Hi Christopher
At first this string on your radio had me a bit confused...
Just changing the size of the feed wire should not have changed
the direction of the Ammeter reading..
Then I remembered some instructions that came with a high powered
2 way radio, I bet the tech told you to run the big wire directly
from the battery ??
If indeed you moved the connection from a small wire on the
fuze block side of the ammeter, where the radio current reads as a
discharge, to a big wire directly on the battery, now the ammeter
"thinks" the radio current drain is instead charging current going
into the battery.
A quick test... with the engine off, and the radio on, does the ammeter
still read discharge?
What you have done won't hurt anything.. but will make the ammeter
reading meaningless.
Running the alternator at full output continiously is not harmefull
they are by design self current limiting
and generally rated to do it as long as there is air flow.
However I am concerned you do not have enough capacity to drive at night
and run that monster radio. The radio it self seems to be drawing
35+ Amps, even a 45 Amp alternator won't have enough extra capacity to
power the lights and ignition. The orginal Lucas 10A was bairly
enough to keep up with the lights, wippers and heater blower on
a cold snowey night.
The real question is does the alternator keep the battery charged
as you drive. As orginally wired a net zero reading says it is keeping
up perfectly. If you have moved the wiring you need a voltmeter
to tell, does the battery voltage go down, when the radio and all
electrical loads are on? If it does the alternator is not keeping
up and you will eventually have a dead battery.
Lacking a voltmeter the headlight are a good test.. with the engine
at fast idle does turning the radio on cause them to dim?
Enough rambling for what was going to be a 2 line note.
Steve F
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Steve Finberg W1GSL w1gsl(at)mit.edu
PO Box 397082 MIT Br Cambridge MA 02139-7082 617 258 3754
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