Hi Jay
It sounds to me like you moved a couple wires in doing your header
instalation.
I think your alt and battery are just fine but the Ammeter is
in the wrong part of the circuit.
A few simple tests first..
Is the battery voltage coming up to about 13.8 V with the engine runing?
and With the lights on?
Does the engine start easily?
If all of the above are true the Battery and Alternator are doing just fine.
Now to test the ammeter, With the engine stoped, turn on the headlights,
the Ammeter should read ~ -18A.
If it reads ~ +18A the ammeter is connected backwards
just reverse the terminals.
If it reads zero (same as with the lights off) and
has any other reading with the engine running
you have it wired in series with the alternator.
It should instead be wired in series with the battery and load, less the
starter..
Here is the correct electrical hookup. Its a bit cruder than I
like but such are the limits of ASCII art.
a + b
-----O----- Ammeter -----O----- car ignition, lights etc
| | |
| solenoid |
+ | | Alternator
Bat | |
| Starter |
| | |
--- --- ---
chassie ground
Ammeter hookup --- Negative Ground
Unfortunatly there is no factory standard Ammeter wiring, it seems they were
all installed as dealer options, so there is tremondious varation
in the exact hookup... :-( It didn't even appear on the Rootes
Alpine schematic...
In a car without an alternator all the wires connected to terminals a and b
above are connected at terminal a, which is one of the 3/8" lugs
on the starter solenoid. When I added an ammeter to my series V,
to create a terminal b, I added a 3/8" bolt and fiber spacer
connected to terminal a. That way I didn't have to make any
splices in the factory wiring.
Steve F
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Steve Finberg W1GSL w1gsl@mit.edu
PO Box 397082 MIT Br Cambridge MA 02139-7082 617 258 3754
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