In a message dated 7/23/99 10:43:57 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
rnanzig(at)webtv.net writes:
<< While under my car the other night I discovered a loose wire from
the alternater. Upon investigation I found that the big one (that
connects to the ammeter had also come loose.I had noticed a slight
discharge my last time out and now that everything is reattached I am
reading 15-30 on the plus side at 2500 rpms. I thought it would come
back down to 0 after a few minutes of driving but 15 minutes later it
still read high. Should I be patient and give the battery time to
recharge or should 15 minutes of driving be enough time for the ammeter
to work it's way back to zero. This stuff mystifies me. >>
It also depends on the state of charge in your battery when you started the
car. WIth the big wire from the alternator disconnected, your battery was
probably very discharged by the time you noticed the 'slight drain.' With a
very low battery (left the radio on for several days!), my Series V has shown
a high rate (25+ amps) of charge for up to half an hour before it finally
started to taper off.
When I start up my Alpine, particularly after a lay-off, I watch two guages:
oil pressure, to see how long it takes to 'catch;' and the initial charge
reading on the ammeter, to see how much the battery might have drained. If
the ammeter reading doesn't start moving towards zero after a few minutes, I
figure something's up.
Dick Sanders
Seattle
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Sep 05 2000 - 10:56:07 CDT