amp gauge or volt gauge 2 prong wiring

[patroll]

I have a 1972 Chevy c/10 deluxe pickup truck , which wires hookup on a 1972 Chevy trucks volt meter or amp gauge one prong is silver and one prong is copper color . I want to make sure nothing is wired up incorrectly . Thanks

[ray_mcavoy]

Does your truck have the original "battery" gauge ammeter? Or has it been changed over to a voltmeter?

If it has the original "battery" gauge, there should be a couple of black wires (one with a white stripe) leading to the #1 and #12 terminals on the cluster plug. From there, the connection to the gauge is made by traces on the printed circuit on the back of the cluster. No harm will be done if the two wires for this gauge are reversed. It will simply read backwards, indicating a discharge when the battery is actually being charged and vice versa.

If it has been changed over to a voltmeter, you might want to post up a pic to see if anyone can identify the particular voltmeter used for the conversion.

[patroll]

Amp meter ,for some reason someone put a wire on each prong.

[ray_mcavoy]

Sounds like someone might have added those wires to repair a faulty printed circuit with a burned out trace. It would be a good idea to follow those wires back to make sure they have them hooked up to the correct black & black w/white stripe wires in the harness. As I mentioned earlier, it's not a big deal if they're accidentally reversed though ... it'll just make the meter read backwards.

I would also recommend taking a look under the hood to make sure the two 4 amp inline fuses that protect the battery gauge circuit are still in place and haven't been bypassed or eliminated. You should find one on the driver side of the radiator support near the voltage regulator. And the other should be over on the passenger side near the junction block by the battery.