Ammeter wiring?

[importmaster1300]

What will I have to do to wire one up?
I read that I will have 2 huge 8 ga. wires.
I am putting it on my pillar, what do you guys recomend?

[XxInFaxX]

ammeter? amp meter? to measure your voltage?

[importmaster1300]

Yup an amp meter.

[XxInFaxX]

well, its goin to be quite simple, minus getting the 8 gauge up to the a-pillar. the amp meter will have 2 terminals for the wires. 1 goes to each post, doesnt matter which (if i recall correctly) because amps are measure in series with the circuit. If it shows negative voltage, reverse it. it will take a little work to get 2 8 gauge wires up the a-pillar, but i think it can be done, just be careful taking the plastic off so you dont break anything

[importmaster1300]

So is one wire comming off the alt and the other off the batt.?
So the charging wire comming off the alt. is goin through guage charging the batt.?

[XxInFaxX]

basically, if you break the circuit anywhere in the truck, and put the meter inbetween the 2 breaks, you will have your amperage. i dont think you have to run it from the bat or the alt. might wanna take a look at how much of a pain it would be to splice the wires coming off your harness. any 12v power source should read aprox. the same in the whole truck

[XxInFaxX]

John, out of curiosity...why do you want an AMP meter?

[nomaboy]

it is a more accurate way to measure the alternators output. although most alternators put out more than 100 amps so make sure you get one that will read that high or you are just wasting your money. if you are using it to measure alt. then put the meter in series with the alt. out and the batt.

[importmaster1300]

all i know is it has -60 to +60 and i got it w/ my white face guages so i figured i would install it.

[XxInFaxX]

i think the gauge will be too small. as he said, alternators are generally 100+ amps they are putting out

[importmaster1300]

I wonder why they have a guage that reads -60 to +60 if an alt. puts out more?

[Hammer]

they can put up to 100 amps out, but rarely does the alt run continuously at 100+ amps usually the heavy duty cycles are immediately after cranking or a large draw on the system. I don't remember if the vehicle runs off the battery or off of the alternator, but i believe it draws off of the battery and that is why if i remember right, you want to break the circuit on the draw side of the battery, probably the main feed wire that leads to the starter, which then goes to the rest of the electrical system from that point. I think it goes like this:
from battery terminal + to starter, from the starter the wiring then splits off to junction boxes for general distribution and to the ingintion all at the same time. There are fusible links (or atleast there used to be on the old first gens) between the starter and the junction box. To get the true amperage draw i believe you have to install it between the starter and the battery. This is the most dangerous circuit break and you should take special care NOT to undersize your wiring. 8 guage is pretty light for that point. Go as heavy as you can go and forget about getting the amp meter in the pilar. amp meters are dangerous, anything that caries amperage is dangerous so be careful with it.

I tried to do this once on my monte carlo and decided it wasn't worth it.

[T Man]

I don't remember if the vehicle runs off the battery or off of the alternator, but i believe it draws off of the battery and that is why if i remember right

It runs off the alt. That is why on older vehicles (i.e. not computer controlled, if you do it on a computer car you risk frying your comp) you could disconnect the battery wire to test to see if your Alt was working. If it stopped working, bad alt.

Agreed with your explanation on the amperage. Amperage (in anything, systems, etc.) is like HP. You dont always put 200hp to the ground, likewise are you not always pusing 300watts in your system, nor are you always cranking 100+ amps.

I think it is kind of silly for you to hook one up if you havent had any problems of any kind. Gauges are there so you can keep an eye on your functions, not to look pretty. On my list an amp meter is pretty far down on the list, id rather have an egt than a amp meter, but thats just my .02

[jjwalker]

it wont measure the same amps over the entire truck. To get alternator voltage you have to go from the battery.

why dont you hook it up to your stereo? so when you crank it you can see current draw. That is what I would do...all my **** dims when i crank mine, hehe.

[jjwalker]

the dash and interior stuff does anyway....my headlights and chassis stuff doesnt.

[jjwalker]

yeah, the battery acts like a buffer for voltage spikes...so dont ever run your vehicle without a battery unless you want to kiss it goodbye.

[xtc_customs]

actually you would be surprised . @ idle the stock alt on our trucks only puts out 60-70 amps . @ 2000 rpm it puts out 105 .
my upgraded alt put out 120amps @ idle . and 260 amps at 2K rpm .

[T Man]

yeah, the battery acts like a buffer for voltage spikes...so dont ever run your vehicle without a battery unless you want to kiss it goodbye.

Which is why you cant do it with a comp. vehicle