But after how much damage to whatever else is connected to it? But not like a fuse. There is no shunt on a stock ammeter, so it would burn through its 50 amp rated material. More like a wire that got too much amperage. This takes time, so it would be VERY hard on any other part of the system. The only time it could happen is if there was a dead short somewhere that cause the alternator to think it needs to put out max amperage. Admittedly, hardly ever. Its the Hardly I am talking about. There just isn't any need to go there. All of the solutions are listed on the site. A simple fusible link, fuse, circuit breaker, etc solves it short term. Best to remove the vintage ammeter and go with a voltmeter.
