[DeTomaso] Electrical questions--HELP!

[mc121639 at teradata-ncr.com]

Chris,
   As luck would have it my fans quit working as soon as I got to Vegas on
on Wednesday. I wasn't able to figure out what happened (I'm probably going
to have to drag poor SOBill into this one. . . :^) but I wired the fans
directly to the battery for the drive home. After doing that my ammeter
was showing exactly what you are describing.

   I was afraid I was going to burn up the alternator so I kept the fans
disconnected until I got off of the freeway near my house. It seems like
it should have been OK to have them on for the drive since I didn't add
any additional loads than normal but I don't know much about electricity
so I decided to play it safe.

Thomas,
   I think you are saying I would have been fine to have the fans connected
and just let the ammeter show 75 amps --- am I understanding what you wrote?
I'm not totally sure I understand exactly what the ammeter is trying to tell
me but I was figuring moving the fans out of their normal circuit and
connecting directly to the battery was "confusing" the ammeter relative to
having things connected normally.

Thanks!

   --mike

> Thomas Tornblom <Thomas.Tornblom at hax.se> said:
> Do you have any consumers connected directly to the battery instead of 
> through the cars wiring?
> 
> The new fans perhaps?
> 
> If so, then any current these consumers are using will have to go 
> through the ammeter and it will indicate that it is charging the 
> battery, when in fact the current goes to the consumer instead of to the 
> battery.
> 
> When I installed my monster Audi turbo fan, and needed more power, I 
> added a fairly heavy wire directly to the ammeter, on the post with the 
> cable coming from the alternator. The fan has a separate 80A fuse.
> 
> Good luck,
> Thomas
> 
> > "Christopher Kimball" <chrisvkimball at msn.com> said:
> > 2) The other problem is that when the car is running, the ammeter pegs to 
> > the right all the way.  Although I'm completely pathetic as a mechanic, I do 
> > know that although it's good that the alternator is providing power, the 
> > needle is supposed to sit about in the middle of the gauge, not all the way 
> > to the right.  What do I need to do to correct this problem?

          --mike                   | "No room for luggage
    mc121639 at ncrxxx.com            8      or wusses..."
       (Remove xxx's)              |  '71 Detomaso Pantera