Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I am considering swapping out my ammeter for a voltage meter as I think that would be more useful for me in everyday driving.

Can anyone help me with how I should terminate the old ammeter cables? There are two brown cables to one side of the ammeter and two brown/white cable to the other. Can the browns of one side be joined to the brown/whites the of other side, or should they be terminated separately?

Thanks,
Andy

Have a look here, may help...

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=38963&start=15

Andy
No need to get too technical , join all three wires together , use the live post of your Votmeter , the other side to earth...

Stand to be corrcted as I don't have the wiring diagram to hand...

John

john.p.clegg wrote:Andy
No need to get too technical , join all three wires together , use the live post of your Votmeter , the other side to earth...

Stand to be corrcted as I don't have the wiring diagram to hand...

John

John, there are 4 wires on the back of the ammeter, not 3. 2 x Browns to one side, 2 x brown/whites to the other. Are you suggesting join 3 of them together and use the other for the +ve connection to the voltmeter? If so, does it matter which 3 I join together and which one I use for the voltmeter +ve?

Cheers,
Andy

Sorry,misread your first post , what I meant was to connect all four together and use that as a voltege feed to your voltmeter , the other side to a convenient earth.

John

john.p.clegg wrote:Sorry,misread your first post , what I meant was to connect all four together and use that as a voltege feed to your voltmeter , the other side to a convenient earth.

John

Perfect. Thanks John.

Andy

john.p.clegg wrote:Sorry,misread your first post , what I meant was to connect all four together and use that as a voltege feed to your voltmeter , the other side to a convenient earth.

John

Actually John, that doesn't really work, at least not in a way that most people would want. Those brown cables from the ampmeter are live all the time so the voltage meter will be reading and drawing a current (albeit very small) when the ignition is off.

I picked up a switched live and its working fine now.

Just posted for anyone who may reference this thread in the future.

Latest reply from Andy basically covers it.
Combination of previous comments, join all the existing wires that go to the ammeter together and insulate well, some will be direct to the battery and you don't want these to short out to anything.
For the voltmeter you need an earth so any black wire should do that,there is an earth point near the gear lever or on most instruments. for the power side use a feed from the auxiliaries position on the ignition switch - look for white wires and connect to one of these and the voltmeter will work whenever you turn the ignition on.