Hi
Can anyone tell me if my ammeter is correct on my 1969 A65 . Turn on ign and the needle moves towards the negative and when lights are on it goes all the way over towards the negative and when revved does not move towards the positive which I thought it should do , my volt meter shows it's charging with lights on at over 13volts is this correct,
Any thoughts
The ammeter will show negative without the engine running, but when running the needle should come towards the 0 centre and a little bit over towards the +.
Put your voltmeter across the battery , nothing turned on , should be about 12.5 ish volts.
Then start the engine , volts should rise towards 14v around 2000 rpm , give or take.
If it's charging then the likelihood is that the ammeter is connected incorrectly. One side should go to the battery; the other to both load (ie ignition switch etc) and the regulated charging circuit.
Ok will recheck tomorrow, but my assumption is that when revved it should go towards the +, to indicate charging as stated Rhyatt
Could the ammeter be faulty as I've had a hard time finding the correct type
Yes it should but only if connected as I have said. As the ammeter is showing discharge it's unlikely to be at fault.
It will show everything going into and out of the battery , so when riding with lights on , it should be just above zero or a shade more showing your alternator is putting enough into the bike.
But , if you look at the wiring diagram, you'll see the horn circuit does not go via the ammeter , due to the fact when you press the horn button it is a virtual short circuit through the horn to earth and would damage the ammeter.
Most were 8 0 8
Well certainly doesn't move towards the zero when lights are on , so as said will try tomorrow and test thanks
Just fired it up and without lights on it's charging 14.6v with lights on 12.96v but the ammeter is still showing full discharge towards the -. So when revved to 2500 rpm this was the results, forgot to say the I have 3 phase alternator and podtronics on bike all new.
So you've proved it's charging the battery when running , just got to correct the ammeter in the wiring
It seems fairly obvious that the regulator is connected directly to the battery (incorrectly) rather than via the load side of the ammeter as I described above.
Hi yes your correct I connected the podtronics directly to the battery , so now I've connected the black podtronics to the brown and white wire on ign switch and will try later as I'm converting the head back from lightning too single carb
Thanks