charging problem

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Aug 11, 2003
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as well as my M11A i have a triton which i built some years ago but now want to sell but it is not charging the battery.

I am getting just the battery voltage with engine running or not. When I built it, I made my own harness and fitted a Boyer powerbox as well as Boyer electronic igintion but still through 2 six volt coils.
I am pretty sure it is not the wiring.

Although 4 years old it has done only 8 miles.

I tried my multimeter on the alternator output wires, there is continuity. If i put the multimeter on AC voltage it shows about 24 volts with the engine running but I don't know if that means anything, Can you test an alternator like that.

So any way to test an alternator other than just buying a new one

Thanks

Jim
 
An RM21 (120 watt) alternator should put out a minimum of 9 volts AC measured with a 1 ohm resistor connected in parallel. This is measured across the green/yellow and green/white at 3000 rpm. Not being an electrical genius, I don't know what purpose the resistor serves, but since it is specified, figure readings without it are suspect :?. I picked up mine at Radio Shack.
 
The resistor just provides a way to load-test the alternator. You could attach a volt meter to the terminals but there would be very little current flow and the readings might not be that meaningful.

Ohm's Law tells us that 9 volts across a 1 ohm load will produce 9 amps of current. I'd suggest at least a 10 watt resistor to avoid all that pesky smoke :)

Debby
 
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