Voltmeter vs Ammeter – TigersEast AlpinesEast

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January 29, 2007 at 11:17 pm #61115

stu

I actually have BOTH in my Tiger, but I’m an EE so what do you expect?

I can watch the battery charge and see it’s state with the voltmeter. I am reading the voltage at the ignition switch. If the car is sitting idle with the switch on, I see around 12.6V. Right after I start the engine and the generator is charging heavily, I see the voltage go up. If everything is running, and the generator isn’t charging (ask me about my drive home from the Portland ME United), or at idle with the lights on, then the voltage is lower. If I just looked at the ammeter, then all I would see is current flowing in or out of the battery, and have no idea if a cell died or something.

So with the voltmeter, you can see battery condition and charging/discharging. The ammeter gives you only charging/discharging.

Stu