[DeTomaso] Amp gauge

[Tomas Gunnarsson]

Oh dear... ;-) Comments below.

Tomas

-----Original Message-----
From: MikeLDrew at aol.com [mailto:MikeLDrew at aol.com]
Sent: den 18 maj 2012 19:46
To: kirby.schrader at gmail.com
Cc: guson at home.se; mikael_hass at mail.tele.dk; detomaso at realbig.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Amp gauge


If the car is shut off and you start adding loads (turning on lights, fans
etc.) then the ammeter registers in the negative, not positive.  When the
car is turned on and the alternator is charging, ideally the charge should
be slightly higher than the load, so that the gauge indicates slightly
positive.  When you first start the car, if your battery is weak, it will be
drained quite a bit, so the ammeter will reflect a high state of charge for
a minute or two as the charging system rapidly returns the battery to a
fully charged state, and then it will come down to show a slight charge
(ideally).  If your idle speed is too low, you might show a slight discharge
at idle with all your components (lights/fans etc.) running.

Sounds like your car had both the supply AND the loads wired on the same
side of the ammeter?  That would deliver crazy readings for sure.

>Wiring the supply (alternator) and loads to the same side of the meter is
the correct way. Ideally everything connects to the + terminal, battery only
connects to the - terminal. Only exception is starter which is outside the
meter capacity.

My point is that it's senseless to take high-load components and wire them
outside of the ammeter so that the ammeter never registers their draw when
running.  It's like partitioning your fuel tank so that the fuel gauge only
registers part of the fuel you have on board.  Doing so guarantees that
you'd never know exactly how much fuel you have.  What would the point of
that be?

>You can't wire anything "outside" the ammeter. If you connect a load to the
battery the meter will register item load when alternator is charging. When
alternator is out no reading will be present. If you connet the load to the
alternator output you will see discharge when alternator is not running.
When alternator is running you will see no meter change.