The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay ammeter wiring

I'm no expert but I do have some personal experience. The voltage isn't as important as the amperage. I put a 60 amp alternator on my '38 while leaving it 6v. I had a couple of "experts" tell me it wouldn't hurt my ammeter so I left it alone. As these old vehicles are on occasion I experienced an occasional hard start when hot which then caused the alternator to put far more than the 30 amps the ammeter was designed to take through it while recharging the battery. I noticed that it stopped displaying correctly after a while. I ended up putting a vintage voltmeter under the dash because I can't trust the ammeter.