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Originally Posted by cobrasnake
Don - sorry to sidetrack a little but I too plan to replace my ammeter with a Smiths voltmeter. How did you handle the existing wires to/from the ammeter and where did you connect the wires to/from the voltmeter?
Thanks - T
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T - I cut the wires about 6 inches back from both ammeter posts, left the connector clips on the ammeter in case it is ever used again (didn't want to lose them, they are a weird size) and removed the gauge leaving the panel light in there, it fits the Smiths voltmeter perfectly. I stripped back 1/2 inch on each end of the cut wire ends, put shrink tubing on both sides, pushed the heavy wired strands into each other firmly and thoroughly soldered them together. Then I pulled the shrink tubing over, heated it, then pulled the other over that, heated it, and when done had essentially connected the wire with a heavy solder and double wrapped it with shrink tubing. I then carefully positioning it way up out of the way of any metal near the main harness and tie-strapped it in several places to dash supports and other wiring to make sure it stayed there! So basically just remove the wires from the ammeter, securely connect them together, that's it. The voltmeter ground side (the gauge is labeled + and - posts) just goes to chassis ground anywhere, like where the 12v adapter ground goes or any similar ground. To be most accurate, the 12+ side of the voltmeter should go directly to the battery, or at least to the solenoid post for the battery. This avoids reading any drop in voltage from the wiring harness. But the problem is then it is unswitched, meaning the volmeter would always be on unless the battery disconnect was switched to off. I prefer to have the voltmeter only function when ignition is on, so I used the hot lead (red wire) from the 12V adapter (cigarette lighter thing) that is mounted under the dash on my car. This lead in my car is only hot when ignition is on. A voltmeter or 12V test lamp can be used to check which wires in your car on only "on" with the ignition. That's all there is to it. Mine reads right at 12V with car off, and running it goes up to about 14.5V. Let me know if you have any more questions, or PM/email me if you want.