ERA 289FIA alternator replacement

[Dangerous Doug]

I pick up the feed for the lights at the battery cable attach to the solenoid on the firewall. The control signal (that switches the relay) goes to fuse #7, which is for the brights. For the PIAA's to light up, the piaa switch has to be on, and the brights need to be on.

DD

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Dangerous Doug

I pick up the feed for the lights at the battery cable attach to the solenoid on the firewall. The control signal (that switches the relay) goes to fuse #7, which is for the brights. For the PIAA's to light up, the piaa switch has to be on, and the brights need to be on.

DD

OK, let's say those new lights draw 20 amps. With that load being fed from the battery side of the ammeter, when you turn the lights on, and everything is perfectly normal and the battery is not charging nor discharging, you will immediately show a charge of 20 amps on your ammeter (because your alternator will be feeding that load through your ammeter). Some guys don't like this (some don't care). You just have to remember that if you're showing a typical "slight charge" on the ammeter, and those lights are on and are drawing 20 amps, then you are really discharging your battery and your ammeter is fooling you.

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by patrickt

....your ammeter is fooling you.

An ammeter is authentic, but a voltmeter ("battery condition gauge") is more use.
Cheers,
Glen