The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay amp gauge

I went from a generator to a alterator in my 49 chevy truck and now my amp gauge reads discharge when the engine is running. I checked for charge and it's charging okay at about 12 and half to 13 volts at idle. What can I do? It's a single post alt, right to the battery.

My 58 did the same thing. I ran 10 gauge wire direct to my amp gauge, THEN back to the battery. Problem fixed. Make sure you go the right direction through the gauge though.

My alternator would melt the gauge. I have to the wire directly to the battery. I have 10 gauge welding to the battery my alt, is 300 amps.
Thanks Chuck 49

they make batteries that'll take a 300 amp charge??
how much equip do you plan that needs 300 amps??
how will you monitor the battery and charge conditions?

why is the meter reading at all, let alone backwards, if you've bypassed it?
how does anything electrical work if you've bypassed the ammeter?

Bill

First off you won't melt your ammeter unless you put an insane current load on it. It will only output the current your system calls for. I'm running 60 amp 6v alternator on my 38 and have had no issues in two years. If you run the return wiring through the ammeter as suggested by J-Dude you should have no issues.

I routed a heavy wire from the alternator on my 38 straight to the battery because I'm experiencing excess resistance when going back through the normal wiring and I'm too lazy to crawl my fat a$$ under the dash to figure it out. I too show a slight discharge on the ammeter but it's to be expected when you augment the wiring in that manor. Electricity will take the path of least resistance from the alternator to the battery which is the heavy wire not running through the ammeter. Any current requirement on what would normally be (had you not bypassed it) the alternator side of your ammeter will pull that current through the ammeter the wrong way, thus showing a discharge when it's not actually discharging. Clear as mud??

This is what happens when I try to type on my Iphone. I don't have internet at my house except for my Iphone but I'm happy for that. First I don't have 10 gauge wire I have 4 gauge welding wire. I only say its welding wire because thats what my friend Dave said to buy. Dave said to run the wire from the alternator to the battery. If the alternator ever had to really work it would be bad for the wiring in the truck. He made the alternator for me. Dave has a shop that supplies alternators for police cars fire trucks, cars with air-bags big stereos, here in Riverside. Dave knew I wanted to go to air-bags and made me the alternator. So thats how I ended up with a 300 amp alternator. Kind of overkill I know.
How I get power? Is through my starter switch. There still is the hot wire from the starter. Thats how it gets to the amperes gauge. So to recap if I run a small gauge wire from the battery to the amperes gauge it will fix the problem? Right?
Thanks Chuck 49

Hey Tiny,
Sweetie HOT with or without skirts!

Chuck 49

The problem with running the wire from the alt. directly to the battery is that the ammeter will never show a charge. To make use of the ammeter without damaging it with that 300 amp (!) alt. all you need is a shunt. This subject has been well documented here and if you do a search for "shunt" I'm sure you'll find more info than you'd ever want.

Not if you leave the large gauge wire connected directly to the battery. The path of least resistance is still the larger cable so a load on the alternator side of the ammeter will still show a discharge. The only way to get the ammeter to indicate correctly is to disconnect the bypass cable and run all the current through the ammeter. And thanks for the kind words, Sweetie is blushing.