Guest Anonymous Posted March 20, 2002 Share Posted March 20, 2002 I finished my 71 V8 convertion and the car starts and runs and everything works. The problem is that the alternator in not charging the battery althoug the Amperimeter on the dash sais it is! The convertion was done per the JTR manual. Any suggestions. The alternator has an internal regulator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 20, 2002 Share Posted March 20, 2002 Put a volt meter on the alt. and check the out put. Shoul be near 14 volts. If the alt is putting out current then check the conection to the battery from the alt. May be car is just running off the battery. Amp gage is junk. You need a volts gage somewhere in the car. If the alt is not putting out current, make sure it is getting a signal from the battery. If it is getting a signal, take it to the local parts place and make sure alt is good. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 Try reving the motor past 2000 grand a couple of times. This usally kicks the alternator into charging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kc6wfs Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 Yes be sure to ret it a couple tomes. If you have ~14V at the alt but not at the Bat then check your fuseable link. I had one blow on be. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 The way I see it is that it is charging something(but at what voltage). If the ammeter is truely working correctly, you must have a circuit for current flow, so where is the current going?. What indications do you have that the battery is not taking a charge? How many amps is indicated on the ammeter, and are they in the correct direction? Perhaps the ammeter is only showing that the engine is running off the alternator, and not off the battery. Too many questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8ZRACER260Z Posted March 22, 2002 Share Posted March 22, 2002 The ampmeter in the dash just shows if ther is a load on the system or not. It is not a good indicator of your charging system! The main problem is that your electrical charging has to run thru this ampmeter and if it goes out then you loose power. This is why you don't see ampmeters in newer cars. I recomend replaceing this with a voltmeter. The previous posts are correct, and you should have a standing voltage at the battery of 12-12.5v and with a properly working charging system between 14-14.5v depending on the system load. There are several alternators made that eliminate the trigger circuit. These are known as "one wire" alternators and only require a 8-10 guage wire run directly to the battery. Use a Hydrometer to test your batteries specific gravity also as alot of alternators are thought to be bad because of a dead cell in the battery. If the battery has good specific gravity and pasts a load test (the voltage should not drop below 10v under a 300amp load and then recover to 12v or better quickly). Another thing to check is for a voltage drop between the alternator and the battery. To accomplish this put on lead of a hand held voltmeter on the battery + post and the other lead on the alternator + post (the big wire on the alternator) now turn on your lights (this will put a load on the alt) You should not see a drop of more than a few 10ths of a volt. If you see more than this there is a bad connection or a bad wire fron the alt to the battery. Hope this helps you out. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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