Well, I've had my alternator in the car for a few weeks now, but hardly
tested it. Foul weather and I've been away.
Now I've installed my original ammeter and an eBay voltmeter, old fashioned
Smith's bimetal strip.
Took the car out today. Alternator was a bit noisy but may be able to fix
that by slackening the belt a tad and bringing the alternator forward by
another washer or two's width.
But what is really puzzling/worrying me is the behaviour of the
ammeter......
The ammeter works fine at least it always did and I don't doubt it now.
(It's a typical Smiths +30 to -30).
When I start up the gauge reads minus, say 5 amps, for about 3 minutes. Then
it kicks over to +30, ie max, for about 5 minutes. Then it settles down a
bit.
On a run the gauge maxes out at 30+ at about 1,750rpm and stays there. If I
drop the rpm, the reading drops. At a slow idle, say 500rpm, its around 0 to
-5.
The voltmeter reads just under the red while this is going on and returns to
about 13 with ignition on and engine off. The battery does not get hot! Or
give off vile vapours.
Now, do all 30 to 30 ammeters hail from a generator age when 45 amps output
was more or less unheard of? And thus are they useless over 1,750 rpm?
Or, in the belief that my ammeter is accurately reporting what it's fed by
the alternator, is the alternator playing up? I've never used an ammeter in
conjunction with an alternator before and am unaware of what charging
patterns to expect. (On today's trip the battery was +/- fully charged at
the beginning and I thought the alternator's output would drop after, say, 5
miles).
It's a Lucas 17ACR with an output, I'm told, of approx 40amps.I think that
its internal voltage regulator is easy to replace.
On a related topic........I put in an extra cable from the alternator to the
control box as an article on the www suggested that the original might
struggle to carry the load. Was that necessary? I only ask because - if I
revert to a generator - I'll struggle to get the extra lead into the
available slots on the control box.
Oh yes, looking on eBay, all Smith's ammeters appear to be 30 to 30. Are
there others? Say 50 to 50.....Or shouldn't my alternator be kicking out so
many amps?
Simon
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