5yrHabitual

Hi - we put a fan and fuel injection on our 1961. Looks like we need to upgrade our single wire 65 amp alternator but we are concerned about running 100+ amps through the ammeter gauge. Is this an issue - do we need to remove the ammeter gauge from the circuit? Many thanks for any responses.

x0000rgw

Come off of the battery with a second fuse box and run your
new electronics off the new box. Use a #10 wire to power the new
fuse box and come off of it with relays and fuses to the new stuff.
This way the only amps will be to charge the battery and the old
lighting and heater. I picked up a fuse panel at a local boat shop.
A fusable link is required on the #10 wire to take care of a short.
My alternator shows a charge after a start-up of the engine, then
goes to no-charge with the A/C and spal fans on.


Ray

5yrHabitual

Thanks Ray - That is the way I am running the wiring which is per the Spal wiring diagram. My concern about the overdraw through the ammeter is that if the battery is depleted for any reason and my new 140 amp alternator maxes out - won't that draw show on the ammeter and ruin it?

Many thanks again for your kind reply.

Frankie the Fink

This is why you should always, ALWAYS have a 30 amp fuse in line with the battery lead to the ammeter on C1s...it can save your car. Even if you make the extra fuse box change put a 30 amp ATC blade type fuse on that wire !!!!

5yrHabitual

Frankie - wilco and thanks. I think that is a great idea. Perhaps I should just wire past the ammeter entirely, leaving it for appearances, and put an unobtrusive voltmeter next to the heater panel.

Frankie the Fink

Many do just that and here's an excellent article on that topic:
http://madelectrical.com/electricalt...p-gauges.shtml

5yrHabitual

What a fantastic response. I will do exactly that. I hated to cut into the console but this is exactly what I am worried about. I had no idea it was such a real problem. This is a great forum. People are friendly and well informed. Many thanks.

Not to push my luck, but has anyone located a voltmeter gauge that somewhat resembles the originals and doesn't look like bad 60s backyard maintenance?

Frankie the Fink

Dakota Digital has come out with a sweet looking set of analog style gauges for C1s including a voltmeter in the gauge pod. I don't know if they'd sell individual gauges or a mount to place one separately somewhere; prob worth a call:
http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.c...rod/prd806.htm

The product shown above requires a central ECU module to run everything; prob wouldn't be practical to buy/install that for just one gauge but the techs there might have other suitable products.

I understand Corvette Instruments has done ammeter-to-voltmeter conversions for the dash gauge as well: http://corvetteinstrumentservice.com/