[JSeery]

Yes, the 46 pickup has an ammeter and yes it has to be wired up correctly for it to work. I attached a diagram of what Kevin is referring to. The Original Heavy Yellow wire with a Black tracer would have gone from the Generator to the Armature (A) terminal on the Voltage Regulator.

To switch it to the Alternator, this wire could have been used to connect it to Battery power by moving it from the A terminal on the Voltage Regulator to the B terminal. The B terminal connects (Heavy Solid Yellow Wire) to Battery Power.

The pathway is from the B terminal on the Voltage Regulator to the B terminal on the Circuit Breaker Panel. From the B terminal on the CB Panel it passes through the loop on back of the Ammeter and then to the Hot side of the Starter Solenoid.

I drew up a crude diagram of the wiring path.

For the new alternator to work it requires Battery power into it. This connection is always Hot. This is also the path of the current back to the Battery once the alternator is turning (engine running). This could be wired directly from the Battery post or directly from the Starter Solenoid for testing. It just needs to be a connection to the Battery. However, for the ammeter to work the wire between the alternator and the battery must pass through the loop on the back of it. A direct wiring connection would work fine for testing purposes, but the final wiring would be much better if connected up as shown in the second sketch.

Kevin is asking you to verify that however it is currently wired up that there is battery power at the alternator all the time (engine not running). Nothing has to be turned on for the battery power to be there, there should be a connection back to the battery such that it is always hot at the alternator terminal.

The reason the ammeter has to be between the battery and the alternator is it is measuring the current flow between the alternator (and the rest of the vehicle) and the battery. The rest of the power connections for the vehicle also connect to the B terminal on the CB. When current is flowing from the battery to the alternator (and any other circuit connected to the B Circuit Breaker terminal) the ammeter will deflect to the left showing a discharge. When the alternator is charging, current is flowing to the vehicle circuits and back to the battery and the ammeter will deflect to the right showing a battery charge.

The battery discharges some when current is used to turn over the starter. When the alternator starts output a charge the ammeter should show a larger deflection to the right (charging the battery back up). As the battery comes back up to full charge the ammeter should only show a slight deflection to the right.

With the vehicle just setting there (not running), a voltmeter connected between the alternator output terminal and a good ground should show fairly close to battery voltage. On a 6v system this should be something a little above 6v. With the vehicle running and the rpms up above idle the same check should show somewhere near 7.5 volts.