To the right of "zero", battery is being charged.
To the left of "zero", battery is being DIScharged.
You don't know what the actual battery voltage is with an ammeter.
Its possible, with the engine running, to have a battery charged up to 24
volts and the gauge showing "zero".
The batteries would always be low and you would never know it, unless of
course, it gets real cold, then you'll
find out. With alt/gen running and charging, it should be about 27.5-28.5
volts or so.
In the mid to late 1950s, MVs went to the voltage gauges.
You are able to tell if the charging system is keeping up with the electric
load,
if your battery has a bad cell (low reading, under electrical load with
engine not running).
Voltage gauges also keeps the heavy current handling leads out of the gauge
area.
All you need is one light lead going to the battery source with the other
gauge lead
grounded.
Down side to voltage gauges, a shorted battery can be taking a hell of a
charge.
Voltage would be alright, but your battery and alt/gen are really cooking.
Have I flamed a charging system yet?
Ted H. MVPA 1705
(Oh, life member nra, too) Hoping and working for the best for responsible
MV and firearms ownership and
against the political rhetoric of "a ton of prevention versus an ounce of
cure."
Chill.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Sep 02 2000 - 09:32:40 PDT