C-1 amp meter showing opposite

[Ted K.]

I just noticed on my recently purchased 56 vette that the battery gague reacts oposite of normal. Turn on lights and neddle goes to right showing charging, race up engine and neddle goes to left showing discharging, indicating just the opposite of what is actually happening. Is it just a matter of reversing the wires to the back of the gague or something else I should be looking into?
Last week I had a hot,(temperature) coil which several responded to. It turns out the ceramic resistor was not lowering the voltage suffiently. I had to take a ohm meter to the parts store to find one with more resistance.
Thanks

[Verle R.]

Re: C-1 amp meter showing opposite

Ted,

I expect you only need to reverse the wires on the back of the gauge.

Verle

[Verle R.]

Re: C-1 amp meter showing opposite

Ted,

I expect you only need to reverse the wires on the back of the gauge.

Verle

[Richard M.]

Re: C-1 amp meter showing opposite

Verle is absolutely right. Just be careful you keep the red wires together on the same terminal. The black wire should be by itself, coming from the battery terminal on the starter solenoid.

I don't know if the 56 AIM wiring is like the 59 AIM, but the 59 shows them reversed on the wiring page Sec12-11.00. In error, it shows black to pass side, 2 reds on drv side. If so, somebody followed the instructions, which are likely wrong on the 56 AIM too. Also, just noticed it's corrected on the 62 AIM, and in fact it shows a revision date of 11/28/61 with a notation "5 - TWO RED WIRES REROUTED". It shows the black on drv side, 2 reds on pass side.

Rich

[Richard M.]

Re: C-1 amp meter showing opposite

Verle is absolutely right. Just be careful you keep the red wires together on the same terminal. The black wire should be by itself, coming from the battery terminal on the starter solenoid.

I don't know if the 56 AIM wiring is like the 59 AIM, but the 59 shows them reversed on the wiring page Sec12-11.00. In error, it shows black to pass side, 2 reds on drv side. If so, somebody followed the instructions, which are likely wrong on the 56 AIM too. Also, just noticed it's corrected on the 62 AIM, and in fact it shows a revision date of 11/28/61 with a notation "5 - TWO RED WIRES REROUTED". It shows the black on drv side, 2 reds on pass side.

Rich

[Terry D.]

Re: C-1 amp meter showing opposite

Ted

Did you figure out the problem? How about posting the cure?
Terry

[Terry D.]

Re: C-1 amp meter showing opposite

Ted

Did you figure out the problem? How about posting the cure?
Terry

[Ted K.]

Re: C-1 amp meter showing opposite

Reversing the wires on the BATT/AMP meter solved the problem. Thanks for the advice.

[Ted K.]

Re: C-1 amp meter showing opposite

Reversing the wires on the BATT/AMP meter solved the problem. Thanks for the advice.

[John H.]

Re: C-1 amp meter showing opposite

This is a well-known error on all C-1 wiring diagrams; the feed wire from the starter goes on the outboard (toward the driver's door) terminal on the ammeter, and the red load wires go on the inboard (toward the passenger door) terminal. The diagrams show it backwards.

[John H.]

Re: C-1 amp meter showing opposite

This is a well-known error on all C-1 wiring diagrams; the feed wire from the starter goes on the outboard (toward the driver's door) terminal on the ammeter, and the red load wires go on the inboard (toward the passenger door) terminal. The diagrams show it backwards.

[Ted K.]

Re: C-1 amp meter showing opposite

Appreciate the help. So today l look under the dash of my 54 and the black wire on the drivers side runs to the back of the igniton switch not to the battery terminal of the starter. How will that impact the car? It has not run for 15 years. I've owned it for a year and hope to fire it up in the next month or so.

[Ted K.]

Re: C-1 amp meter showing opposite

Appreciate the help. So today l look under the dash of my 54 and the black wire on the drivers side runs to the back of the igniton switch not to the battery terminal of the starter. How will that impact the car? It has not run for 15 years. I've owned it for a year and hope to fire it up in the next month or so.

[Richard M.]

Re: C-1 amp meter showing opposite

Ted, I just checked the 53-55 6cyl wiring diagram in my ST12 Corvette Servicing Guide(do you have that?), and that's right, but there must be another wire to the battery-see below. It appears they didn't want the loads on the starter solenoid relay and ignition through the ammeter, probably because it would peg the meter negative when cranking(a guess). The 54 is 6 volts so current is doubled for everything vs 12 volts, requiring heavy gauge wiring everywhere too. It's different on later C1's(55v8-62,12 volts). Everything goes through the ammeter.

The diagram shows a 10g heavy black going to the ignition switch feed terminal. It also shows a 10g red wire as a junction connection going to the ammeter. Seems very odd they'd tie a red to a black, maybe the book color code is wrong.

If there is only one black on the drivers side of the ammeter going to the ign sw, then there must be another 10g wire(color?) at the same ign sw terminal coming from the battery terminal at the solenoid as the feed. Book says black 10g.
If there are 2 wires on the ammeter drv side, one must come from the battery terminal at the solenoid as the feed, other to the ign sw.

Either of these combinations will work, just a different place where the required junction of the 2 wires is made.

BTW, the pass side terminal of the ammeter should be a 10g red feeding the light sw and maybe other red wires which feed the rest of the car.

Hope it helps....
Rich Mozzetta #13499

ps I never looked into the 6volt systems before so it was kindof fun for me to check this out.....learned some interesting things.

[Richard M.]

Re: C-1 amp meter showing opposite

Ted, I just checked the 53-55 6cyl wiring diagram in my ST12 Corvette Servicing Guide(do you have that?), and that's right, but there must be another wire to the battery-see below. It appears they didn't want the loads on the starter solenoid relay and ignition through the ammeter, probably because it would peg the meter negative when cranking(a guess). The 54 is 6 volts so current is doubled for everything vs 12 volts, requiring heavy gauge wiring everywhere too. It's different on later C1's(55v8-62,12 volts). Everything goes through the ammeter.

The diagram shows a 10g heavy black going to the ignition switch feed terminal. It also shows a 10g red wire as a junction connection going to the ammeter. Seems very odd they'd tie a red to a black, maybe the book color code is wrong.

If there is only one black on the drivers side of the ammeter going to the ign sw, then there must be another 10g wire(color?) at the same ign sw terminal coming from the battery terminal at the solenoid as the feed. Book says black 10g.
If there are 2 wires on the ammeter drv side, one must come from the battery terminal at the solenoid as the feed, other to the ign sw.

Either of these combinations will work, just a different place where the required junction of the 2 wires is made.

BTW, the pass side terminal of the ammeter should be a 10g red feeding the light sw and maybe other red wires which feed the rest of the car.

Hope it helps....
Rich Mozzetta #13499

ps I never looked into the 6volt systems before so it was kindof fun for me to check this out.....learned some interesting things.