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01-01-2012, 07:00 PM | #1 |
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Location: Townsend MT
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Amp Guage
I have a 1 wire Chevy alternator on my truck. Is there any way to hook the amp gauge up?
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01-02-2012, 09:12 AM | #2 |
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Re: Amp Guage
Yes? No?
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01-02-2012, 10:11 AM | #3 |
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Muskegon,MI,USA
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Re: Amp Guage
Do you have a stock wiring harness with the stock ammeter and have you added or changed any of the power wires from the ammeter to the battery?
Jim
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01-02-2012, 10:15 AM | #4 |
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Re: Amp Guage
My father in law changed his alternator to a one wire and his gauge works fine on his 70 gmc. His truck has the factory gauges.
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01-02-2012, 08:05 PM | #5 |
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Re: Amp Guage
I just hooked up the red wire to the terminal on the back of the alternator. Everything else is stock. I just taped off the other two wire.
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01-02-2012, 08:25 PM | #6 |
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Location: Liberty, & Garden City S.C. , U.S.
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Re: Amp Guage
The factory amp meter is a good guess at best. Even if it's working it's hard to tell what it's doing.
Why not buy a volt meter and hook it up?
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01-02-2012, 08:56 PM | #7 |
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Re: Amp Guage
I know they're hard to tell if they're working but I'm pretty sure mines not.
I am going to get a volt gauge along with some others. I want everything my truck has to work though. |
01-02-2012, 09:22 PM | #8 |
Msgt USAF Ret
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan
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Re: Amp Guage
If your truck is wired like the diagram below then the ammeter should work just fine. You can eliminate the voltage regulator, switch alternators and run the red wire off the back of the one-wire like it shows in the diagram. If you run it to the battery plus cable or the starter then the ammeter cannot read the voltage differential between the battery and the alternator. The one wire alternators will eliminate the battery charging light from the circuit. It's so easy to use the three wire alternators that I don't recommend the one wires.
You will need the small 20 gage black wires and the fuses for the ammeter to work.
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01-13-2012, 05:24 PM | #9 |
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Re: Amp Guage
redneck
your old amp gauge is 30 amp, your one wire alternator is probably 100 amps. i'm not a fan of running 100 amps thru a 300 amp gauge with old wire. most oem's got rid of amp gauges in the mid 60s, dodge was the exception. i feed my alternator directly to the starter cable, but like you i want all my gauges to work. follow the link in my signature to see how i converted my 58 truk's amp gauge to a volt gauge. it's fairly easy to convert the gauge.
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