where to hook up guage
- Thread starter sideSHO
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Detenator
New Member
At the risk of sounding very dumb, i will ask, what does Alt mean? If it means altimeter,then i have no clue where to hook up the wire.
However if you mean alternator, then i can help you. You didn't say if your Alternator guage is a voltmeter or a ameter. Does it say Volts or Amps on the guage itself? Assuming it is volts, you can hook up that wire into any clean voltage source. This can be anything, so long as its paralell to any other electrical circut. Many people use things such as the radio, or the cigarette lighter wires.
If your guage is Amps, this will be more difficult. An ammeter must be hooked up in line, (series) to the main power wire of the battery. All of the current being measured must flow through the ammeter. What you will need to do is find the main power wire by your battery, cut it, splice in a pair of heavy wires, and then rout them inside the passenger compartment, into your guage. Do not include the starter wire into this circuit. The starter can draw up to 500 amps, and your Ameter probably goes up to 60 or 70 amps.
This is a lot more risky because you run the risk of making a car fire by routing all that electricity into the car, if anything shorts out, you run the risk of burning something up. Also, a high current, low volatage (50 amps, 12 volts) power source such as that found on a car is very sensitive to the wiring. Long wires (more resistence) do deteriorate the amount of power that can flow throught the cables.
Now you may ask yourself, what Alt guage is better? Ammeter or Voltmeter?
Answer: Voltmeter.
Why?
No need to run heavy guage wiring.
By measuring volts, you can better measure the condition of your alternator. So long as it pumps out more then 12 volts (most do 13.5v) you are in good shape.
However if you mean alternator, then i can help you. You didn't say if your Alternator guage is a voltmeter or a ameter. Does it say Volts or Amps on the guage itself? Assuming it is volts, you can hook up that wire into any clean voltage source. This can be anything, so long as its paralell to any other electrical circut. Many people use things such as the radio, or the cigarette lighter wires.
If your guage is Amps, this will be more difficult. An ammeter must be hooked up in line, (series) to the main power wire of the battery. All of the current being measured must flow through the ammeter. What you will need to do is find the main power wire by your battery, cut it, splice in a pair of heavy wires, and then rout them inside the passenger compartment, into your guage. Do not include the starter wire into this circuit. The starter can draw up to 500 amps, and your Ameter probably goes up to 60 or 70 amps.
This is a lot more risky because you run the risk of making a car fire by routing all that electricity into the car, if anything shorts out, you run the risk of burning something up. Also, a high current, low volatage (50 amps, 12 volts) power source such as that found on a car is very sensitive to the wiring. Long wires (more resistence) do deteriorate the amount of power that can flow throught the cables.
Now you may ask yourself, what Alt guage is better? Ammeter or Voltmeter?
Answer: Voltmeter.
Why?
No need to run heavy guage wiring.
By measuring volts, you can better measure the condition of your alternator. So long as it pumps out more then 12 volts (most do 13.5v) you are in good shape.
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