Ampmeter gauge wiring

[Cold Blue]

I've got my ampmeter gauge out of the car to remove the old wires that had been cut when a previous owner converted the system to 12 volts. I know you can connect 12v to the gauge without problems.  With the old wires cut, I cannot figure out how to connect new wires to the gauge from the new wiring harness.  Looked in my service manual, and it looks like a hot wire comes from the voltage regulator? Or can I just connect a hot wire from anywhere? Maybe the ignition switch? Any help appreciated!!!

[Plymouthy Adams]

battery feeds the amp meter and could well be a tie point on your regulator....the meter then FEEDS the ign switch and H/L sw etc etc.

[Cold Blue]

1 hour ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

battery feeds the amp meter and could well be a tie point on your regulator....the meter then FEEDS the ign switch and H/L sw etc etc.

So run a wire from the battery hot post to the ampmeter? Right now, the meter does not feed the ignition switch or anything else. The old wires were just cut about 2" away from the gauge. I only know basic stuff about auto electrical systems. Could you hold this amateur by the hand and tell me where to connect wires to make the gauge work, Plymouthy?

[Plymouthy Adams]

do you have a copy of the schematic, it was just posted a week or so ago on here.....that is all you need to correctly run your wires and do the power distribution break out.....locate the schematic...if you have trouble from there ie reading the schematic, then yes, but first we both have to be on the same page to proceed forward.

[soth122003]

Here Cold,

 

This should help.

 

Joe Lee

 

[Cold Blue]

1 hour ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

do you have a copy of the schematic, it was just posted a week or so ago on here.....that is all you need to correctly run your wires and do the power distribution break out.....locate the schematic...if you have trouble from there ie reading the schematic, then yes, but first we both have to be on the same page to proceed forward.

I downloaded the schematic - I think I see that the ignition switch feeds the fuel gauge, the coil, the signal flasher, and the amp gauge. The amp gauge feeds the main lighting switch, the voltage regulator, and the horn relay. The amp gauge was bypassed when the new wiring harness was installed, and I am in no way competent enough to rearrange wires to be just like the wiring diagram....Everything works now, and I am going to leave well enough alone. It looks to me if I just run a wire from the ignition switch to the amp gauge, and a good ground to it also, I should be in business...whatta ya think? (one thing that is puzzling me - when I took the old wires off the amp gauge, there were two ground wires..I don't think the wiring diagram shows two?)

[Cold Blue]

10 minutes ago, soth122003 said:

Here Cold,

 

This should help.

 

Joe Lee

 

Thanks Joe! I was successful in downloading the diagram off of this site. Thanks for your help!

[soth122003]

If I am correct, the amp gage does NOT go to ground. To check amperage it is done inline, in other words pull the hot wire and connect lead to bat and lead to wire to check amps. All the amp gage does is show current draw or positive charge. So connect gage to ign switch, light switch, horn relay and voltage regulator. If you connect to ground you might ground out a system or something.

 

Could some one else verify my assumption?

 

Joe Lee

Edited May 26, 2019 by soth122003

[soth122003]

Hey Cold,

 

If my previous post is correct your + and - are travel directions and not hot and ground. You should have labeled them in and out LOL.

 

Joe Lee

Edited May 26, 2019 by soth122003

[Cold Blue]

2 minutes ago, soth122003 said:

If I am correct, the amp gage does NOT go to ground. To check amperage it is done inline, in other words pull the hot wire and connect lead to bat and lead to wire to check amps. All the amp gage does is show current draw or positive charge. So connect gage to ign switch, light switch, horn relay and voltage regulator. If you connect to ground you might short out something.

 

Could some one else verify my assumption?

 

Joe Lee

If you look at my photo of the gauge you see two wires coming off the right post; the wires are original to the car, and the 6v system. I thought that a black wire meant ground, so I used a sharpie to label the posts. I guess I am wrong in doing that, if your assumption of no ground is correct...

[soth122003]

23 minutes ago, Cold Blue said:

I downloaded the schematic - I think I see that the ignition switch feeds the fuel gauge, the coil, the signal flasher, and the amp gauge. The amp gauge feeds the main lighting switch, the voltage regulator, and the horn relay. The amp gauge was bypassed when the new wiring harness was installed, and I am in no way competent enough to rearrange wires to be just like the wiring diagram....Everything works now, and I am going to leave well enough alone. It looks to me if I just run a wire from the ignition switch to the amp gauge, and a good ground to it also, I should be in business...whatta ya think? (one thing that is puzzling me - when I took the old wires off the amp gauge, there were two ground wires..I don't think the wiring diagram shows two?)

Hey Cold,

 

If my previous post is correct your + and - are travel directions and not hot and ground.

 

Joe Lee

[soth122003]

Hey Cold,

 

The 2 wires coming off the - probably went to the voltage reg( though it should only be one wire. May have been a bad wire and a new one was run due to the insulation being newer on the black wire). the other three from + went to the light, ign and horn relay. 

