Ampere gauge bouncing around

The Pantera ammeter normally bounces around quite a bit, but mine really started acting up and the gauge became warm to touch. I found that the one of the two main power wires became loose on one of the gauge terminals and started arcing, which resulted severly damaging the wire terminal. I caught it soon enough before any serious damage occurred to the gauge terminal. A new heavy duty eyelet terminal was soldered on the terminal wire, and then properly tightened to the gauge post terminal. This resolved the both the wildly swing ammeter needle problem and the hot guage problem. I suspect this may be related to the overheating ammeter guage problem mentioned in previous tech articles. I would suspect that this overheating problem may be due to loose guage terminal connections rather than an internal gauge design problem, but you never know. I chased this problem installing several new regulators and alternators. An overheating wire smell finally led me to look behind the dash plate. Remember, that all power from the alternator goes through this gauge, and with an upgraded alternator, this level can surpass 75 amps, which can produce a potent arc at a loose connection.
Remember to disconect the battery before removing the dash plate from the console.

The questionable design used sends 100% of the alternator's amperage through the amp gauge before it goes anywhere else. If anything in the car draws power, the gauge reacts. The usual fix is to add a 'shunt'- a conductor directly across the amp gauge terminals- that reduces the needle action and acts like a safety valve. The shunt must be insulated for safety, and can be sheet brass or heavy gauge wire; the bigger the conductor, the less needle action and the more current goes thru the shunt. Tune it for the action you prefer...