Voltmeter, anyone?

[Fungus232]

Re: Voltmeter, anyone?

Well, not sure what kind of ammeter it is but I can tell you with 100% certainty mine is JUNK! It had a metal loop on the back of the meter with an insulated heavy gauge wire running through it. Not an electrician but assuming the metal loop measured the current flowing through the wire... I had to break the metal loop cause I didn't want to go cutting heavy ass wires under my dash... New voltmeters in though & looks damn near stock!

[NOTPRETTY]

Re: Voltmeter, anyone?

Old thread back alive. When you dump the ammeter what do you do to make sure that the alternator is not sending juice through that wire the ammeter use to use under the dash. I have the first generation Centech harness and am still using the ammeter. I want to dump it for a volt meter when I install the EFI motor and its 3G alt. I don't need a 60 AMP rated wire carrying up to 130 amps. I get how to install the volt meter, just want to make sure the old ammeter wire is off.

Funny thing about the ammeter, mine works perfect. Won't miss it though.

[Lars]

Re: Voltmeter, anyone?

Old thread back alive. When you dump the ammeter what do you do to make sure that the alternator is not sending juice through that wire the ammeter use to use under the dash. I have the first generation Centech harness and am still using the ammeter. I want to dump it for a volt meter when I install the EFI motor and its 3G alt. I don't need a 60 AMP rated wire carrying up to 130 amps. I get how to install the volt meter, just want to make sure the old ammeter wire is off.

Funny thing about the ammeter, mine works perfect. Won't miss it though.

I don't remember wire colors, but it seems to me there is a fat yellow wire in the Centech harness that connects to your existing alternator (it could be red; in that case the yellow wire goes to the battery). Either way, disconnect the fat (red or yellow) wire that goes to the alternator. You won't need it again. The complete circuit is as follows (again, I don't remember wire colors):

Fat (10 gage?) wire from battery through firewall to screw terminal on fuse block. Then fat wire from screw terminal on fuse block through ammeter, through firewall, then out to alternator.

So you can see that even if you disconnect the wire at the alternator, it's still hot all the time!

If you want you can cut it near the ammeter. That's what I did, then I ran the end coming from the Centech fuse block to an accessory fuse block I mounted inside the firewall to run... well, accessories. I left the piece of wire that used to go past the ammeter and out to the alternator in the harness. Too much trouble to dig it out.

[NOTPRETTY]

Re: Voltmeter, anyone?

Oh. That's simple. I guess I assumed something might tap into that but probably not.

Good idea for accessories too. It is fused?


Thanks again

[Lars]

Re: Voltmeter, anyone?

Oh. That's simple. I guess I assumed something might tap into that but probably not.

Good idea for accessories too. It is fused?


Thanks again

Yep, that simple. No fuse though. Well, I guess that's technically not quite true. Seems to me there is a fusible link wire in there somewhere, but it's been so long that I can't remember if it's at the alternator end of the circuit or the battery end.

I got a neat fuse block from (I think) West Marine. I can dig up the link if you're interested. It uses ATO style blade style fuses, which I prefer over the old school cylindrical glass type.

[NOTPRETTY]

Re: Voltmeter, anyone?

No need. I did an extensive acc's add on a while back. Thanks though, again.

[DirtDonk]

Re: Voltmeter, anyone?

And to add to what fungus said so long ago, if you're running a stock harness, no need to cut the loop, or the wire. There is a push-connector right there near the gauge that simply pulls apart.
Aftermarket harnesses do not have this luxury, that I'm aware of unfortunately.

The butt-connector is actually where the charge wire changes from it's Black w/yellow (most year Broncos) from the alternator, to the Black w/red strip to/from the starter solenoid's battery post.
And if you've never,it wouldn't hurt to pull it apart to inspect it anyway. They can sometimes get pretty rusty in there, after 40 or so years, so making sure it's capable of flowing full current when needed, is not a bad thing to do.
If it's bad, you can clean, or replace it. But at least it won't be hurting performance, or causing a dangerous situation anymore.

Paul