Teri, I think you need both. My probe recently died due to a bad generator,
and the battery gradually went flat while driving., but the voltmeter
always read in the 14 volt range, I just was not geting more than a few
milliamps of charge.
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From: TeriAnn Wakeman <twakeman@scruznet.com>
To: Bwfox@aol.com; triumphs@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Volts vs Amps
Date: Monday, July 14, 1997 9:47 AM
I'm not sure what your question really was but I take a stab or two at
answers.
Choose one of the below:
A. The starter motor is on a different circuit than the amp meter. The amp
meter can not read the large amount of cuttenr that the starter motor
draws. The motor circuit consists of batt to solinoid, to starter motor
with ground return to the battery. Be sure that you have a ground strap
between the engine and frame. All the charging and all other loads go
through the amp meter.
B. The most common cause of a battery not getting properly charged is dirty
battery posts. They can look fine and still have an insulating oxide
causing problems.
C. A healthy charging system puts out about 14.5V as long as the load does
not exceed the output of the dynamo or alternator.
D. Amp meters are good at letting you know that you are leaving your lights
on after you turned off the ignition, or if you have a high current drain,
but thats about it. A voltmeter tells you the state of your charging
circuit.
I tossed the ampmeter in my Land Rover years ago and put a volt meter in
the hole. I'd do it in the TR3 except I'm trying to keep it showroom stock
outside the engine bay.
I hope one of these answered the question that you were trying to ask.
TeriAnn Wakeman For personal mail, please start subject line
Santa Cruz California with TW. I belong to 4 high volume mail lists
twakeman@scruznet.com and do not read a lot of threads..Thanks
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