Wheelhorse Amp gauge; 856?

[FLtractor 159]

Evening,

 

Saw this on marketplace.. is it actually from Wheelhorse? Be worth it to somehow somewhere (don’t have availability on dash) put on my 856? 

Edited 8 hours ago by FLtractor

[Retired Wrencher 6,611]

You do not need it but if you feel up to it go for it.

[ri702bill 11,963]

Yes, it appears to be the period correct part...but.... a lot of folks ditch the ammeter and use a voltmeter in its place.

Thw ammeter can have two serious issues.

If the circuit goes to an open state, there is no charging as the path is incomplete.

Worse, and this does happen, if the ammeter fails and develops an internal short to ground, all the battery amperage discharges there - (unless you had already added a fuse) and the thermal event begins.  Remember just where that gauge is located - right behind the gas tank......

Edited 6 hours ago by ri702bill

[953 nut 65,522]

Its your money, feel free to waste it as you see fit.

[pfrederi 20,367]

If your idiot light works do not see the need for an ammeter

[Handy Don 16,356]

Being a bit of a belt and suspenders guy, I have both an ammeter and voltmeter. A voltmeter tells you the charging system is or isn’t generating adequate voltage but only an ammeter tells you what current is going into or out of the battery.

 

The safety part is adding a fuse between the battery and the ammeter so that a shorting failure doesn’t get out of hand.

[squonk 46,240]

Remember boys and girls,  Those amp dudes  do all the work. You can have a gazillion volts. But if those amps sit and play on their phones nutin happenin. The volts are like the nun with the ruler. They give the amps a whack to get them up and movin!