Ammeter to Voltmeter...who does it?

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billytuffnuts

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Im interested in converting my stock ammeter to a voltmeter and was wondering which companies can do this, and approx how much they charged?

I did a search and saw that redline does it for about 140, but I'm trying to see if anyone has any experience with other vendors?

I thought about doing what some people have done and use a 1 1/2" volt gauge and retrofit it into the dash, but I didn't really like how it looked installed next to the other gauges.
 
Talk to R/T Engineering. They do what they call their "stealth voltmeter conversion" of an ammeter into a voltmeter. They also sell a really good electronic instrument cluster voltage limiter. Their website's got a bunch of really good info on it, but you have to mouse around awhile to find it; the organisation isn't completely obvious. For example, I know there's a pic of one of their voltmeter conversions somewhere on the site, but I can't find it at the moment! Be sure to see this page. They actually have intelligent people who actually answer the phone (and who actually own Mopars, and who actually know what the he|| theyre talking about when it comes to Mopar charging systems), so if you get fed up trying to find what you want on the site, call them.
 
Depends on if you want to spend the money for someone else to do the job or do it yourself. I have a '69 Dart. After all the talk about amp vs. volmeter, I decided to try something different. I had an old amp guage, bought a Sun pro voltmeter from Advance Auto and mated the two. I took the small screws out of the voltmeter. Lined the volt meter face and needle over and around the amp guage, drilled two new small holes for the screws and mounted it on the amp guage. A small amount of rework had to be done where the bolts stick thru the housing, but thats minimal. I went on and mounted it in the cluster. No, it's not original, but I don't have any extra gauges hanging under my dash, and I am able to see exactly the volt reading. The only extra guage I have is the tach.
 
Depends on if you want to spend the money for someone else to do the job or do it yourself. I have a '69 Dart. After all the talk about amp vs. volmeter, I decided to try something different. I had an old amp guage, bought a Sun pro voltmeter from Advance Auto and mated the two. I took the small screws out of the voltmeter. Lined the volt meter face and needle over and around the amp guage, drilled two new small holes for the screws and mounted it on the amp guage. A small amount of rework had to be done where the bolts stick thru the housing, but thats minimal. I went on and mounted it in the cluster. No, it's not original, but I don't have any extra gauges hanging under my dash, and I am able to see exactly the volt reading. The only extra guage I have is the tach.

Great job Quantum. I always wondered why that couldn't be done. toolman
 
Depends on if you want to spend the money for someone else to do the job or do it yourself. I have a '69 Dart. After all the talk about amp vs. volmeter, I decided to try something different. I had an old amp guage, bought a Sun pro voltmeter from Advance Auto and mated the two. I took the small screws out of the voltmeter. Lined the volt meter face and needle over and around the amp guage, drilled two new small holes for the screws and mounted it on the amp guage. A small amount of rework had to be done where the bolts stick thru the housing, but thats minimal. I went on and mounted it in the cluster. No, it's not original, but I don't have any extra gauges hanging under my dash, and I am able to see exactly the volt reading. The only extra guage I have is the tach.

Its funny you mentioned that. I was at advance yesterday and saw a sunpro volt gauge that looked like it would fit in place and I picked it up. Its almost a drop in conversion. I'm thinking about trying to fit my old amp gauge's face to the new volt gauge though like you did.
 
Its funny you mentioned that. I was at advance yesterday and saw a sunpro volt gauge that looked like it would fit in place and I picked it up. Its almost a drop in conversion. I'm thinking about trying to fit my old amp gauge's face to the new volt gauge though like you did.

I did that same thing wihth an autogauge volt meter. It is litteraly almost a drop in conversion. I will take some pictures tonight.
 
I was thinking of doing the same thing. Right now I don't have anything to montor the charging system. I had to bypass the amp gauge due to meltdown with PO.
It would be great if you will post pics zakimodo and Quantum.
 
Redline Gaugeworks converted my 67 Barracuda gauge to from Amps to Volts. But I had them redo all my gauges for my restoration.
 
Here is mine. And no thats not how im leaving my gauge cluster, it is a spare that I like to experiment with.
 

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Thanks for the pics and the ideas. My cluster is more like Quantum's.
 
These are some great ideas on this thread, but there's no need to ruin an ammeter face with today's technology----just take your---or find a friend with one---

either a good digi camera or flatbed scanner and make a high-quality macro shot of the ammeter face, then print it out and glue it right on top of the voltmeter face.

You guys who are good at photoshop should find it no trouble to edit in a couple of markers for, say, 10, 12, 14, 15V
 
Redline did mine and they can re-screen the gauge for the volt scale in the same text as the original.
 
Quantum---Do you have pics of the backside of your cluster? I found a Sunpro gauge and plan on following your upgrade. Thanks.
 
Anyone have feedback on Cen-Tech gauges from Harbor Freight Tools ?
Many of you know I focus on a-body rallye panels mostly.
The amp gauge in these panels has a pie slice shape screen.
Transplanting that screen to a aftermarket volt meter would require the meters' 12 volt report to be at the 12 o'clock position and a short sweep..The Cen-Tech volt meter meets these needs.
I've figured out the transplant.of both screen and pointer from the amp gauge but,I'm using a volt gauge that sells for less than 10 bucks. In that is my query/concern.
Any input will help.
 
I tried the Cen-Tech and it did not work for me. I ended up going with a Sunpro CP8215 that I got from Amazon. Pretty simple just took the guts out and slipped it in to the spot and put the original face back on.

SunproVolt.jpg
 
I tried the Cen-Tech and it did not work for me. I ended up going with a Sunpro CP8215 that I got from Amazon. Pretty simple just took the guts out and slipped it in to the spot and put the original face back on.

SunproVolt.jpg
Thank you very much
 
If I am hijacking this thread, I will apologize in advance but for someone that finds electrical theory to be like a foreign language, can someone explain the advantage of a voltmeter over an ammeter?
 
The difference between the 2 that inspires changing is in how they are installed in the electrical circuit. Where an amp gauge is installed inline and can interrupt the circuit ( along with other issues ) a volt gauge is installed more like a add on. It's failure would not interrupt the circuit.
 
The ammeter reads current; the voltmeter reads...volts. An ammeter just shows you how much current is drawn by the car's accessories, basically how much work is being done by the electrical system. At least a voltmeter shows you how much your alternator is putting out.

The greatest problem with an ammeter in the instrument cluster is that all of the car's current passes through it from the alternator. The connectors corrode with age, building up resistance. Resistance means heat. Heat means melted ammeter gage...or worse.
 
What was a nasty old amp gauge is now a nice working volt gauge
Thanks again to FABO
 

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