conehead 14 #1 Posted March 17 Good morning Wheel Horse Wizards! Here is this months dilema. My tractor came to me with all of the original wiring removed and new "basic" wiring having been installed. While replacing the ignition swith last year, I discovered that not all the wiring had been replaced, mainly the magnito and rectifier, hour, and amp meters. I decided to start new with all the wiring to get the tractor working electrically as it should. This was a bit of a mistake. I replaced all the wiring, which fixed the charging system, got the lights working, and the hour meter. But...I fried the amp meter when I hooked it up. I didn't address the amp meter last year because I had to use the tractor. I installed a new amp meter yesterday, tried to test it and fried that one to... Clearly I am not wiring the amp meter correctly. I ran wires from the hour meter to the amp meter making sure positive to positive and neg to neg. When I replaced my ignition swith last year I bought a switch with Accessory, Battery, Magnito, Rectifier, Starter and Ground. I have no clue if this is the right switch or not. I have no training in small engine repair or vehicle wiring but I am no dummy either. Any advice or direction sure would be appreciated. I would love to get this horse going as it should. Thanks to the community. Conehead Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gwest_ca-(File Mod) 10,515 #2 Posted March 17 If you have an ammeter it is wired in the wire that takes power from the battery to the ignition switch. It must not be grounded. You have a dead short. It measures the current flow in the wire. A less expensive option that tells you more is to use a voltmeter. You can wire it like you have the ammeter wired now. Monitors battery voltage and is turned off by the ignition switch. This gauge requires a ground. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
conehead 14 #3 Posted March 17 If I understand correctly, I tap off of the wire from the battery to the ignition and then exit off the meter back into that same wire (battery to ignition). Is that correct? AND, a better option would be a voltmeter wired off of the hour meter. So, I had the positive wire from the hour meter going to the positive on the ammeter and then the negative terminal I had going to ground (which was a no-no in this instance). But that is how I would do it with the voltmeter.... correct? Thanks gwest! Conehead Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
8ntruck 6,417 #4 Posted March 17 The ammeter is connected between the positive battery terminal and the ignition switch (load on the battery). It measures the amount of electricity flowing through the wire - kind of like gallons per minute of water flowing through a hose. A volt meter is connected to a switched positive wire downstream of the ignition switch and ground. A volt meter measures the 'pressure' (the electrical potential between the between + and - terminals on the battery) of the electricity flowing through the wire. As @gwest_ca mentions, connecting an ammeter between power and ground will cause a direct short which, as you have discovered, creates a direct short. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
conehead 14 #5 Posted March 17 Very good, I see what's going on! Thanks to you both. Very much appreciated. Conehead Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
