We have all gotten "wound up" from time to time about ammeters and voltmeters. As I said earlier they are a silly, un-necessary gauge. We all think we have to have one. We don't. Most people do not watch it enough to spot anything soon enough. It's not like oil pressure or water temp. It won't damage anything if your alternator is not charging or the battery starts to die. When my batteries get low or go dead, I never have noticed ahead of time and most of you have not either. The ammeter does run high current and uses larger wire because of that. If it's all installed correctly and wire never chafes, no problem. I recommend a volt meter because it gives all the info you need to ignore and is actually a little safer. There are stories all over the place about burning wires/insulation and fires from ammeters. Maybe they are all liars. MAD electronics and Ron Francis advise against. I don't care how many times a person stood out in a lightning storm and didn't get hit or how many ammeters they have. Many auto Co.'s switched to volt meters in the 60's/70's. Their electrical engineers must have thought the Voltmeter would be adequate for monitoring charge and condition. It is a small issue here, no one has said his ammeter won't work, they do work, poster has it all set up, he's happy. It is great to stay "original" if you must. The idiot light actually was the best idea because you could not miss that. If you are a gauge watcher, you just hate idiot lights. You need to see a needle and precisely calculate the charging system condition every mile. Meanwhile, you run out of gas.
