amp gauge

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72dart_swinger

72dart_swinger

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I have been reading old threads about bypassing the factory amp gauge. Is this a good idea? If i do this I have an after market amp gauge that i can use, but am unsure in how to hook it up. Can anyone clarify on where the wires go
 
why bypass the stock ammeter with an aftermarket one? just curious....

The wires on the back of the ammeter will go to the same place on the aftermarket one. There is a + and - on both.

If you are replacing it with an aftermarket VOLT meter, that is a bit different. You can leave the ammeter alone and just install the volt meter and run both or, you need to connect the 2 large wires from the back of the ammeter together and then the + post on your volt meter gets connected to a 12v source that is only hot when the car is on (like the + wire going to your heater or radio). The - post on the volt meter goes to ground.
 
You don't have to choose either having an ammeter or having a reliable electrical system. And no, I'm not talking about the hack-azz "solutions" offered at the (chevy-head) Mad Electric site. I much prefer the clean and technically correct ideas and components from R/T Engineering. They can rework stock ammeters to handle up to 70 amps efficiently, and they can convert stock ammeters into voltmeters (complete with a new gauge face that looks like factory equipment). 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...none of which can be said of the Mad electrical people), so if you get fed up trying to find what you want on the site, call them.

RTE informed me when I did call them that they have upgraded A-body ammeters for sale on the shelf, either with good used/cleaned-up faces or with newly-restored/reprinted faces. $75 or $99, respectively. I bought one of the good used ones and it is perfectly nice.

The internally-regulated alternator is a lot harder to hook up than if you get a Denso alternator from an '88-up Mopar, which works fine with the regular Mopar external voltage regulator and is much easier to wire into a Mopar. And the added bonus of doing it that way is that you aren't stuck replacing the alternator when the voltage regulator fails, as is the case with internally-regulated alternators.
 
69B-Cuda said:
why bypass the stock ammeter with an aftermarket one? just curious....

The wires on the back of the ammeter will go to the same place on the aftermarket one. There is a + and - on both.

If you are replacing it with an aftermarket VOLT meter, that is a bit different. You can leave the ammeter alone and just install the volt meter and run both or, you need to connect the 2 large wires from the back of the ammeter together and then the + post on your volt meter gets connected to a 12v source that is only hot when the car is on (like the + wire going to your heater or radio). The - post on the volt meter goes to ground.
Click to expand...

I wasn't too fond of having all of the electrical current from the alternator pass through the bulkhead twice and through one gauge, I guess it is just the thought of the potential mess that it could cause was the main reason that I wanted to bypass the factory one,but i guess i would have the same problem with an aftermarket one wouldnt I?
 
slantsixdan said:
You don't have to choose either having an ammeter or having a reliable electrical system. And no, I'm not talking about the hack-azz "solutions" offered at the (chevy-head) Mad Electric site. I much prefer the clean and technically correct ideas and components from R/T Engineering. They can rework stock ammeters to handle up to 70 amps efficiently, and they can convert stock ammeters into voltmeters (complete with a new gauge face that looks like factory equipment). 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...none of which can be said of the Mad electrical people), so if you get fed up trying to find what you want on the site, call them.

RTE informed me when I did call them that they have upgraded A-body ammeters for sale on the shelf, either with good used/cleaned-up faces or with newly-restored/reprinted faces. $75 or $99, respectively. I bought one of the good used ones and it is perfectly nice.

The internally-regulated alternator is a lot harder to hook up than if you get a Denso alternator from an '88-up Mopar, which works fine with the regular Mopar external voltage regulator and is much easier to wire into a Mopar. And the added bonus of doing it that way is that you aren't stuck replacing the alternator when the voltage regulator fails, as is the case with internally-regulated alternators.
Click to expand...


Great information here! Thank You!
 
slantsixdan said:
You don't have to choose either having an ammeter or having a reliable electrical system. And no, I'm not talking about the hack-azz "solutions" offered at the (chevy-head) Mad Electric site. I much prefer the clean and technically correct ideas and components from R/T Engineering. They can rework stock ammeters to handle up to 70 amps efficiently, and they can convert stock ammeters into voltmeters (complete with a new gauge face that looks like factory equipment). 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...none of which can be said of the Mad electrical people), so if you get fed up trying to find what you want on the site, call them.

