Quote:
Originally Posted by DanEC
Could be - I didn't pay much attention to it when I had the dash apart but off-hand I don't remember any large wiring there. Actually, the instruments panel uses a large printed circuit sheet to power everything in the instrument cluster so you are probably right. But - they are well know for electrical fires. I know someone who had one back in the 70s and his ownership of it ended with a dash fire. But he still misses it.  |
The Smiths amp gauge does not pass all of the current through the little measuring apparatus inside the gauge, it shunts it off instead. That said, you're still putting a good bit of current through the gauge on two occasions: 1) When your battery is down, like after some prolonged cranking, and it is recharging; and 2) For that momentary instance when all your high amperage fans kick on and the alternator has not caught up. Other than that, there is only a trickle of current running through your amp gauge; hardly any at all. That said, I still have a ten gauge parallel connection running from the circuit breaker to the fuse box. The amp gauge still registers accurately, only in a muted fashion, and then current on those two occasions is cut by more than half. It's a very simple upgrade and it will make that big swing of the needle, when the fans come on, about a quarter of an inch or so less.