P d'ro
In your first post you talked about a bypass. But in other posts you've mentioned a problem and also
I am trying to keep stock and do not have many accessories, just a few gauges. I still have a stock alternator of unknown amperage for 67 rt 440.
Considering the situation, first solve the problem.
Look at the diagrams, look at your car.
Is there anything wired in from the battery to the ammeter?
There should be nothing. Ah! I see you have found there is stuff. This may be the source of your problem.
To understand why, take a look at the drawing showing
running with the battery fully charged. Draw in some equipment attached to the battery or starter relay and you see what happens.
The question remains whether any of that is the reason the current follows rpm., then there may be a bad battery or something like that.
It also could be the voltage regulator is getting bad information (its not sensing the actual voltage). To check that, you'll need a voltmeter. Measure voltage at the Ignition wire side of the voltage regulator. Compare that with voltage at other locations (battery).
It also could be that the voltage regulator has failed internally and Field current is not controlled. Maybe Nacho can speak to this. But for example if the alternator gets more voltage the alternator output will be higher voltage than the battery can float to. So electricity flows from the altenator thats say 16 or 17 volts to the poor battery at 14.5 Volts. Eventually the battery gets too hot and looses water...
When I get my deoxit in mail I will pull bulkhead connectors and see how they look and clean. If required I may have to buy the crimping tool if any male or female ends look suspect.
I live in the dc metro and we do not have things like welding shops, radiator shops, muffler shops, etc. unfortunately. Again, I will have to think about keeping the ammeter and going the MAD direction or simply running the jumper if I see evidence of heat. Good to have options.
Cleaning terminals is great. You will not really see the crimped ends unless you remove the terminals from the connectors. In your situation I would leave them in place unless they are loose or have obvious problem.
If you don't have a multi-meter - that is the tool to buy!
If you bypass the ammeter, you will lose an useful diagnostic tool. I don't see a reason for it in your situation, especially with everything staying stock. If you drive at night, a headlight relay system is worth considering. You'll have to hide the relays to keep it stock. (Rob who posted about making you wires, can make you the relay harness.) But this is off - topic. First figure out what is happening.
One last one. It is possible the battery is just simply too low in charge. Again a voltmeter will indicate this. In which case the battery just needs enough water and is allowed to charge slowly. A battery charger or letting the car idle.
Here's the catch, this is the one that plagued Nacho. If its because the alternator can't charge it at idle and the car idles alot, then sooner than later you need a better alternator. In this case the battery is getting drained just by running at idle. The ammeter will show this. Its mostly a problem when accessories (heater, lights, and maybe worst is A/C)
