Amp Gauge Blow Up

[bliss]

Originally Posted by RICK LAKE

Bliss you have my number, call me. Call ERA first and tell them you need a new fuse block. The rest is just time and doing 1 wire at a time. ERA will give you a wire diagram of the car with colors and gauge thickness. We do need to open up the harness and remove the clamp to see what other damage is done. SW has a black face gauge for cobras with a volt meter that goes to 16 volts. I think it is colored with red, yellow green. If you don't like the colors remove the clear cover and get black touchup paint and color over them. NO body will know but us. The reason the fuse block melted was the short was on the other side. The amp gauge terminal insolators got hard and just burn up. Beening there is not fuse from gauge to fuse block, it burnt those wires like you see. Voltage meter will fix this. If you played the game operation, this is a piece of cake, pie,beer, steak, candy.
Loosen the screw of the dash and drop the steering column. You will see how easy it is. When done just tape up the harness. What would you do if you where out in a desert, no AAA to help and no phone. You would fix the car. Play McGiuver and stop whining. this is part of owning a cobra. This How old?? That wiring has a better copper content than the new stuff. repair what you see. wrap the other wires by themselves. Rick L.

Unfortunately, I've lost practically all hearing so I no longer use the telephone.

Question....

1. What are the changes to the wiring, e.g. changing to a voltmeter (currently two wires go to the AMPS Gauge - with one directly from the Starter Solenoid)?

BTW - thanks so much for all your input.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by bliss

Unfortunately, I've lost practically all hearing so I no longer use the telephone.

Question....

1. What are the changes to the wiring, e.g. changing to a voltmeter (currently two wires go to the AMPS Gauge - with one directly from the Starter Solenoid)?

BTW - thanks so much for all your input.

Unlike the ammeter, you can run a volt meter off of any switched power source (meaning it's only hot when the key is on). It draws virtually no current, so it does not have to be a beefy circuit. For instance, if you have a heater fan under there, the hot line feeding it could be easily tapped in to. If you have a cigarette lighter in the dash (that doesn't work when the key is off) that would be another nice spot to tap in to. Or you could just run a new wire out through the grommet and attach it the fused side of fuse #4, which is switched, IIRC.

[DanEC]

Is there a Smith's voltmeter that is a good match for the typical Smith gages?

Patrick - you have Smiths gages - are you using a voltmeter?

Bliss - I'm curious about when you tore into your wiring - were both connections to the amp gage tight? The wiring damage looks similar but even worse to the damage I had when the main lead at my alternator came loose backed off. I'm wondering if this might have been due to a lead coming loose.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by DanEC

Patrick - you have Smiths gauges - are you using a voltmeter?

No. I use an ammeter. But, I have a parallel line around the ammeter. Parallel lines in a circuit divide the current based on the respective resistances of each. So, should the ammeter, over time, create more and more resistance (which would normally present a danger), more current passes through the parallel line, instead of burning up the ammeter. The readings on the ammeter are no longer spot accurate (if they ever were), but they're reasonably close and clearly show a charge or discharge condition. What most people don't realize is that, when the engine is running, and all the electric stuff is running hard, the current through the ammeter is still next to nothing. That's because the load sits on the same side as the alternator's feed -- and that's why your ammeter should be reading just a bit above zero. The only time it should show a higher plus reading is when the car has just been started, and the battery needs a little recharging. But once that's done, your ammeter should only be passing a few amps -- hardly any. Now, if your alternator isn't running, then all current is running through the ammeter. Big current motors can still draw a heavy load though when they come on -- that's why you may see your ammeter needle swing hard when your fan comes on but then settle back to zero.