I am coming to think that you might be right. I am coming to think that
wither the battery got very discharged somehow, or it has a shorted cell. I
would be surprised about a shorted cell because it is a year old, NEVER run
flat, and it a good brand (I think): Interstate. More likely that when I
parked it last night I left something on for a few hours which drained the
battery and makes the generator feed it some heavy juice.
I just hope the regulator is cutting out at the right time on that heavy load.
It looks on the car's ammeter (questionable accuracy) to be over the maximum
22 amps.
I got out the book and read about the regulator settings. You set the voltage
that it regulates, not the amperage. It is set with NO LOAD by blocking the
cut-out contacts so that it will not supply power to the rest of the system
(and this also deactivates the current limiting functions). Then you set it
to around 15.8-16.4 volts (in this hot climate). I set it to the low end of
the range.
When the cut-out is unblocked, the ammeter reads about 30 amps charge.
I put the battery back on the charger. We will see what happens. Otherwise I
have to wrench my back to take it out and get it checked.
-Tony
----- Original Message -----
From: Dave1massey@cs.com
To: spamiam@comcast.net ; triumphs@autox.team.net
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 5:18 PM
Subject: Re: TR4A voltage regulator problem
In a message dated 8/3/2005 2:01:42 PM Central Standard Time,
spamiam@comcast.net writes:
So, I adjusted it so the cars ammeter shows about 22 amps of charging
current
and about 13.00 volts on the meter (only the power draw of the running
engine,
no lights, but the battery is charging).
I have the battery charger on in case the battery was/is low and causing
the
draw as a "normal" charging activity.
Any ideas on what is going wrong and what I should do? What should I see
as a
"normal" voltage on one of these regulators when the battery is not being
charged? I would think 13.6 volts or so.
Perhaps the battery has a shorted cell. You might try swapping in another
battery to see if it is any different. Or take yours to one of those parts
houses that can put it on a tester (which is just about everybody)
Dave
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