[AT] Batteries — 6 Volt now generators

Spencer Yost yostsw at atis.net
Thu Sep 21 21:29:11 PDT 2017


I am not an electrical guru, but I have learned a few lessons in the school of hard knocks. First I concur with Charlie Hill: I have seen batteries that would read a proper voltage but don't have the capacity to handle any type of real load.  A load tester would be handy here.

Second, a multi meter that measures amperage is super handy. Simply disconnect the ground, then connect the multi meter between the post of the battery and the loose cable you just disconnected. Before you do this make sure you have your multimeter on its highest setting in case there's a significant load. This will protect your multimeter.  Then turn it down ( i.e. from 10 amp scale to the 1 amp scale to the 200 milliamperes scale) until get a reading that you can discern.  This is how I found out where my bobcat was draining power. In the end it turned out to be the alternator. The alternator is great charging, but it's also great to discharging :-). I surmise the diode is bad.  For now I am simply disconnecting the negative cable every time I park it.  Without the ammeter I would have never found it.   They are cheap at harbor freight.

Good luck!

Spencer Yost



Spencer Yost




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