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Posted by Clint Dixon [65.125.107.130] on Monday, September 26, 2011 at 15:24:54 :
In Reply to: Re: Amp guage posted by Bob H [72.250.198.127] on Monday, September 26, 2011 at 14:48:45 :
If you are driving down the road at night and all of a sudden your lights start to dim, the heater motor slows down, the turn signals don't work, and you glance down at the voltmeter and it shows 4 volts at the battery, it is just reinforceing something you already knew - the battery is going down fast.
What the voltmeter will not tell you under those circumstances is whether the problem is the battery is nearing the end of its life or if your generator or alternator has stopped working.
If the same thing happens and you look down at an ammeter, and it is showing a discharge, then you can be fairly certain the problem lies withing the operation of the generator/alternator, or a battery cable or other connection has come loose.
Also, if you go out to your truck and it does not have enough juice to start it. How do you know if it is a battery problem or that the generator quit working the last time you drove it? If you jump start the truck, get it running, and the ammeter shows 35 amps, then you can be fairly certain the problem is the battery. A voltmeter would not tell you this.
Yes, for our trucks, I like the information that an ammeter tells better than a voltmeter.
Junior
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