How to tell if it's charging?

[Paul in Edmonton]

How can I tell if my system is charging?

It's 6V (front mount) with a genny, but the generator and voltage regulator are not Ford. The VR is Autolite (looks like model VRR-4008-A) and the genny is Delco-Remy (model 1101355).

When the engine is running (which it is doing fine now with a new battery), voltage at the battery, as measured with a digital multimeter is jumping all over the place (and it's jumping more with the more expensive meter than it is with the cheap one). So I'm not sure what's really happening...

How can I tell if it's really charging or not?

Thanks,

-Paul
 

[old]

Digital meters do not like the engine spark noise and have that problem. Best to use an analog type meter which you can buy at radio shack for around $10 or so. You can also go buy a simple dash type volt meter and hook it to the battery and check with it not running then with it running. Not running with 6 volts you should get around 6.3 volts running you should see 7 plus. DO NOT pull one battery cable off with it running to check because you can/will let the smoke out of the charging system and you can also get hurt if you do something wrong as in maybe even dead
 

[JMOR]

[Bruce (VA)]

Check out tip # 47 (as others are saying).

Or replace the ammeter on the tractor.
50 Tips

 

[Britcheflee]

[Dell (WA)]

Paul........you ask......"How can I tell if my system is charging?".......would it surprize you to learn that is what your AMMETER is for??? When running, you should read 3-5 amps (+) Iff'n it reads (-) minus amps, guess what??? It ain't charging. ........respectfully, Dell
 

[Paul in Edmonton]

[Bruce (VA)]

" If the wire is going through the loop the wrong direction, the gauge will read plus when it should be minus and vice versa. "

Huh?

It's a loop.

It can't go in the wrong direction because the ends of the wire are still attached to the correct terminals. The wire goes from point A thru the loop on the ammeter to point B.

How could that possibly read backwards?
75 Tips

 

[old]

Bruce if you think about it for a moment you would see that he probably has the battery wired back wards as in - ground so yep the amp gauge would in fact read back wards. My Oliver 77 is that way and has been since I got ti but I know the alternator works just fine so I have not changed it since I know it is wired back wards so his tractor probably has the same problem
 

[HCooke]

Pretty sure (I have 3 or 4 of em) that you can go thru the loop the wrong way.
 

[Bruce (VA)]

Maybe I'm having a CRS moment.

On an 8N, point A is the solenoid. Point B is the terminal block. The wire goes from the solenoid through the loop on the meter to the terminal block. Or, vice-versa.....doesn't matter.

How can it go through the loop backwards?

CRS moment?!
 

[HCooke]

The current flows one way, the needle deflects one way, if the current reverses, the needle deflects the other way. Maybe I'm wrong but I know I've reversed it on a 9N.
 

[Bruce (VA)]

Well yea, if you reverse the current (as old said) it will read backwards.

But if it's a loop meter & one end of the wire is on the terminal block & the other is on the solenoid, it's not 'reversible'!

On a 9N.....it goes to the hot side of the starter switch, right?
 

[Paul in Edmonton]

Bruce,

The meter works both ways--it reads positive if electrons are flowing in one direction and negative if they are flowing in the other.

Assume that normally, the electrons flow from the terminal block to the ammeter and then to the solenoid, and that's a positive reading (I may have it backwards, but it doesn't matter for the sake of the argument). If it's wired so the wire goes through the loop left to right, the ammeter shows positive. If I rewire it so it goes through right to left, the ammeter "sees" the electrons moving the other way, and will read negative, even though the wire itself still has the electrons moving the same way.

Do you have a clamp-on DC ammeter? (I do--very useful device!) If so, clamp it on a cable with DC current and take a reading. Then unclamp it, flip it over so it's facing the other way, reclamp it and take another reading--it will be negative if the first was positive. This is the same effect.

To paraphrase a common poster here: It's the Law--Faraday's Law and Lenz's Law, working together in this case...

-Paul
 

[souNdguy]

9$ tractor suply analog volt meter.. and a 10$ center 0 ammeter.. and you can tell if it's charging, how much current.. and what voltage.