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| | | | Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 2,644 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 2,644 | Okay, at the risk of sounding like a total novice how do you test the Batt gauge? I'm a fabricator/bodyman type and now that all of that is behind me I'm sure I'm going to be posting some pretty dumb questions so I ask for your forgiveness in advance.  | | | | | Joined: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,644 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,644 | Easy way to check is take you're truck battery and you're gauge and a small battery charger
1- neg. from charger to neg battery post
2- pc. of wire from pos. of battery to right terminal on gauge as you're looking at it
3- pos. from charger to left terminal on gauge
The gauge should show the charge flowing to the battery
Pete
Last edited by Pete52; 06/20/2010 1:10 PM.
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,777 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,777 | Are we talking about a voltmeter or an ammeter? The voltmeter is easy- - - -just connect it across the terminals of the battery, and it will indicate the voltaqge if it's in good shape. An ammeter needs current flowing to show a reading, so it needs to be in series with the circuit you're using. Is the gauge installed, or out of the truck? If it's in the dash and the wiring harness is intact, disconnect the wire at the "Bat" terminal of the voltage regulator and attach a battery charger red connector to the wire, and the black connector to ground. Turn the charger on, and the ammeter should show a charge. Connect a headlight bulb to that wire and ground, and the gauge will show a discharge.
If the ammeter is out of the truck, the same procedure will work, just put the gauge in the circuit so the current has to flow through it to do the charge/discharge thing.
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 2,644 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 2,644 | Jerry,
This is the stock gauge from a '51 AD, see subject title. Not knowing the difference between a watt and an ohm I referred to it by the name on the instrument cluster... Batt.
Sorry for any confusion. | | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,777 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,777 | OK, that's an ammeter. Use the procedure I described to see if it deflects side to side as current flows through it. Don't expect a very accurate reading, about all a stock meter does is indicate whether or not current is flowing, and which way it's going.
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2009 Posts: 400 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Feb 2009 Posts: 400 | The only dumb question ,is the one that isn't asked.  | | | | | Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 2,644 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 2,644 | The only dumb question ,is the one that isn't asked. Anyone who deals with the public knows that's simply not true  | | | | | Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 203 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 203 |
Dave
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2009 Posts: 400 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Feb 2009 Posts: 400 | That's why I don't deal with the public.  | | |
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