Tony,
You may have a weak battery. Get the battery load tested (any parts store
will do this for you) and make sure it is strong. What can happen with a
weak battery is the battery is strong enough to start the car but it heavily
depletes the charge of the weak battery to do so. The charging system sees
the battery is very weak and needs a charge. The charging system responds
by charging like crazy to try to get the weak battery back up to full
charge (hence the ammeter shows heavy charging).
Terry Geiger
Florence, Alabama USA
http://www.shoalsbritishcars.org
'74 Triumph TR6 (for sunny days)
'59 Triumph TR3A (basket case)
'84 Mercedes 300D (for the wife to drive)
'90 Chevy S10 (parts fetcher)
----- Original Message -----
>I have a fairly new (1 year old, 1100 miles) voltage regulator that seems
>to
> have had a problem.
>
> I was driving last night with all the lights on and I looked over and saw
> that
> I saw charging the battery at about 30 amps!!!! Pretty impressive
> considering
> that the draw with all the lights is indicated to be about 15 amps when at
> idle and the generator is not doing much
>
> Anyway, I looked at the regulator and everything LOOKS normal. I used 400
> grit sandpaper to clean the contacts a little and then tested the voltage.
> I
> found that even when charging at 30 amps.
>
> I then adjusted the little screw on the back of the current/voltage
> regulating
> relay and I got it to lower the maximum charge, and also the voltage. My
> DIGITAL meter showed about 12.75 volts and this seemed a little low. So,
> I
> turned the screw to a higher voltage. Not much adjustment before the
> ammeter
> on the car pegs itself.
>
> So, I adjusted it so the cars ammeter shows about 22 amps of charging
> current
> and about 13.00 volts on the meter (only the power draw of the running
> engine,
> no lights, but the battery is charging).
>
> I have the battery charger on in case the battery was/is low and causing
> the
> draw as a "normal" charging activity.
>
> Any ideas on what is going wrong and what I should do? What should I see
> as a
> "normal" voltage on one of these regulators when the battery is not being
> charged? I would think 13.6 volts or so.
|