Ammeter Maxed
(aside: Honestly unless there is a good reason to keep the electric fan, the best option is to switch back to mechanical with a shroud.)
Here's a schematic of the alternator and battery wires.
See where the ammeter is located in the wiring?
and
See where the fusible link is located in the wiring?
It works like this:
When the alternator is not working and something needs power, it comes from the battery.
The ammeter shows the current flowing out from the power supply (battery at something around 12 Volts)
When the alternator is running, and the battery needs charging, it draws from the alternator.
The ammeter shows the current flowing from the alternator, producing power around 14 Volts if it can, to the battery.
When the battery is charged, no current flows through the ammeter.
That circuit was not intended to be carrying current all the time.
Attaching the power for the fans to the battery is a commonly done, but its a mistake. It stresses all the connections between the alternator output terminal and the battery. As they carry greater amounts of current than intended, for longer periods of time, they get hot. That makes them worse connections, and the situation only gets worse.
So the quick solution is connect the fan power to the alternator, and don't run it when the engine is off.
--------------------
If you find voltage is climbing with rpm, then either the regulator is not doing its job, or its getting the wrong infomation.
Measure the votlage at the alternator output and compare to the votlage at the regulator input (blue ignition wire at field or ballast resistor).
This was already described in the begining of post #4. I'll just illustrate it.
(aside: Honestly unless there is a good reason to keep the electric fan, the best option is to switch back to mechanical with a shroud.)
Here's a schematic of the alternator and battery wires.
See where the ammeter is located in the wiring?
and
See where the fusible link is located in the wiring?
It works like this:
When the alternator is not working and something needs power, it comes from the battery.
The ammeter shows the current flowing out from the power supply (battery at something around 12 Volts)
When the alternator is running, and the battery needs charging, it draws from the alternator.
The ammeter shows the current flowing from the alternator, producing power around 14 Volts if it can, to the battery.
When the battery is charged, no current flows through the ammeter.
That circuit was not intended to be carrying current all the time.
Attaching the power for the fans to the battery is a commonly done, but its a mistake. It stresses all the connections between the alternator output terminal and the battery. As they carry greater amounts of current than intended, for longer periods of time, they get hot. That makes them worse connections, and the situation only gets worse.
So the quick solution is connect the fan power to the alternator, and don't run it when the engine is off.
--------------------
If you find voltage is climbing with rpm, then either the regulator is not doing its job, or its getting the wrong infomation.
Measure the votlage at the alternator output and compare to the votlage at the regulator input (blue ignition wire at field or ballast resistor).
