ok, guys and gals... here is how it is supposed to work for those of you doing a little rewireing. the amp meter is a low resistance gauge. this means that if you take the amp meter and place it and it alone between the positive terminal and the negative terminal, it will catch fire. you must have a load between it and one of the battery terminals.
in my case, i wanted to see if the alternator is charging. the correct way to do this is to place the negative terminal of the amp meter on the b (output) terminal of the alternator. next, place the positive terminal on the positive side of the battery NOT THE NEGATIVE. if you place them incorrectly you will burn up the cruiser. if any of the wires rapidly become hot, there is a problem somewhere. if they slowly become hot, you need to check how you have them hooked up. they are probably causing resistance, and, keep in mind, the alternator should get kinda hot, so don't take that as a problem. it should not get scorching hot so you can cook an egg on it. if one of the wires gets hot before the alternator does, you have a problem. simply holding one of the wires to a post is one way to get a wire hot. if there are any questions, please let me know.