SPO2454 - Ammeter ?

[scootter]

Hey Blas,

Yes, I agree with the updated fuse. I had some picked out on Amazon, but I didn't do it.
Well, it is kinda interesting the way it happened. Keep in mind my car is 1436, has over 50k miles, and I have never had electrical issues once I tossed out the 50amp alternator. There is only one reason why I think the main wire from the alternator to the fuse panel got so hot, it melted the insulation on the wire, the nylon lock nut plastic, and melted the glue on the post and basically melted the fuse.
I had just my carb back on the car and had the AF meter hooked up which I have used many times in the past. I had recently upgraded the head lights ( come to find out they are the same watts as the original, just brighter)and also the small running lights inside the headlight housing to brighter ones.
I took the car out for a ride with the AF meter on. I have always used it during the day and never at night. The AF meter takes a bit power to heat up. Once the car was warm and the AF meter was running, I set out for a ride. I forgot I needed to get gas, so I stopped and shut everything down. After gasing up, I reheated the AF meter, turned on the lights and took off. I don't recall exactly what happened when I was driving, but the AF meter shut off, so I restarted it. This happened a few times, but I really didn't think too much about it. As I was driving I could smell plastic buring thinking some DipS was just bring plastic. As I pulled in the driveway I could still smell it. I dropped the fuse panel and saw the melted wire etc.
So the only thing I can think is between the headlights and AF meter trying to heat up, the alternator was putting the power in, but the small stock wire could not handle it.
As I mentioned above, I put a 8 gauge wire from the alternator to the solenoid, then I used the one amp meter wire to power the fuse panel that comes off the solenoid.
Scott