Not that difficult
to do. With your current setup, current from the alternator goes up to the engine panel, through the ammeter, and back to the batteries to charge them. This is a relatively heavy wire (but never heavy enough as installed form the factory on the older boats) and probably red or orange in color. Because of the length of the run, and the small size of the wire, there is a huge voltage drop, meaning your batteries never really get a full charge. To change to a voltmeter, use just the wire coming off the alternator (most likely red) to the (+) terminal on the voltmeter. Disconnect the other wire (orange?) and tape the ends. You won't need this anymore. Find a piece of heavy gauge battery cable to fit from the alternator output directly to the house battery. West Marine has some good diagrams for charging systems. With this setup, the voltmeter will be reading the battery voltage at rest or during charging, and the house bank will always be charging when the engine is running. this setup would also require a battery combiner or similar, but it's foolproof. Good Luck with the job. Tom Soko Julandra C36 #659
