w1gsl(at)MIT.EDU writes:
>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 ??
Yes, that's exactly what he said to do.
>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.
I previously had the power feed from the battery running through the
ammeter. I eliminated that, so now everything BUT the stereo is
running through the ammeter.
>A quick test... with the engine off, and the radio on, does the ammeter
>still read discharge?
No, confirming the bypass.
>What you have done won't hurt anything.. but will make the ammeter
>reading meaningless.
Not entirely meaningless, but yes, my ability to know what's going on
with the charging system is inhibited. Maybe I'll just hook a volt
meter directly up to the battery.
>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 lights do not dim when I turn the stereo on. The main problem I
have is that when I come to idle, the ammeter drops to discharge and
the engine wants to cut out for lack of spark voltage, I assume. If I
keep the RPMs up aroung 2500-3000, no problems.
I am seriously considering switching to a 60amp GM alternator.
Christopher
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Sep 05 2000 - 10:56:29 CDT