[fixit-p]

72step, I posted the picture of the ChevyII shunt just to illustrate that a shunt is not just a term used to describe ammeters but that it is an actual component in the system. "electrical shunt - a conductor having low resistance in parallel with another device to divert a fraction of the current". On our trucks GM used the charge wire as the shunt because it was a fixed gauge, fixed length so it had a fixed resistance which is why I asked if you changed the wire either length or gauge would change the resistance of the shunt and effect ammeter operation. With the ChevyII as well as other smaller cars it wasn't practical to use the charge wire because the vehicle was smaller and the electrical system was configured differently and the charge wire was too short (not enough resistance) so they had to use an actual resistor. The diagram below shows the shunt wired parallel with the ammeter so whether it's the shunt or the charge wire it's still parallel with the gauge.