I continue to improve the wiring and functionality of my 58 Suburban. I have the original lights (quad headlights, front markers and rear tail lights) and a set of amber fog lights that were on the truck when I bought it but not hooked up. I wired them in yesterday. I have to aim them better, but they work great. Today I installed a new Tach to replace the HF piece of junk that I bought, as well as a cig lighter/power port.
When I drive the truck with nothing turned on the ammeter reads dead center between D and C. When I turn on the headlights its dips a little towards D. On high beams it dips further. I went out for a test drive this evening. I had turned on the high beams, the fog lights and I plugged my GPS into the power port to test my speedo for accuracy. With all that on the ammeter was down to "a quarter tank" on the discharge side.
Unlike the oil pressure gauge which climbs in relation to engine RPM, the ammeter never goes above dead center.
Is that bad? I guess I don't fully understand the function and data displayed by the ammeter. Does the low reading just mean I'm using a lot of juice or am I really discharging the battery? Is there a way to use my multimeter to see what is going on when all the accessories are turned on?
I have been very careful to use in-line fuses on all the extras I have installed in the truck. I don't think I'm going to start any fires or anything.
