Mysterious ammeter

L

Larry Seemann

Senior Member
Last night a fellow Model A enthusiast told me he is have a strange situation with his car. He said the car runs great, but the ammeter shows neither charge nor discharge. So, he took it to our local vendor, Antique Auto Ranch, intending to buy a new ammeter. They tested it and pronounced it fit as a fiddle. He said they hooked it to a battery and showed him that it was reading 15 amps charge. He put it back in the car and again the car started and ran fine but, again, it didn't register. Thoughts?
Thanks,
Larry
 
when i start mine the ammeter will go to about 10 amp's, and after aprox. 30 sec's drop back to 0 and stay there untill i start it agin, i've been told this is normal.
i do have a 6 volt alt. on the car. it's been like this for a year, no problem's.
 
Get an original...You can get from phonncon on eBay (Dan Bixby) you will see a difference immediately
 
JoeWay said:
Maybe both ammeter wires are on the same post in the terminal box?

Joe
Click to expand...

I agree, it's most likely this or someone jumped the two terminal box posts with a wire to eliminate the amp meter and it's two short wires.

When the amp meter is suspect you can bypass it by just jumping the two terminal box posts together. You don't even have to remove the cover, just jump the two wing nuts.
 
See if it shows discharge with engine OFF and electricity in use.
If your generator/alternator is regulated, very little charging activity is normal--juice is regulated to what is in use, and you will have visible charging levels only with battery discharged a bit.
 
If you have another amp meter, parallel it with the installed one. If the reading is the same then the problem is in the wiring. As others have said "probably both wires are on the same post on the terminal block."
 
Mine sits at zero as well during driving. I'm fine with it. It's showing that the battery is fine. I would actually be concerned if it always showed charging because I would think it was frying my battery.

Is he running an alternator?

Usually the only movement all of mine make is discharge when the car is off and you turn on the headlights and honk the horn.
 
Thanks everyone for your input! I suspect Joe and Tom are right - the wires are connected in the terminal box. We'll check that out first.
 
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