Electron Chatter

[capaciousmg@aol.com]

My amp meter is chattering. I can easily tell when the regulator opens with RPM. The light goes out and the meter goes positive. The meter will be mostly stable, then when the RPM comes up it flicks hard once or so and then will continue to flicker or chatter, stabilizing at zero after a short bit. It will charge at 10 amps or so if the battery is down from starting or whatever. The voltage it is trying to maintain seems good. It seems to be doing its job. Does this mean the contacts in the regulator are loosing or dropping the contact rapidly? It catches your eye when driving as the needle is moving about so much. I feel that if it was dampened, its motions would be correct. Could this be in the meter itself. This is a fresh restoration of a car in boxes, so no previous history. Joe Potter Eugene, Oregon USA [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Sam Suklis]

..for what it's worth, check the regulator points for corrosion or blackening, and check your grounding system. A bad earthing connection, or perhaps the commutator or brushes in the dynamo. That's what I love about electrical-systems: there are so many possible causes to choose from. Never a dull moment. Sam Suklis

----- Original Message ----- From: capaciousmg@aol.com> To: mg-tabc@yahoogroups.com> Cc: MGSVW@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Sunday, July 07, 2002 10:49 AM Subject: [mg-tabc] Electron Chatter > > My amp meter is chattering. I can easily tell when the regulator opens with > RPM. The light goes out and the meter goes positive. The meter will be > mostly stable, then when the RPM comes up it flicks hard once or so and then > will continue to flicker or chatter, stabilizing at zero after a short bit. > It will charge at 10 amps or so if the battery is down from starting or > whatever. The voltage it is trying to maintain seems good. It seems to be > doing its job. Does this mean the contacts in the regulator are loosing or > dropping the contact rapidly? It catches your eye when driving as the needle > is moving about so much. I feel that if it was dampened, its motions would > be correct. Could this be in the meter itself. This is a fresh restoration > of a car in boxes, so no previous history. > > > Joe Potter > Eugene, Oregon USA > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > >

[Diecuts@aol.com]

Hi Joe, I concur with Sam on checking the ground, my gauge also was intermittent until I ran a second ground wire to it. Just enough got through with the weak ground to confuse rather than convey . Cheers, Lee Jacobsen, SA2333 Tickford