Amp gage jumping to discharge and back?

[DanEC]

I was under the dash this morning tightening up the oil line fitting to the pressure gage and looked reasonably closely at the amp gage connections. At 65 it's a chore crawling up under the dash of one of these anymore. They look fine and are tight - car only has about 600 miles on it. It's more like a switch being thrown - that's why I'm wondering about the voltage regulator.

[Bernica]

It may be your fan kicking in? Especially since you said it occurs when you are sitting at a traffic light. The fan hammers the amperage draw. Just a thought.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Bernica

It may be your fan kicking in? Especially since you said it occurs when you are sitting at a traffic light. The fan hammers the amperage draw. Just a thought.

I think it's the fan. Try throwing your fan override switch while you watch the amp gauge and see if it looks the same.

[philminotti]

Not trying to start anything here, but I just don't get why anyone wants an amperage gauge. Perhaps the originals had them, but that doesn't seem like a good reason. A voltage gauge gives you all the information you need about your charging system without having massive amounts of current coursing through heavy cables just behind the dash... For no good reason. JMHO.

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by patrickt

I think it's the fan. Try throwing your fan override switch while you watch the amp gauge and see if it looks the same.

I bet that's it - I'll experiment with that and see. I have the HD fan also.

Originally Posted by philminotti

Not trying to start anything here, but I just don't get why anyone wants an amperage gauge. Perhaps the originals had them, but that doesn't seem like a good reason. A voltage gauge gives you all the information you need about your charging system without having massive amounts of current coursing through heavy cables just behind the dash... For no good reason. JMHO.

I agree. But it's what came with the instrument set when I built the car. Besides, I also have a 67 Plymouth GTX with 49 year old wiring and an amp gage. It's about 35 years over due to have an instrument panel fire so I'm kind of used to living with the risk. One of these days I will get around to switching to a volt gage in both of them.

[1795]

Dan,

I have the heavy duty fan as well and you can see the amp gauge move when the fan is kicking on.

[Bernica]

Originally Posted by DanEC

At 65 it's a chore crawling up under the dash of one of these anymore.

I hear you! That's why I bought a lighted flexible bore scope with a hand-held display. It does wonders for my back and shoulders when snooping around under the dash. My contortionist days are somewhat behind me...