Alternator not charging quickly enough

[MtB]

'AVO" (as in Avo meter) is an abbreviation or contraction of something else IIRC, isn't it? Where does the name come from?

[TheBiscuits]

1 minute ago, rusty69 said:

Blimey Crackers. I knew you was old, but i didn't think 1930s.

Mwah Mwah Youth of today!

 

I told Andy Ampere he needed to adjust his definition when he first came up with it, and look what happened after that.

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

'AVO" (as in Avo meter) is an abbreviation or contraction of something else IIRC, isn't it? Where does the name come from?

Amps

Volts

Ohms

[TheBiscuits]

1 minute ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

'AVO" (as in Avo meter) is an abbreviation or contraction of something else IIRC, isn't it? Where does the name come from?

Amps Volts Ohms?

Just now, rusty69 said:

Amps

Volts

Ohms

You typed one less character than me!

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, TheBiscuits said:

Amps Volts Ohms?

You typed one less character than me!

Well, you old boys aren't as quick as us you uns

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Amps

Volts

Ohms

 

Yeahiknow....

 

 

 

[TheBiscuits]

Just now, rusty69 said:

Well, you old boys aren't as quick as us you uns

I didn't think mid 40s was particularly old!

[rusty69]

Just now, TheBiscuits said:

I didn't think mid 40s was particularly old!

1940's?

[Markinaboat]

On 05/12/2018 at 21:25, TheBiscuits said:

Yes.

Tried out the UNI-T 204 the other day on the 40 amp setting. Is a reading of 00.22 .......... 22, 2.2 or 0.22 amps?

Edited December 9, 2018 by Markinaboat

[WotEver]

2 minutes ago, Markinaboat said:

Tried out the UNI-T 204 the other day on the 40 amp setting. Is a reading of 00.22 .......... 22, 2.2 or 0.22 amps?

 

0.22 is exactly that. 0.22A. 

 

At least it is on my 203

[Alan de Enfield]

14 minutes ago, Markinaboat said:

Tried out the UNI-T 204 the other day on the 40 amp setting. Is a reading of 00.22 .......... 22, 2.2 or 0.22 amps?

 

I made a right bodge when I 1st used my clamp tester.

I actually trapped the wire between the jaws and got all sorts of weird readings.

The single wire must be within the 'circle of the clamp' and ideally not touching the sides of the 'ring'

There must only be a SINGLE wire (it won't work with multicore cables) only and it doesn't matter if you use the positive or negative wire, you get the same reading but it may have a - sign in front of the numbers.

 

Are you doing what I did ?

 

Edit to add :

Make sure you are on DC amps, NOT AC amps

 

Edit , Edit to add

I made an assumption you were testing an alternator and expecting a high current - maybe the wire you tested really did only have 0.22a "passing through"

Edited December 9, 2018 by Alan de Enfield

[WotEver]

3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

The single wire must be within the 'circle of the clamp' and ideally not touching the sides of the 'ring'

There must only be a SINGLE wire (it won't work with multicore cables) only and it doesn't matter if you use the positive or negative wire

[bizzard]

5 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Does a bell ring to mean you've failed if the claws touch the wire, like the ones at church bazzar's.

[Alan de Enfield]

3 minutes ago, bizzard said:

Does a bell ring to mean you've failed if the claws touch the wire, like the ones at church bazzar's.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2018 by Alan de Enfield

[TheBiscuits]

1 minute ago, bizzard said:

Does a bell ring to mean you've failed if the claws touch the wire, like the ones at church bazzar's.

No, it just goes "Bizzzzz!"

[Markinaboat]

11 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I made a right bodge when I 1st used my clamp tester.

I actually trapped the wire between the jaws and got all sorts of weird readings.

The single wire must be within the 'circle of the clamp' and ideally not touching the sides of the 'ring'

There must only be a SINGLE wire (it won't work with multicore cables) only and it doesn't matter if you use the positive or negative wire, you get the same reading but it may have a - sign in front of the numbers.

 

Are you doing what I did ?

 

Edit to add :

Make sure you are on DC amps, NOT AC amps

 

Edit , Edit to add

I made an assumption you were testing an alternator and expecting a high current - maybe the wire you tested really did only have 0.22a "passing through"

Thanks for the quick feedback Alan. The clamp was around the cable without touching it. It was only a very quick 'try' due to time constraints but placed it around the charger (Victron multi) output as well as on a battery positive which is where I got the 0.22. I can;t remember but there were a few amps going in. I've got a BMV 501 gauge and think it's faulty as giving out odd readings. (got the boat and 'charge battery', '84% remaining', good voltage. Further, when in float, it shows the amps as -2amps (obviously varies). Then, when I use the scroll button and the back-light comes on, a further draw of 6 amps is displayed!? I did take some video but probably too large a file, will make a shorter version or several clips mid week when back at the boat. The vendor put new Leoch SLA's in when I bought the boat recently so I checked all of the parameters and adjusted a little to spec to suit.

6 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

 

 

That was the expression I had when I was playing with the BMV! Funnily enough, my surname is Rowan. Whilst I'm glad I don't look like him, I wish I had his dosh ?

[Tony Brooks]

I did post but the reply seems to have gone AWOL. I think the alternator. I think the odd reading could be caused by faulty brush contact in the alternator.

 

Please Karen totally ignore and percentage reading on your battery monitor. It is mots likely to be a lie and grossly overestimating the degree of charge.

[Detling]

2 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

I

Please Karen totally ignore and percentage reading on your battery monitor. It is mots likely to be a lie and grossly overestimating the degree of charge.

seconded. Percentage readings are designed to give you a false sense of security and kill your batteries.  The only readings that count are the battery volts and the current, when charging so you know the batteries are full i.e. over 14 volts and current below 1.5 amps per battery so for 4 batteries current below 6 amps and you can then say batteries are pretty full at least 98%. The cumulative amp hours out can give an indication of when to charge, provided you reset when the batteries are full (it may do this itself)