Ammeter Retro fit?

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speirmoor

speirmoor

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I like the look of the ammeter in the headlight shell.Has anyone installed one in MK III ? What I really need to know is what wires in the headlight will I need to tap in to to make it function?
 
I'm going to put in ammeter in my '72 as I've got both a new
meter and a shell with the big hole for meter.
I hear its a loose fit so needs tape wrap for friction cushioned
retention.

To really function as a vibrating meter needle spending more or less
time weaving on charge or discharge side of zero,
Whole bike power should feed thru it, so main wire
off battery goes to one terminal then off the other terminal
and on out to all the rest of bike.

I tired to oil or glycerin fill an ammeter but found it leaks
out the lens seam, which made a real permanent mess
trying to seal said lens rim. ugh had to get new meter.

Ammeter is so useless, I'm mostly thinking about it
as pure decoration and conversation piece to plug
shell hole.

hobot
 
Rabers talked me out of one, and they could have made a sale. They said what Hobot said only they arranged the words a little differently.
 
ludwig said:
The last time I put an ammeter on my N15 it lasted a whole 15 min. and put me on the side of the road .
remeber : all your current goes trough that thing .
I replaced it with a clock .
Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me and I replaced it with the same thing. Try this link for clocks. The black faced ones match the look of an ammeter and they are real nice quality.

http://formotionproducts.com/insert.htm
 
speirmoor said:
I like the look of the ammeter in the headlight shell.Has anyone installed one in MK III ? What I really need to know is what wires in the headlight will I need to tap in to to make it function?
Click to expand...

The wires that you need to tap into are not present in the headlight shell of a MK III.
 
Actually a voltmeter will do the trick if I find a suitable one.So that would be any hot wire and a ground ?
 
speirmoor said:
So that would be any hot wire and a ground ?
Click to expand...

Yes, connect the voltmeter between any white wire and ground.
 
O.K., if your using a powerbox, what gauge would be the better, Amp or Volts or clock???
Rgds Foxy
 
Foxy said:
O.K., if your using a powerbox, what gauge would be the better, Amp or Volts or clock???
Click to expand...

Well, doesn't that depend a little bit on what you wanna know? I'd say a Voltmeter is pretty useless if you want to know what time is it....

If you want to know the state your battery is in than a Voltmeter is best. The ammeter only tells you how much current is going in or out of the battery at the moment you watch the gauge. It helps a bit to determine at which rpm your alternator is charging bat that's about it.



Tim
 
A clock makes a whole lot more sense to me than ammeter
and would give me my dial gauge fix.
Put the Osborne single LED voltmeter in assimulator hole
and the ammeter for decoration or useful clock.
I'd not wire for ammeter function unless just itching to
see what you can get away with.

hobot
 
Foxy said:
O.K., if your using a powerbox, what gauge would be the better, Amp or Volts or clock???
Rgds Foxy
Click to expand...

I have a clock in the ammeter hole and a voltmeter mounted on an aluminum bracket between the handlebar clamps.
 
Thanks for the replys, what I was really wanting to know, seeing Im using a Powerbox and no battery, which gauge would be preferable and would one or the other create issues???
Foxy
 
The ammeter will definitely add its own resistance plus the long
wire run resistance, so will pull your precise watts down
a bit and is hard to tell which side of charging its even
indicating,
while voltmeter adds nil resistance, short wires to connect about
anywhere and lets you know instantly what power level being produced.

hobot
 
Thanks Hobot, all I need to do is find a nice volt meter?!
Rgds Foxy
 
Well Foxy, real motorcycle's don't need no stinking gauges of any Kind!
Any the factory supplied like oil only mislead and worried owners
needlessly till factory eliminated it. Same with ammeter. Coin toss
which side of zero the swing spends most time/distance on.
All's ya need is the brightness of the headlamp and enough juice
the fire don't got out when ever brake light is touched.

The 1st Commando I saw with LED under lighting appeared like
a blue/white/red UFO when the cover thrown off at night,
then started up to see UFO like LED's sweeping Volts in an arc
indicating the twitches of the alternator output, I almost
fainted. A tach like effect, only topped by Peel when her
LED became timing lights d/t non R plugs installed.
Ray Rodborn's bike, also equipped with rear view video
display.

Commando do strange things to men's glands.

hobot
 
Is the ammeter hole 1.5" where there was one? Theres not that many (voltmeters) available @ 1.5" other than
breaking up a set of equus ones like someone mentioned earlier or else very expensive ones.
 
Mmmmm...... I think it would be better if I bought another new headlight shell without any holes!! Dont like the Idea of LED,s as thats a bit too modern for my bike. Yep the hole is 1.5" and the link 2tins put up is probably the best bet if I went that way. Thanks for all replys, its much appreciated.
rgds Foxy
 
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