charging system upgrade

[Chooch]

Hey fellow Challenger owners. I have a question.  I'm in the process of upgrading my charging system. One of the upgrades is I ran a wire directly from the alternator to my new ammeter. After doing so I tried to start the car however I now have no power what so ever. I'm guessing that the original alternator wire branches off under the dash towards  the ignition, not sure because I'm new at this. Whatever help you can offer is much appreciated.  Mike

[Bullitt-]

That side of the ammeter also connects power to the rest of the system
 the red returns to the battery to charge..

I've highlighted the diagram from my 73 manual of the circuit

[bc3j]

I have done the same thing only I left the original black wire at the ammeter connected to feed the interior power. The original black at the alternator has been disconnected and taped. My new black from the alternator is now a 10ga and bypasses the bulkhead connector. I also ran a new red 10ga with fusible link also bypassing the bulkhead connector to the starter relay and disconnected the existing red wire and taped it off. I can replace the oem wires if I ever need to.

You also have the option of a wire directly from the alternator to the starter relay and installing a voltmeter. You would then connect together the wires that were on the ammeter. Then you would still have power to the interior. The wire gauge would need to correspond to your alternators capacity.

I believe the factory used the black side of the ammeter to make the connection for accessories back in the day.