Mikkel,
A Left Hand Drive 1970 Midget would have a generator. What you are observing is
normal for a generator as they don't work efficiently at low RPM's, so can't
supply
enough power for the cars electrical system at idle. The extra power that the
car
requires is drawn from the battery. Nothing to worry about.
I would stay with the ammeter rather than swapping to a voltmeter. As you've
already seen it gives you a pretty good picture of what your electrical system
is
doing, especially if something starts to go wrong.
Cheers,
Eriks Skinkis
Midget '71
Mikkel Pedersbæk wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> I am new to the list, and dont know if You have been discussing this
> before, but I hope You can help me.
>
> I have a Midget MKIII LHD from 1970. It seems to be very standard execpt
> from the AMP meter. I have been watching when I drive and it gives off some
> reading I can not understand.
> >From coldstart and 5-10 minutes it gives a major sving to the positive
> side. This I consider normal since it need to charge the battery.
> With a running engine the AMP meter stays at 0 and only moves to the
> negative side when the light or the blinkers are activated. This should
> also be normal.
> But when running at idle it moves to the negative side, even when no lights
> are on. I dont know much about this but should the AMP meter not be a 0
> when running at idle and just on the positive side when driving.
> Am I interpreting these readings the wrong way ?
> I have been thinking of changing the AMP meter to a Volt meter, is this a
> good thing to do ?
>
> TIA
> Regards
> Mikkel
> ---
> Mikkel Pedersbæk
>
> Ågade 106, st. tv. Phone: +45 35249911
> DK-2200 Copenhagen N E-mail: mikkel@isa.dknet.dk
> Denmark
>
> Don't let so much reality into your life that there's no room left for
>dreamin'
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