Re: Ammeter bounced and went negative only.
Posted by Gordon Biggar on Sep. 14, 1998 at 10:31:54
In Reply to: Ammeter bounced and went negative only.
posted by J.R. Aiello on Sep. 14, 1998 at 09:19:36
| : Hopefully this is a easy question. I was driving down and noticed the ammeter started bouncing around. After a few minutes,it went to 0. When I go to turn the lights on, or brake, etc. it goes full negative. The car kept running fine. My thought is that the generator died and I was running off the battery. This seemed to be confirmed by having barely a horn if the lights are on, but full horn if no lights. The lights also do not get brighter when I accelerate (as though I was now charging). : Am I right in my thinking it is probably the generator? My ammeter usually stays pegged at 20 after 30mph or so. _______ J.R. -- I was recently playing similar games of late.Take a jumper wire and connect the two terminals on your cut-out.If this gives you a positive reading on your ammeter when accelerating, you have a cut-out that is stuck in the open position.(Don't leave the jumper cable attached when you have turned the engine off, or the battery will try to make a motor out of your generator -- at your expense.) If this doesn't do the trick, use a voltmeter between the generator output terminal and ground with the engine running.You should pick up a voltage reading if your generator is functional; this voltage should increase as you rev the engine. I'm assuming that you've looked for loose contacts (at the junction box, especially). On a related subject, I think that your charge rate of 20 amps (when the electrical system is functional) is way too high.Although the original specs called for something closer to 10 amps, I think today's battery requires only about 5 amps.I'm also presuming that you do not do a lot of nightime driving.By moving the third brush upward (after removing the clamp) you can reduce the output of your generator.Try it with the engine off, unless you've done this type of thing before, and then restart. Good luck! Regards, Gordon Biggar |
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