After a fire.....
OK. I'm back before you.
Here's the page to look at http://www.heritech.org/cuda/Charge2.html
Notice in the examples that heat damage is expected at every connection along the path current flowed.
An analogy to current is air flow or even water flow in a pipe. So its like gallons per minute. The battery is like a pressurized tank and the alternator is like a compressor or pump. Volts is like the pressure in the tank or developed by the compressor.
This gets to your question
There are two power sources in the car, and each has an output wire that feeds the other circuits.
On your car, and most but not all A-bodies, the alternator and battery feeds are joined at splice under the dash.
Wires feeding the various circuits are also welded into this splice.
One to the key switch, another to the fusebox, and a third to the headlight switch.
Here's a couple pics of the ammeter for a 'rally dash'. The metal studs are pressed into the plate and then protected by a
big insulator.
A voltmeter measures the difference in votlage (pressure) between a location in the circuit and ground. It is a high resistance device, but there is a tiny amount of current that flows through it.
It could be wired in like this
But as a permanent setup, that would be a long term problem as you might observe.
It would be on all the time, and so be a slow drain on the battery when the engine isn't running.
Better to wire it in on a switched circuit.
OK. I'm back before you.
Here's the page to look at http://www.heritech.org/cuda/Charge2.html
Notice in the examples that heat damage is expected at every connection along the path current flowed.
An analogy to current is air flow or even water flow in a pipe. So its like gallons per minute. The battery is like a pressurized tank and the alternator is like a compressor or pump. Volts is like the pressure in the tank or developed by the compressor.
This gets to your question
When I referred to battery and alternator feeds, I am referring to both wires supplying power to the electrical system.
There are two power sources in the car, and each has an output wire that feeds the other circuits.
On your car, and most but not all A-bodies, the alternator and battery feeds are joined at splice under the dash.
Wires feeding the various circuits are also welded into this splice.
One to the key switch, another to the fusebox, and a third to the headlight switch.
Not at all. These ammeters work by having an electric current moving the needle by the magnetic force. The current moves through a metal plate directly in the flow path. So most ammeters, whether its factory or aftermarket, are in the circuit as shown above.
Here's a couple pics of the ammeter for a 'rally dash'. The metal studs are pressed into the plate and then protected by a
big insulator.
A voltmeter measures the difference in votlage (pressure) between a location in the circuit and ground. It is a high resistance device, but there is a tiny amount of current that flows through it.
It could be wired in like this
But as a permanent setup, that would be a long term problem as you might observe.
It would be on all the time, and so be a slow drain on the battery when the engine isn't running.
Better to wire it in on a switched circuit.
