When the car is off the ammeter shows zero. That is, no current flowing.
When there is more current being used than generated the needle will move
to the minus side, and when the the alternator is charging the battery,
the needle will move to the + side.
If you don't start the engine, but turn on the headlights, you can see he
needle move to the - side. When the engine first starts the alternator
will replenish the power the starter used to start the car. The ammeter
will show a + indication. The more it has to charge, the farther over the
needle will go. You can't generally see it, but when the battery is fully
charged and the engine has been running for some time, there will be very
small charge and discharge readings on the ammeter, but they are so short
and smal that the needle will just sit at zero.
When the fuse blew you should have been able to see that the ammeter was
showing a slight discharge. If you had turned on your headlights while the
engine was running and the fuse blown, the discharge indication would have
been much more.
Peace,
Pat
- Support Habitat for Humanity, A "hand up", not a "hand out" -
Pat Horne, Network Manager, Shop Supervisor/Future planner, CS Dept,
University of Texas, 1 University Station C0500,Austin, Tx. 78712-1188 USA
voice (512)471-9730, fax (512)471-8885, horne@cs.utexas.edu
On Thu, 3 Apr 2003, Amy & Erik wrote:
>
> Bingo!
> Blown fuse (and slightly melted fuse holder) I am very happy when it is the
> simple things.
> I didn't think of the fuse at all as I reallly had no idea what the result
> of that fuse being blown would be. I thought that since the alt output wire
> was directly attached to the ammeter, it woud be pegged at zero if the fuse
> ever blew. (What am I missing here?)
>
> I will put the battery on the charger for a day or so and try again. Thanks
> to all those who offered help, this list really is great.
> It is starting to look like I will finally be able to make the novice autox
> class that is offered once a year by the local clubs.
>
> Erik
/// datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net mailing list
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive
|