 in the frame rails for now. Maybe a 360 in the future.
00 Mustang - (son's car) V6, 18 inch Saleen wheels.
cut them, tape them up, pull them out. they are useless. you dont need them. cable tie them in there so they dont rattle. dont cut them lol incase you want to "restore" the car you can put the old gauge back in lol
i hope you mean cut them AND splice them together or else what ever curcuit that it is connected to won't work any longer. ampmeters conect in series or inline so when you remove it the circuit will be an open circuit.
the amp gauge just goes to the alt i belive i dont have my wiring diagrahm for the 66 next to me so.it should be on its own circuit. bc if it was on another circuit then it wouldnt be reading the correct output bc it goes through the fuse box on most underdash power users
the amp meter reads the juice used by what ever circuit it is in line with, generally the chargeing system, to read if the alt is charging ( reading in the+ range) or discharging (reading in the - range). if you have an ampmeter that's operating properly when you start the engine or say have the headlites on with engine off you will see the amp meter reading negative . as soon as the engine is started you will see the ampmeter in the positive, meaning it's charging the battery as you just drained the battery to start the motor or had the lights on. once the battery is back up to charge the voltage regulator will start to lower the voltage from the alternater and you will see the ampmeter start to return to the middle or just to the positive side. since the ampmeter to work properly must he connected in series with in the charging system to simply remove it with out spliceing the wires would create an open circuit and you woud no longer charge the battery.
i'm sorry if i'm not making too much sents as it been too many years since i'm even thought of this stuff, just belib me when i say that when you remove the ampmeter from whatever curcuit it's in the circuit will be open and therefore no longer funtion.. the electric meter on your house is kind of an ampmerer and if you take it out you will have no power to you house.
Hello.Unhooking the ammeter gauge leads from the back of the gauge won't affect anything else.It's a free standing circuit that isn't inline with anything else.That's why you see sooooo many of these cars that the gauge doesn't work but everything else does.In bare bones form how that circuit works is one wire goes to the hot side of the starter solenoid and the other through the voltage regulator and then to the hot side of the starter solenoid.It detects current flow direction.Hope that helps.
The amp meter circuit is usually the path for current from the Altenator output to the switch. If you break that circuit then there should be no power to the ignition switch. If it was a voltmeter then removing it or breaking the circuit would make no difference.
i will step out of this conversation with this-
ANYONE who knows anything about measuring current will tell you that you must connect the meter (true amp meter) in series within the curcuit being measured. and simply disconnecting it will leave an open circuit.
how this will work in stock automotive aplications i dont know as who can say if their using a true ampmeter as most after market gauges are..
GREAT!! I have conflicting replies. So I'm in the same place I was a week ago! LOL.
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66 Coupe - CandyApple Red, 2 barrel 289, C4.
66 Coupe - (father-daughter project). Tangier Orange, 302 with AOD, 17 inch Bullit wheels.
69 F-100 - 351c. Emerald Green Metallic paint. Still "in progress".
68 Barracuda - Rusted out project. 318 in the frame rails for now. Maybe a 360 in the future.
00 Mustang - (son's car) V6, 18 inch Saleen wheels.
poonstang is right. about the gauge needing to be in a circuit. so just connect them to be on the safe side if they are on another circuit then nothing will not work, instead of it being on its own. just connect them. and youshould be ok
Hi again.Actually,poonstang is mistaken.On modern cars ,it is true that the alternator gauge or light is inline on the exciter circuit,but,on an old mustang that is not the case,as a glance at the wiring diagram would quickly tell you.Again,one of the wires comes straight from the hot side of the solenoid and the other comes through the voltage regulator from the hot side of the solenoid.That is why they so seldom work.They get fried pretty quickly.If you disconnect them both from the back of the gauge everything else on the car will still function just exactly like it did before you disconnected them.Good luck.
im back, and i will say sorry for starting this mess but i'm only thinking of your battery and will it charge or not if you follow the advice of just cutting and taping up the wires that go to your ampmeter. i'm also assumimg that you are wanting to remove an after market ampmeter.
with that said , most of my experience with automotive ampmeters is from along time ago and on gm's. after looking at my mustang tonight it would not be so easy to figure out where to hook up the ampmeter. i'm almost certain that it would go to one of the wires that connect to the positive battery terminal( that is where it would conect on a cheby) via the starter relay or solinoid. if you could trace your wires to see where they go and if they go to those positive battery wires that would indicate to me that you would need to splice those two wires together or you could remove one and connect the other to the battery wires.
again if there is one thing i'm 100% sure of is that if you simply unhook your existing ampmeter, what ever is on the onther end of it, will not work.
I want to remove my original AMP meter and put in its place a volt meter.
poonstang, if what you are saying is correct and relevant to older Ford, then if I connect BOTH amp-meter leads to the single lead on the voltage gauge, then that will complete the circuit and allow anything in-line with the amp-meter to continue to work properly, as well as give me an accurate voltage reading, correct?
Veronica, if what you are saying is correct, and I connect both amp-meter leads to the same post, I have effectively circumvented the voltage regulator, which could lead to charging problems, etc??
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66 Coupe - CandyApple Red, 2 barrel 289, C4.
66 Coupe - (father-daughter project). Tangier Orange, 302 with AOD, 17 inch Bullit wheels.
69 F-100 - 351c. Emerald Green Metallic paint. Still "in progress".
68 Barracuda - Rusted out project. 318 in the frame rails for now. Maybe a 360 in the future.
00 Mustang - (son's car) V6, 18 inch Saleen wheels.
Replacing AMP meter with VOLT meter 
