volt gauge or not?

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mopar56

mopar56

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Ok, well I just read through the tech section in the search venue above for by-passing the amp gauge, ( very well done article by the way ) well it looks like I have two vehicle's at our house that need and will be getting this wiring upgrade soon, the 74 Duster and the 80 Dodge truck, but what it didn't say in the article was if anyone has put a voltage gauge back in the car, and if so was that getting wired with its own dedicated wires through the firewall somewhere? what are you guys doing after by-passing your ammeter?
 
IMHO. the volt gauge is very good. it will show you your batt voltage. an AMP gauge will not. and easy to install.
 
Volt gauge, pick up a keyed source so it won't drain the battery with the key off.You may find that the volt meter may respond slowly after starting the car as it builds voltage charging the battery after start up. I run the wires thru the bulk head connector.You will find a few blank spots in the connector and drill the plastic connector to pass the wire thru it.Just one way of doing it.
 
I, too, bypassed my amp gauge and routed the alternator to the starter relay. I ran new wiring and fusible links. I installed a triple gauge set of Sunpro's. The PO had cut out the radio bezel so I mounted them there. I wired the voltmeter with the switched radio circuit, no radio, and it reads pretty accurate. Wired the gauge lights to the illumination circuit for the radio. Used the factory 2 prong connector. I grounded it to one of the steering column mounting bolts. Ran the temp and oil lines through the firewall where the heater control vacuum lines exit. Notched the outer edge of the grommet slightly.
 
FYI
On my 73 Duster 12v key on wire is blue/white tracer that runs to your factory gauges.
Hook your light for the gauge up to the orange wire.
Pick a common ground for the gauge and light.
 
My comment is nothing more than that...a comment. In no way would I attempt to change anyone's mind about the discussed mod.

Ammeters were the only electrical system monitoring device for decades and were used on tens of millions of cars and trucks without problems. Yes, sometimes charge monitoring circuits fail catastrophically, but usually because the owner did something wrong with the wiring, and was not the failure of the ammeter.

Just as ammeters don't tell you your battery voltage, voltmeters don't tell you if your charging circuit is operating. However, when you are familiar with an ammeter, it tells you much more than the fact that the system is charging.

I'll leave it at that, but given the choice I would much rather have a properly functioning ammeter than a voltmeter.
 
I recently did the MAD bypass on my duster and added a volt gauge just to be sure the bulkhead connectors wouldn't lead to problems down the road.
 
You wont find 10 documented cases where Chryslers ALT' gauge was proven directly responsible for a dash fire. Improper wiring of add-on accessories such as cb radios, stereos, fog lamps, etc... ) was the root cause in the few examples there were.
 
Hmmm...seems like a bit of a split vote here, well I personally am not a fan of amp gauges and believe a volt gauge will at least give you a sign something is going wrong when it dose from there I will use my multi meter or Power Probe 1V to finish diagnoses although I have never had a complete dash fire I have seen some melted ammeters before and yes it is quite possible they were self inflicted from bad wiring however at this point the dash is already out of the car for painting and replacement of the speedo so I am going to take the opportunity to have less electrical resistance in the factory harness by bypassing the ammeter and more importantly the real weak link, the bulkhead connector union for the main power in and out, I guess my original question was really once the ammeter gauge gets bypassed are you installing a volt meter in place and it seems most are, and where are you mounting it, looks like I will have to use the aftermarket bracket that comes with the gauge but I am not a fan of them and lastly where you are tapping into them for power, I think I will use dedicated wires through a grommet, has anyone ever seen a "pod" style bracket that would mount on the "a" pillar like a boost or vacuum gauge would? if so where did you get it?
 
Interesting! I did some researching a while back on whether to hook up the volt gauge or not. I got a lot of negative feedback and decided not to bother with it.
 
A '65 A-body may only be pulling 30-40 amps max. Those amps may have to go through the bulkhead connector. Age and corrosion may add resistance to the bladed connection at the bulkhead, causing heat and possibly melting. The amperage passing though this connector is passing through the ammeter. Higher amp draw might be put on the system, i.e. the suspected connector and amp gauge. Over time the wiring, larger alternator, additional electrical devices may be added to the system, and it would be a matter of the wiring and both the bulkhead connector and the ammeter to handle these loads. The voltmeter would not be in series and exposed to the full system load. It would be good to know at what loads the factory set-up may fail or overheat, 55- 60 amps etc. when discussing options.
 
I've bypassed/eliminated 2 amp gauges. One on a 79 D100 and on my '67 Dart GT. IMHO they're def a very week link in the wiring system. Everything we read corroborates that and I can tell you that I had the one in my truck burn my finger from the backside before the bypass was made. Suspected a bad connection through the gauge somewhere and checking the contacts discovered them to be tight. There's a lot of resistance through those gauges and current equals heat. Even though volt gauges aren't supposed to show if your alternator's charging and the voltage regulator is supposed to regulate to show a constant unvarying voltage we all know that's not entirely accurate. I can tell if my alternators charging by the slight increase shown on my volt meter with the engine running, even though it really shouldn't. It's easy enough to check if there's a suspect alternator.
The MAD bypass is very good but feel free to use larger wire than recommended...except for the links. That's what I did and feel very secure with it. It may have been overkill but confidence is key.
 
My dads 78 w150 he bought new and sill has.
The amp gauge is burnt from an altrrnotor that over charged.
Took out a good portion of the dash wiring.
 
mopar56, let us know what you end up doing.

I did the fleet bypass on my 66 Barracuda under the recommendation from a member here. my guess is I was only a short time away from a complete meltdown. The connector going through the bulkhead was burnt and it was only a matter of time. I feel MUCH better now that it's done...and my headlights are brighter.

I kept my ammeter but I'm interested to see what you end up doing with your voltmeter.
 
well the black wire going out to the alternator through the bulk head was partially melted so I am glad I did it, so my other son will be doing his 80 Dodge truck next, as fro location of the volt gauge my so is putting a factory floor consul in his Duster so I may mount it there otherwise I think I am going to try to find a a pillar pod and mount one in there, his winter car is a 2002 Neon R/T and it has a " a" pillar pod wit a oil pressure gauge mounted in it so I may just try to locate the empty pod and put a volt gauge in instead, I think it would fit fine and look good, I will post a photo when I get it figured out
 
When I bought my car the previous owner had stuck a screw (yes, a screw) into the wire that feeds through the bulk head. When I removed the screw, the car would intermittently not start, go figure. The wire was burnt, so I did the MAD bypass and it's been fine ever since.

My volt gauge doesn't tell me exactly what my alternator output is but it gives me a pretty good indication if there's a problem?!? Approximately 12.5 volts at start up and 14.5 volts at cruise. If there's a variation, I start looking for the problem.
 
On my 76 duster the amp gauge curcuit was incorporated in with the curcuit boarder on the back of the gauge cluster which at some time shorted and burnt a bit of the panel. I plan on bypassing it when I put it back together because I have lots of electrical add ons that would probably peg the gauge out if I kept it. As far as a volt gauge, I didn't want to install another big gauge that I would hardly ever use so I bought a volt meter that plugs into the cigarette lighter. That way if I want to monitor my voltage I can just plug it in.
This is what I bought, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00962CQNC/?tag=joeychgo-20
 
Here's how I mounted my Sunpro set. The PO had already butchered the radio bezel. I installed a 20W amp with an mp3 jack and use my phone for tunes and a speedo.
 

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In my '67 notch, I did the MAD bypass, then I converted my old amp gauge to a new volt meter using the guts of the new volt meter and mounting it into the factory amp gauge location. Works great
 
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