Al,
Why bother changing the arrangement you have?? That is, what do you wish to
accomplish??
Unless your batteries are not being fully charged or you feel the alternator
current is too low resulting in long charge times, I'd be inclined to keep the
current arrangement.
A simple test would be to check the voltage at the alternator during a
reasonably heavy charging current then measure the voltage at the battery
terminal....use a good quality digital voltmeter for accurate readings....the difference
is all the voltage losses in the wiring and meters you describe....
Maybe someone else can post an appropriate difference...I'd say a difference
of 0.1 volt is "all ok", a difference of 0.5 volt is definitely
unacceptable....
An alternative to replacing the meters, if the voltage difference is of
concern, could be to boost the voltage via the regulator (if yours are adjustable)
a few tenths to get the battery terminal voltage you want.....
On my old Hatteras, I think the heavy gauge wire to the f/b station meters
is the source for 12 volts up there.....so if you decide to fuss around, check
this out or be sure to leave the exisiting cables active to your stations.....
I've fussed with ammeters which have an external shunt bolted to the back of
a voltmeter...the face reads "amps"....if you have this style, you can remove
the metal shunt strip and mount it elsewhere... run light wires to the same
points from each end of the shunt to the prior connections at the back of the
meter..
Cheers,
Rob Brueckner
1972 Hatteras Yachtfish
Al,
Why bother changing the arrangement you have?? That is, what do you wish to
accomplish??
Unless your batteries are not being fully charged or you feel the alternator
current is too low resulting in long charge times, I'd be inclined to keep the
current arrangement.
A simple test would be to check the voltage at the alternator during a
reasonably heavy charging current then measure the voltage at the battery
terminal....use a good quality digital voltmeter for accurate readings....the difference
is all the voltage losses in the wiring and meters you describe....
Maybe someone else can post an appropriate difference...I'd say a difference
of 0.1 volt is "all ok", a difference of 0.5 volt is definitely
unacceptable....
An alternative to replacing the meters, if the voltage difference is of
concern, could be to boost the voltage via the regulator (if yours are adjustable)
a few tenths to get the battery terminal voltage you want.....
On my old Hatteras, I think the heavy gauge wire to the f/b station meters
is the source for 12 volts up there.....so if you decide to fuss around, check
this out or be sure to leave the exisiting cables active to your stations.....
I've fussed with ammeters which have an external shunt bolted to the back of
a voltmeter...the face reads "amps"....if you have this style, you can remove
the metal shunt strip and mount it elsewhere... run light wires to the same
points from each end of the shunt to the prior connections at the back of the
meter..
Cheers,
Rob Brueckner
1972 Hatteras Yachtfish
