Alternator gauge just went on vacation...MMMM!

[woodwiz]

Someone here also said they are running a volt meter gauge mounted under dash. Is that a possibility or same situation?

 

[Ranger]

All I did was take the wire connections off of the studs and put a small bolt through them and then tape them off for protection.

That is exactly what I did. Never had a problem, but never checked the wire temps either.

 

[Ranger]

Someone here also said they are running a volt meter gauge mounted under dash. Is that a possibility or same situation?

Again, that is what I did. Ammeter bypassed with and under dash voltmeter.

 

[woodwiz]

Did you just put a simple aftermarket volt gauge with connections for my 2wires and mount under the dash and good to go??

 

[woodwiz]

Took the bolted together red & purple wires apart and did a simple butt splice,gonna see just how warm/hot it gets like that. Went and got a simple volt gauge at Oriellys but haven’t installed yet,here’s the back & front.
Let me know if it’s not right! Thanks!!

 

[woodwiz]

I cannot believe Chrysler put this electrical system on their cars. If it’s true that those wires get warm/hot from day one 1970…Unbelievable!! IMHO!

 

[Carl Ray]

No. You cannot hook up a Voltmeter where the Ammeter was. A voltmeter is wired is parallel, an Ammeter in series. Their is no easy way to short cut this or find an "easy fix". You need to pull the cluster and inspect all the wires. You will find just as many people that like Ammeters (like me) as those who say throw it away and get a voltmeter. The choice is yours, but good sturdy wiring is the key to either avenue. If you are over your head, its time to pay someone to work on it.

 

[woodwiz]

I can just see the Chevy guys walk by shaking their heads…but maybe they have it worse.

 

[woodwiz]

Thanks Carl! I got the shop on retainer. Do you believe this butt spliced connection will not melt in the meantime?

 

[Carl Ray]

Its really hard to say without knowing how the system is wired. Is it wired as original or did a previous owner change some things up? Sure looks like those terminals are more burnt than in previous pictures.

 

[Ranger]

Did you just put a simple aftermarket volt gauge with connections for my 2wires and mount under the dash and good to go??

I left the ammeter bypassed with the wires screwed together and insulated. The aftermarket under dash voltmeter is connected to a spade connector on the fuse block. There are two, one on each side. One is hot all the time and the other is hot only with ignition on.

 

[woodwiz]

I have a new ammeter coming from Classic industries which I will attempt to put in. In the meantime in the course of today I took both wires and connected them thru a simple butt splice and then took it for a drive at some higher rpm’s and kept a watchful eye on the two and felt them occasionally and they did not get hot like before. So I’m running with it till I get the new gauge…Whew!! Somewhat relieved! She sits idle with the battery neg. Pulled off.

 

[woodwiz]

Like i may have said in other posts,i've had this car a little over a year and when the dome light comes on their is a draw on the ammeter and brake light or anything electrical. but since removing the ammeter wires and seeing how burnt they look it's difficult to figure if they shorted on the gauge for some time(due in part to the insulators allowing the gauge posts to short). Or did it just finally happen this one time? I've discussed this with others and they have said that most of the old mopars in their respective graveyards fell victim to this Bad electrical system unless maybe they had a fuseable link. I do have one,someone ahead of me new what i now know is a car saver.
So is putting this new ammeter gauge in properly going to still be a hot spot (so to speak) or are they just going to be kinda warm ??
Thanks!

 

[Russ69Runner]

More than likely connections have been loose makes heat. Poor connections at the bulk head connector also will cause problem's. Arcing in connections of electrical components will create more heat and cause melt down of your system. Larger wire's will carry more current and less heat. Amp meter will show a discharge when putting on the electrical component's like head light's and such. My Amp meter was restored or fixed by qualified company. It show negative discharge when a load is put on it. Not much on the needle but it should show the draw.

 

[woodwiz]

Opting for just leaving the ammeter gauge in the dash for a later replace. Took the 2 wires red/purple and used a butt splice without the plastic sheath and crimped together and then used a heat shield shrink then wrapped with a high temp silicone tape…never seen this stuff! Ran up the engine a bit and those wires got warm and I do know why! I don’t have the radio drawing on the system and not out driving it at night. saw someone on YouTube run a 10ga black wire from the stud post on the back of the alternator over to the starter relay with what I believe was another fuseable link and was told that it would take some of the load (heat) off the circui…Is he right?

 

[Carl Ray]

Remove connections at bulkhead and have a look at them for heat damage. The middle connector brings all power into the drivers compartment. High resistance there will cause those wires to heat up also.

 

[Russ69Runner]

Sounds like he routed the charge to the batt. from a different direction by going to the starter wiring. Here that some routed back to the batt. positive from the alt. with high output alts. Just bought an alternator that was the same as came on the car. Yes, head lights dim when stopped but not that bad.

 

[woodwiz]

Not too long ago I put in a pertronics electronic ignition upgrade at the distributor. Could that have some effect on the system?

 

[woodwiz]

Also forgot to say that a higher output coil was added as well. No ecu on the firewall before or currently.

 

[72RoadRunnerGTX]

I will pass along some observations here. First to those commenting about being shocked that Chrysler engineers would design such a charging system, I would just remind, every Chrysler passenger car product built since 1960, and through the late seventies, roughly a third of all US production, used this same system with great success when left alone and unaltered. Admittedly, the Chrysler ammeter is/was poorly understood by most. There was some later cost cutting that took place that created weak points, use of under-rated Packard terminals in the bulkhead connection being the weakest link. And the failed attempt at plastic framed ammeters in later seventies trucks. Any serious real-time monitoring of DC circuits still involves ammeters in some form or another.

In this case, and most others on these now 50+ year old cars, things have clearly been altered from the original design and there is obviously more current flowing through the charge circuit than it was designed for as a result, loads have been mis-wired. The ammeter was indicating this, burned poorly installed aftermarket ring terminations, warm wiring after bypassing also indicates as such. On a healthy and well-maintained system, as originally designed, with a fully charged battery, there should little to NO current flowing through that circuit while in operation, ammeter will be centered, indicating a balanced system, all loads are being powered by the alternator on the alternator side of the ammeter. Vehicle off, open the door, should be a verry little discharge indication if the dome lights are functional, full deflection is not correct.

The red wire pictured needs to be checked that is only routed to the fusible link (preferably by-passing the Packard terminal in the bulkhead connector) then to the starter relay battery terminal and there are no loads connected directly to the battery post or battery terminal on the starter relay, nothing! The battery should be the only load on this run. All vehicle loads must be on the alternator side of the ammeter. Originally a black 12ga ammeter wire routed to splice 1 in the dash harness, where all factory loads originate. The purple wire pictured appears to have replaced the original black wire run, needs to be verified it is routed correctly as originally designed. Would also recommend by-passing the splice 1 to alternator run Packard terminal in the bulkhead as well.

I would also recommend a full inspection of the ammeter terminal studs and insulators, both insulators, requires pulling the cluster and disassembly. I would NOT consider replacing an original ammeter with the currently available cheap reproductions unless there has been un-repairable heat damage to the ammeter terminations. If so, I would find a used original that hasn’t yet been abused.

Those generic crimp-on terminations pictured are junk, use only quality terminations, properly crimped, solder, and heat shrink anything that will handle any significant current.

For those who want to talk about alterations to the original design to handle higher added aftermarket vehicle loads and still run an ammeter correctly, that’s a different discussion.