Jim,
It shouldn't confuse your regulator, but it might confuse your ammeter.
If you're drawing a heavy load out of this pigtail, the regulator will
sense the decreased battery voltage and will crank up the alternator to
supply current to that load (there shouldn't be any significant voltage
drop between the posive battery terminal and the positive terminal of
the alternaltor). This load current will go thru the ammeter and cause
it to display a charging current equal to the load current. So let's
say you put a big stereo or something on the pigtail that draws 10
amps. You are driving along, the car has been running for awhile and
the battery is all charged up and the ammeter shows zero (centered).
Now you turn on the 10 amp load. The alternator has to supply 10 more
amps to keep the battery voltage where it belongs, but this 10 amps has
to go thru the ammeter to get to the load, whereas with a normal hookup,
it would go direct from the alternator + terminal to the load. The
result is, when you turn your 10 amp load on, your ammeter will start
showing a 10 amp charge rate, although in fact the battery is NOT
charging. If you sketch it out, you'll see what I mean. Bottom line
is, whatever load you put on that pigtail is going to show up as a bogus
"charge" indication on your ammeter. I guess as long as you know what's
going on, it's not a problem.
I'm pretty sure this is the way it will work, but auto electrical
systems are full of surprises. Try it and let us know! Be sure to use
the right fuse in the pigtail. A 10 amp fuse, for example, will carry a
10 amp load indefinitely. It does NOT blow out at 10 amps, but at some
higher value depending on a lot of variables.
BTW, you can go to a battery shop and get them to make you a RED battery
cable any length you want, and most any size cable you want. I had it
done when I moved my battery to the trunk.
Barrie
'66 2000
San Diego
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HIGHKIX4@aol.com wrote:
>
> Finally located a proper positive battery cable for my
> 67 project. 40 inches long and RED. Just about everybody only
> sells black replacement cables now, mine was at NAPA of all places,
> and less than 6$. Somehow, it had to be red. Anyway, it came with
> an extra pigtail which I was going to cut off. I thought about this,
> and now I plan to connect this and run it under the dash to its own
> fuse, and I can use it for whatever "extra" loads come along. This
> way, I figure, I wont stress out (ie, melt, burn, destroy) the
> original wire harness and its 4 fuse system. Question for the list:
> Is this a good Idea, or am I missing something, maybe on how
> the voltage regulator senses load, and need to charge, etc., will
> I "confuse" the regulator? Pretty good at mechanical things, but
> a little rusty on the laws of electricity. And quite clueless on
> the quirks of 32 year old japanese electrical systems....
> Thanks,
> Jim
> Pushrod 2liter
> Chesapeake Va
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