Tonerman, here is the kicker here. 1969 is little past our usual gig here. We do not have a wiring diagram for it. The 69 dash has either idiot light or an actual "battery" gauge. You seem to be adding an aftermarket ammeter. You chose not to replace whatever is in the cluster. The 1969 had moved to a more moduled approach with a printed circuit board on back of the gauges. Which has a connector and all the wiring harnesses to connect everything properly. Including the ammeter or idiot light.
You now know the general idea of an ammeter.
We don't know how you are going to connect the various wires from a printed circuit board and it's connector to you ammeter. That's up to you. In general most wires except for the 12ga from battery to ammeter, are per a wiring diagram. 20ga to 14ga. We don't know how you will connect other harness wires to the aftermarket ammeter. You know that almost everything should be feed from the ammeter. Probably should have done a volt meter. MUCH MORE SIMPLE IN YOUR CASE.
The ignition switch usually turns on some fuses in the fuse box and some fuses are "always hot". So many accessories will get power from the fuse panel. Ammeter to ignition, ign to fuse panel, if that is what the diagram says. Some things have a separate fuse/separate wire, maybe wiper, heater, light switch whatever. Just get them wired. Some things get direct power from the battery, your truck may feed battery power to the horn relay and use it as a "terminal block" to feed power to some things. light switch, ignition, etc.
You will need to refer to a 1969 C10 diagram or someone may post one here.
You know the plan, the hook up. Do it the best you can. Don't worry about how many connections or length. Everything is short under the dash anyway.
Is your alternator internally regulated or do you have a separate voltage regulator box?
Just to throw this in for the archives. When you see a negative symbol on the back of an ammeter (-)...It DOES NOT mean ground.
Hi Bartamos; Thank you for your input. After a week of asking questions and many Youtube videos, I believe I got a sense of how this electrical system works. Needless to say, many hands had been at the wiring before I got the truck years ago and wire colors are not consistent. Also, this being a basic dash with just speedometer and gas gauge with idiot lights for the rest, I have been improvising the instrument cluster and new bezel to accommodate my aftermarket Autometer gauges and sensors along with the current instrument cluster circuit board.
Somewhere along the years I acquired (in a $5 box of parts) this set of Autometer gauges, all working, and worth $300 I've found out, so that included the ammeter and the main reason I'm using it along with the electric temp and oil gauges. I've consulted with Autometer and found out the correct oil and temp sensors and that this ammeter did not need a shunt.
I finally connected the ammeter, one side to the starter solenoid and the other to the alternator, and in testing, it is working as it should. I do have a separate voltage regulator next to the horns by the radiator. Not sure how this plays into it, but, the ammeter is working. I'm wondering if I should make a fused link in each wire?
I've also installed a tach into the dash bezel which is also working properly. But, this created another obstacle because that is where the directional indicator lights were for the current instrument cluster board. The new bezel has the light openings further away so they won't work where they are. Could be I'll still have to get a new instrument cluster board.
All this, just because I bought a new shiny bezel.
