stock ammeter question

[McGillicutty]

I just swapped out my idiot light dash with a stock gauge cluster. I was wondering at what point to tie into the charging circuit. One side I have connected to the terminal near the battery. The other side I have tried at various points.First I tied it into the voltage regulator. At that point the gauge has very little movement. Then I tied it into the terminal on the alternator. That almost pegs the gauge out on the charge side. Does anyone have a suggestion for the best point to tie into on that side.

thanks for any help

[Class of 69]

You had it right in the first place, at the regulator. A factory configuration has the red wire that goes into the alt, and volt reg sending a black wire with an inline fuse of 4 amp capacity to the ammeter. If you can find were the red wire, that comes across the core support splits in the harness and feeds both the alt and reg, that's were the wiring diagram shows the black lead coming from. Remember, an ammeter measures the difference in electic power being used, and being produced. You don't want to see a big swing either way, or there is trouble in the charging system. The wire that you ran to the junction block on the right fender needs to be inline protected by a 4 amp fuse also, or you could over power the gauge dash and blow all the instruments.

[john]

Maybe this will help. The arrows are pointing at the ammeter wires. Good luck. Also one wire is black the other black w/ white tracer. I think GMC Paul's web site has instructions for changing the wires in the dash connector plug.

[Class of 69]

Exactly what I was trying to describe. Same pic I have in my book, but don't have a way of getting it on the board.