Here's my opinion:
Those ammeters with the "+" and "-" indications and zero in the center of the
scale are useless. Unless something is seriously wrong, the needle
just stays in the middle.
I think an ACCURATE voltmeter is much more useful. If you see 13.8 or volts,
you know the generator/alternator must be working, and it's 12 or so, you
know it's not. It also lets you know if the battery itself is messed up
when the engine is not running.
I have seen in aircraft an alternator output meter, with a scale from
0 to +30 amps or so (with zero on the left). This worked well,
because the "normal" alternator output (maybe 2-3 amps) could be
accurately read from the scale, unlike the ammeter I flamed above.
Doug Braun
'72 Spit
|