>The solution? If you are using the truck in a normal way, with no power
>robbing accessories such as killer stereos, A/C, funny lights, etc, then
>you can use the stock wiring. Make sure the terminals at the ammeter
>are tight, and that the nuts that hold the spades onto the ammeter are
>tight. It'll work fine, I've been running my orange 59 this way for 25
>years, with no wire smoke. It wouldn't hurt to add a fuse link (4 gage
>numbers smaller [bigger number = smaller wire] than the main feed wire,
>such as #16 link for the stock #12 feed wire) where the main power wire
>connects to the battery cable.
Is there a way to remove the internal shunt part of the Chevy ammeter
leaving essentially
just a meter movement? I can't recall and my truck is 5 hours away so I
can't look.
If so then you could do that and then turn the stock meter movement into a
voltmeter by adding a mulitplier resistor in series with the meter
movement. Then you could hook that across the battery to give you an
indication of charge state by measuring voltage instead of current. The big
current carrying wire could then stay on the other side of the firewall out
of the cab. To determine the muliplier you could hook a high value variable
resistor in series with the meter movement and then crank the truck. You
could then adjust the variable resistor until it gave you full deflection
of the meter and make that your reference for normal charging. This would
be a way of utilizing the original meter while keeping the high current out
of the cab.
Bill Bailey
57 Chevy 3100
Hagerstown, MD
http://members.tripod.com/~oltruck
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