Message text written by dyaarl anderson
>What would cause my AMP gauge to burn up ? Old age, too much juice,
voltage regulator screwed up or all of the above? Any ideas out there.
Thanks
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Dyaarl
An ammeter is really a volt meter with an internal shunt. Current passes
throught the shunt and the volt meter reads the resulting voltage.
Obviously, the voltage developed by the shunt is very small (or else the
system voltage would fall way off as electricla loads are switched on) and
the voltmeter reads in fractions of a volt.
If the connections to the internal shunt were to become less than ideal
more and more voltage would develop and the volt meter part would become
overloaded and fail.
So, old age is a possibility.
Another possible culprit is a wiring short to ground. Was there a short
to ground where battery current was shunted to ground. The current level
sufficient to burn up an ammeter would also melt the insulation on the
wires. Look for evidence of melted insulation.
If you find melted insulation find and fix the short. If you don't, chalk
it up to old age.
Good Luck
Dave
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