I hooked up my battery gauge and as soon as I hooked up the battery the ground burnt. It was ground under May Day the same place I have the ignition grounded. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
probably an ammeter, connected as if it were a volt meter They work differently. An ammeter is a wire, if you connect it across + and - you will melt something. If you connect it in series with the main power wire that connects the battery to the rest of the system, it will work fine.
It’s the regular 1951 gauges. It was suppose to say under my dash. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Basically I hooked up the 1951 battery gauge the positive from my ignition and the negative grounded under my dash. As soon as I hooked up the battery it burnt the ground. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
An amp meter needs to be in series with everything else. A volt meter just needs to have a positive wire connected to one side of it and ground the other side of it.
Sorry I’m lost. I have the positive coming from my ignition wouldn’t that be a series? Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The positive from the battery or usually from the starter motor connection goes to the amp gauge, then to the ignition switch which powers everything else. That way the amp gauge reads all the current going through the system, except for what goes through the starter motor.
Sorry I’m just a jack***. My line from the starter goes into my fuse box then from there one of my ignition lines goes into my ignition. I got a new wire harness from easy wire and that’s the way it’s set up. I can run another ignition wire to my gauge instead of jumping it from my ignition or come from my gauge to my ignition. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Cut the line from the starter and fuse box and put the amp gauge there. Make sure the amp gauge reads higher than the alternator output, or you will burn out the gauge if the alternator ever reaches full output.
When you hooked up that ground the ammeter needle jumped real hard in one direction. That needle was centered right on the "0" when it came from the factory. Has it always leaned towards the +, or has that happened since you created a short through it?
Electricity is mysterious. It's not surprising you don't know how this stuff works. Ammeters have not been used in cars for a long, long time. Don't knock yourself. You might want to consider not having a "battery" gauge at all. But if you do wire it, according to that neat drawing above, make sure you understand about wire size, current that the alternator can output, and safe wire routing, or the burned up wires could turn into a burned up car.
The original generator on the 1951 was probably only able to put out 30 amps which if true would indicate you have a 30 amp gauge. What generator / alternator are you using now? Phil
Squirrel and others nailed it. Maybe pull that gauge and send it to someone like Williamsons and have converted to Batt gauge (volt meter)
Is it adviseable to put a fuse (rated the same amps or slightly less as the gauge) between the battery and Amp gauge? Or maybe a fuseable link instead of a fuse?
Usually fuses or fusible links are related to the size of the wire feeding the circuit. If you don't think the gauge will handle the current that the circuit carries, it's probably a good idea to not use that gauge.
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