The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Amp gauge hookup, I'm so confused!

Hey folks , need a little help here. I'm rewiring my 48 1/2 ton. New wiring harness, stock gauges that have been converted to 12 v.New ign switch with start at the key. Have a power lead from headlight switch that's suppose to go to the amp gauge, ok got that, now where do I go and how does the alternator fit in to all of this ?? Using a 2 wire GM alternator. This and the fuel gauge and It's wired( I hope) thanks in advance for the help. Oldblue51

Hy oldblue51, the output wire from the alternator should go to the ammeter terminal opposite to the one the battery positive terminal is connected to (via a large gauge wire). There are a couple of different ways to hook up the alternator activation wire, there is something called "Da Plug" which is available from several suppliers, it contains a diode which will allow the ignition circuit to be interupted and allow the engine to shut down, if you use the ignition terminal of the ignition switch to activate the alternator. If your new ignition switch has an accessory terminal, you could use that terminal to activate the alternator, and I believe if you did it that way no diode would be required, hope that helps.

It might be worth reading this thread before just hooking up your new alternator to the ammeter.