Another Ammeter bypass question
I'm going to assume the car still has stock wiring as of now.
In which case there are two things to figure out.
1. What voltage is the Voltage Regulator seeing?
2. Why isn't the battery seeing the same voltage at the alternator is producing?
For (1) measure the voltage at or as close to the regulator's blue wire.
With that and knowing the year of the car, we can start to figure out (2). Its likely the same reason, like a fault in the alternator feed such as 7milesout found
Ammeter pegged...
But it may be more, as he also found.
As far as the volts at the battery go. They do not tell us if the battery is charging. Volts at the battery tell us potential for the battery to be charged or cooked.
Anything between 12.8 and 15 Volts at the battery positive should let it charge if needed. With higher voltage available, the faster it will charge. Too high (over 15 or so) and it will probaby start to boil off the acid.
The ammeter will show if it is charging, and if so, how much current its drawing.
For example, this little charger shows Voltage applied and current flowing.
This battery at 75% charge is pulling 3.5 amps when supplied at 13.4 Volts
Later on when its fully charged, it sucks zero amps. Voltage hasn't changed.
Prob should start a new thread since its not related to the OP's.
I'm going to assume the car still has stock wiring as of now.
In which case there are two things to figure out.
1. What voltage is the Voltage Regulator seeing?
2. Why isn't the battery seeing the same voltage at the alternator is producing?
For (1) measure the voltage at or as close to the regulator's blue wire.
With that and knowing the year of the car, we can start to figure out (2). Its likely the same reason, like a fault in the alternator feed such as 7milesout found
Ammeter pegged...
But it may be more, as he also found.
As far as the volts at the battery go. They do not tell us if the battery is charging. Volts at the battery tell us potential for the battery to be charged or cooked.
Anything between 12.8 and 15 Volts at the battery positive should let it charge if needed. With higher voltage available, the faster it will charge. Too high (over 15 or so) and it will probaby start to boil off the acid.
The ammeter will show if it is charging, and if so, how much current its drawing.
For example, this little charger shows Voltage applied and current flowing.
This battery at 75% charge is pulling 3.5 amps when supplied at 13.4 Volts
Later on when its fully charged, it sucks zero amps. Voltage hasn't changed.