RTE informed me when I did call them that they have upgraded A-body ammeters for sale on the shelf, either with good used/cleaned-up faces or with newly-restored/reprinted faces. $75 or $99, respectively. I bought one of the good used ones and it is perfectly nice.

The internally-regulated alternator is a lot harder to hook up than if you get a Denso alternator from an '88-up Mopar, which works fine with the regular Mopar external voltage regulator and is much easier to wire into a Mopar. And the added bonus of doing it that way is that you aren't stuck replacing the alternator when the voltage regulator fails, as is the case with internally-regulated alternators.
Click to expand...
I like R/T stuff, and have purchased several items from them, but their web site sucks.
 
This seems to be a touchy subject for a lot of people. The original mopar ammeter setup was a bad idea. The entire current load of the car went through a 1/4 inch spade terminal into the gauge and back out through another spade lug. this is more current than these things are rated for. In about 1977, Mopar went with an external shunt for the ammeter and less than 1 amp flows on the wires that used to carry the entire load.
Unfortunately it takes a good bit of rewiring to bypass these connectors and usually gets expensive if you have to pay someone to do it.
My opinion (and Autometers) is to go with a voltmeter. The only vehicle that still comes with an ammeter is a riding lawnmower.
 
skykeith said:
This seems to be a touchy subject for a lot of people. The original mopar ammeter setup was a bad idea. The entire current load of the car went through a 1/4 inch spade terminal into the gauge and back out through another spade lug. this is more current than these things are rated for. In about 1977, Mopar went with an external shunt for the ammeter and less than 1 amp flows on the wires that used to carry the entire load.
Unfortunately it takes a good bit of rewiring to bypass these connectors and usually gets expensive if you have to pay someone to do it.
My opinion (and Autometers) is to go with a voltmeter. The only vehicle that still comes with an ammeter is a riding lawnmower.
Click to expand...

That is why I wanted to bypass the factory ammeter, I don't like the thought of all of the current coming through the dash, it seems like a disaster waiting to happen. All that I want to do is bypass the factory ammeter to keep all of the current out from under the dash and go with an after market one where all of the current doesn't go through the dash.
 
Even if you bypass your ammeter a lot of your current is still under the dash. All current for your ignition, lights, accessories, wipers etc. is still there.
 
cudajim said:
Even if you bypass your ammeter a lot of your current is still under the dash. All current for your ignition, lights, accessories, wipers etc. is still there.
Click to expand...
Yes, but each system has it's own wire, not the entire load on two wires.
 
I saw the MAD electrical diagrams in a past thread and looked at them. I like the idea of having all of the current out from under the dash and contained in the engine bay. All that I want to do is have a worry free set up so if the gauge goes to crap or shorts out I don't have a wiring meltdown. Correct me if i am wrong but all that has to be done is splice the red and black wires together under the dash, and splice them in the engine bay with a fusible link to the starter relay. And send the current from the alternator to the starter relay. I didn't like how they drilled out the bulkhead connector, so could I just leave the red and black wires in the bulkhead? Does the Mad electrical solution even reduce the chance of something happening or is it a waste of time
 
72dart_swinger said:
I saw the MAD electrical diagrams in a past thread and looked at them. I like the idea of having all of the current out from under the dash and contained in the engine bay. All that I want to do is have a worry free set up so if the gauge goes to crap or shorts out I don't have a wiring meltdown. Correct me if i am wrong but all that has to be done is splice the red and black wires together under the dash, and splice them in the engine bay with a fusible link to the starter relay. And send the current from the alternator to the starter relay. I didn't like how they drilled out the bulkhead connector, so could I just leave the red and black wires in the bulkhead? Does the Mad electrical solution even reduce the chance of something happening or is it a waste of time
Click to expand...
It eliminates the overloaded spade terminals and the possibility of a gauge failure killing the power. This type of repair is about all you can do without getting into a major rework.
 
The majority of us have never had a problem with the stock amp gauge. Why fix what aint broke ? They say ignorance is bliss and thats true in a sense. If you had bought the car new some 40 plus years ago you would never have worried about the way the car was wired until it had a problem. You can thank the www for your current concern ( pardon the pun ).
 
