Re: Question for you 12V sparkies.

Posted by John T on July 11, 2017 at 05:23:40 from (216.249.81.101):

In Reply to: Question for you 12V sparkies. posted by Adirondack case guy on July 10, 2017 at 16:57:33:

Its pretty simple wiring for an alternator and I'm assuming its NEG ground.

Alternators output to the Ammeter,,,,,,,,,,,Ammeter's other terminal to hot ungrounded battery post, often via where the big battery cable attaches to a starter switch or solenoid BAT INPUT (NOT starter OUTPUT side) or the battery itself.

To correctly measure charging current INTO battery or discharging current OUT of battery, the ammeter is wired in series BETWEEN alternator (and other loads see below) and battery.

LOADS like lights or ignition etc are wired/fed off the Alternator side of the ammeter. Proper fuse protection should be used for load circuits. In order for the ammeter to correctly measure NET charging current INTO or discharging current OUT of the battery (which is on other side of ammeter) they are wired/fed off the alternator side of the ammeter. The ONLY circuit on the other side of ammeter is to the battery IE don't feed loads from there as their current draw wouldn't be registered by the ammeter WELL DUH if current is NOT passing through the ammeter it cant measure it lol

NOTE Often I see 10 Gauge wire from the alternator BUT BE AWARE if its say a 60 amp alternator, 10 Gauge "may" be (subject to type of wire and insulation and jacketing or enclosure) a bit light, Id prefer 8 or even 6 gauge from alternator to ammeter then to battery. SURE 10 WILL WORK don't anyone have a calf now. Many non sparkies may not realize the ampacity of a single conductor in free air is greater then if its enclosed or jacketed, so a 10 gauge single conductor in free air has more ampacity then the 30 amps many take for granted.

YOUR SPECIFIC QUESTIONS:

Here lies my question. I want to bring the amp meter into the charge loop. It is a 60A gauge, and the alt. is rated for 63A maximum output. If I run the new 10G wire from the alt. to the pos. post on the ammeter, and then run the wire from the neg. terminal on ammeter down the starter solenoid terminal that the bat lead is connected to, will everything work???

Ive seen weird labels on ammeters, but on many if you're at NEG ground Id think the - goes to alternator and + of ammeter to
+ of battery BUT CANT GUARANTEE THAT, if it registers backwards simply reverse the leads.

Id consider bigger wire, see above.

YES it will "work"

"Would you put the ignition switch into the charge circuit also???"

I would feed the ignition switch and other loads off the alternator side of the ammeter, see above

John T

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