 

Joe Lee

Edited May 26, 2019 by soth122003

[Cold Blue]

3 minutes ago, soth122003 said:

Hey Cold,

 

The 2 wires coming off the - probably went to the voltage reg( though it should only be one wire. May have been a bad wire and a new one was run due to the insulation being newer on the one wire). the other three from + went to the light, ign and horn relay. 

 

Joe Lee

Cool! That makes perfect sense. I now think I know what I have to do to connect the amp gauge. Taint gonna be easy..Thanks so much Joe for explaining this to me!!

[soth122003]

Actually Cold, it's as easy as pie.

 

Are you using a 12 volt + or 6 volt - system? If 6v- run a wire from the volt reg to the amp meter on the - side and run the other three from the + side to the ign, light and horn relay and don't tie into your new wire harness. That way all your doing is wiring a gage into the system. If you have a 12v+  you might want to talk to a real electrician. Been to many years since I was in that field. 

 

Joe Lee

Edited May 26, 2019 by soth122003

[Cold Blue]

15 hours ago, soth122003 said:

Actually Cold, it's as easy as pie.

 

Are you using a 12 volt + or 6 volt - system? If 6v- run a wire from the volt reg to the amp meter on the - side and run the other three from the + side to the ign, light and horn relay and don't tie into your new wire harness. That way all your doing is wiring a gage into the system. If you have a 12v+  you might want to talk to a real electrician. Been to many years since I was in that field. 

 

Joe Lee

Joe - I am using a 12v system. I think I can figure it out if I take my time and trace the wires. If I feel that I am unsure of it, I will probably take it to someone who does car wiring. That may be a tall order, as electrical car repairs, especially for a 48 Plymouth, is not a common thing. I am hopeful I will be able to figure it out....

[Plymouthy Adams]

15 minutes ago, Cold Blue said:

Joe - I am using a 12v system. I think I can figure it out if I take my time and trace the wires. If I feel that I am unsure of it, I will probably take it to someone who does car wiring. That may be a tall order, as electrical car repairs, especially for a 48 Plymouth, is not a common thing. I am hopeful I will be able to figure it out....

again, with t he schematic, you should not find this to be a difficult task.  I personally prefer solder on terminals and heat shrink over stake on terminals...BUT..if you do go stake on style get the proper heavy made crimper that are sized right for the red, blue and yellow crimp-on.  Klein in a very trustworthy brand.  Stake on is yet another.  Go online, I like to establish high/low using E-bay, then armed with cost, run to your local pawn shops and buy one for a fair price.  You can get great deals there but you got to know the product first and buy accordingly.  I have never paid asking at a pawn shop, remember, they like spontaneous buyers and of course their buy low sell high is their bread and butter....

[kencombs]

17 hours ago, soth122003 said:

 

 

17 hours ago, Cold Blue said:

I downloaded the schematic - I think I see that the ignition switch feeds the fuel gauge, the coil, the signal flasher, and the amp gauge. The amp gauge feeds the main lighting switch, the voltage regulator, and the horn relay. The amp gauge was bypassed when the new wiring harness was installed, and I am in no way competent enough to rearrange wires to be just like the wiring diagram....Everything works now, and I am going to leave well enough alone. It looks to me if I just run a wire from the ignition switch to the amp gauge, and a good ground to it also, I should be in business...whatta ya think? (one thing that is puzzling me - when I took the old wires off the amp gauge, there were two ground wires..I don't think the wiring diagram shows two?)

b

Maybe this will help you sort it out in your mind.  The red above is correct. Also the blue,   but only after the ignition switch is fed by thfe amp gauge.

So the switch is used to isolate those items when turned off, but the horn and lights work with the switch off.  The ign sw to reg connection is also to isolate the charging system when the key is off,  the reg actually feeds the switch.  Current from the Arm terminal is sent to the switch through the regulator contacts and thus to the battery.  The direction of flow is really important in an overall understanding. 

 

When reading diagrams like this, it helps to start at the battery 'hot' post (neg or pos, depending on you chassis ground) and follow the flow from there.

[Cold Blue]

Thanks Ken. I think I understand how the wiring should be connected. My problem is that whoever wired the car for 12v previously, did not match the wire color to the original wiring color. To make things worse, duplicate wire colors were used. So tracing a pink wire from the voltage reg when another pink wire is wire tied right next to it in the same wire bundle...along with a bunch of other wires...and they bypassed the ampmeter gauge altogether....so sorting out this mess will take some detective work, if you know what I mean...And some wires start out as green, then they are spliced with a red wire somewhere along the way, so the terminus is red, not green. Yikes!!! Careful, Will Robinson...

[Plymouthy Adams]

even with spliced wires, you know the origin, you know that it has to feed an accessory somewhere...disconnect each end, ring the wire with an ohm meter....Bob's your uncle.  it will take a few minutes but how better way to know and understand the car's electrical?  When finished, you be a pro and we can sign you off on Electrical 101

[chrysler1941]

Just remember always use heavy gauge wiring feeding amp meter.