Ignorance is bliss till some thing brakes. LOL I here you RedFish but a lot of people update a lot of things on there cars. Why not up date the electrical system too?
 
i know some of these types of cars had under dash fires, when i was growing up.
 
RedFish said:
The majority of us have never had a problem with the stock amp gauge. Why fix what aint broke ? They say ignorance is bliss and thats true in a sense. If you had bought the car new some 40 plus years ago you would never have worried about the way the car was wired until it had a problem. You can thank the www for your current concern ( pardon the pun ).
Click to expand...

I'm with Redfish on this one. I have never had a problem with the stock ammeter either but I suppose it could be a problem especially back east where everything rusts. My wiring is mostly stock on all 3 Barracudas.
 
I am currently rewiring a car that was in the process of melting down. I run an 8ga wire through the firewall with an insulated stud, then cut the factory multi-splice and run the wires to a bus bar. This gives an easy access point for any add on accessories. This and an alternator upgrade will power any thing you'd ever want. This is Just my way of doing it.

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Personally, I have had my amp gauge converted to a volt gauge, added a 75 amp alt, 8 ga charging wire. My charging wire goes directly to the starter relay stud, so that is the main buss. Also the original blk/red wired that went into the bulkhead for the amp gauge, are now fusible links put together and go the starter relay stud for power. I have relays for the headlights, so ALL heavy loads are NOT inside the car.

Even if you get an upgraded amp gauge, its the bulkhead that still gives you an issue. It creates a "shunt" and can only truly handle 55 amps MAX. The more splices, the more resistance, soldered or not.
 
I think with our 40 year old Mopars we should ALL take apart the bulkhead connector and at least check the condition of all the spade terminals and if we upgrade our charging systems to a higher amperage alternator consider what skykeith did with pulling out the main power in and power out wires from the bulkhead and running straight wire thru the plug up to the ammeter eliminating the spade connectors to keep from having issues or a major fire. The fire could be caused by the corrosion on the spade terminals, corrosion makes heat and too much heat creates FIRE!
 
the old mopars had only 40 amp and 60 amp alternators,the wiring in these cars are only set up for that.i believe the problem lies when guys try to put bigger amp alternators,for extra accessories causing over load on wiring harness.my duster had burnt bulk head connectors, i bought it off a younger guy who had a big sound system in the car.amp kickerbox etc.had to replace bulkhead wiring and the wiring to the amp gauge witch i also bypassed and installed a volt gauge.this is becoming one hell of a subject. the guys at mad maybe chevy guys,i dont know,but they are right on about a couple of these issues.i have always been a crysler man, even when others didnt think they were cool.my bros a chey guy, and he aint never had issues with his electrics, in my opinion chevy got it right with the hei set ups and the one wire alts.wish mopar would have came up with those set ups.
 
morepowertoya said:
the old mopars had only 40 amp and 60 amp alternators,the wiring in these cars are only set up for that.i believe the problem lies when guys try to put bigger amp alternators,for extra accessories causing over load on wiring harness.my duster had burnt bulk head connectors, i bought it off a younger guy who had a big sound system in the car.amp kickerbox etc.had to replace bulkhead wiring and the wiring to the amp gauge witch i also bypassed and installed a volt gauge.this is becoming one hell of a subject. the guys at mad maybe chevy guys,i dont know,but they are right on about a couple of these issues.i have always been a crysler man, even when others didnt think they were cool.my bros a chey guy, and he aint never had issues with his electrics, in my opinion chevy got it right with the hei set ups and the one wire alts.wish mopar would have came up with those set ups.
Click to expand...

You are right, the chevy guys got it right with the wiring:) In the process of running a new 10 gauge wire from my alt through the bulkhead connector, my spade terminal was melting the connector and the car would not idle with any load put on the system anymore(not enough juice to keep the fire lit). My Duster has been in the family since 74 and it is the only car that has melted/burned wires over the years(turn signal, alt, brake, blower motor, etc.). This car started melting wires when it was less than ten years old. None of my Chevy's or Fords have melted this stuff but I still love this car!!!!!! And the amp guage is going to stay too:)
 
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