Diagram how to save the the volt gauge on b body 71

[71 SE3834V]

#2
the ammeter shows what you say, true, but in relation with batt . Rest of system can work, getting loads here and there and if ammeter doesn't registry any activity, it means the batt is quite resting without provide any load to source anything on the car and the alt is providing everything. Thats what I say about getting a good alternator will save your ammeter.

That's what I said. The ampmeter shows a charge or discharge of the battery.

#3
is shown on the diagrams on my thread. ALL the loads are taking from alt side of ammeter, no one on batt side ( but starter motor which load is never registered by ammeter... too much for it )

It had been about a year since I read your post about the bypass. Didn't have time to review it before posting and I couldn't picture the diagram in my head. Thanks for the reminder.

#4
if gauge shows discharge being main splice on alt side, it means the alt power is not enough to fill the car demand, then the batt begins to provide what alt is not able to give. So is true, will show a discharge reading on THAT moment. BUT if alt is enough to feed the car demand, the ammeter won't read anything. All the load play is out of the ammeter reading... EXCEPT if BATT is ALSO requesting load to fill it back untill its chemical balance is made ( fully charged )

There is much being lost in translation here.
I was talking about the gauge showing a discharge if the bypass is performed like I talked about and all the alt amperage flows to the battery then from the batt to the car through the gauge. Then it will likely show a discharge. Moving on......

[71 SE3834V]

THEN after that the bulkhead terminals being weak and prone to fail due the enviroments.

If you lived in this area w/the salt usage in the winter then you might think differently about the corrosion issue. It's a HUGE problem with older vehicles. I've owned many snowplow trucks over 30 years and corroding wires were a constant problem up until they started sealing the connections.

don't worry, we have same enviroments conditions down here LOL... excepte salt useage due the winter, but close to the coast, and salt is around in the air

I know coastal cars rust out faster than inland but until I see a pic of those cars looking like the following pic (my truck covered with a thick layer of salt) I'll still maintain the rust belt cars are doomed to a much faster death. There is a reason they call this area the rust belt.

[71 SE3834V]

If the battery doesn't need recharged then doesn't the regulator cut back on the alt. output? Through testing I have seen my truck alternator go from minimal amp output to full amp output when using my snowplow.

from where is being sourced the snowplow ? battery?

if you are sourcing it from battery ( what is what I think ) then of course the ammeter will give you CHARGE reading but doesn't mean actually is charging the batt, just means the load is going through ammeter to the batt side to feed the snowplow ( or any accesory you incorrectly source on batt, power plants to stereos etc.. ). That is an added stress allways has happened on our cars, when incorrectly sourcing the extra accesories from batt instead from alt.

an ammeter won't say you YOU ARE SOURCING THE SNOWPLOW, is saying THE LOAD IS GOING TO THE BATT "charging it"... then you have to think... do I have something sucking the power on batt side aside the batt itself to get really a charge reading being the batt is actually charged ?

Your misunderstand my setup mostly because it's very hard to explain things w/o seeing them.

When I said I got a high reading from a gauge it was NOT a dash gauge but an ampmeter hooked inline to the alt to test the output.
You cannot connect a snowplow motor to the alt. or source it to the alt. It requires battery sized cables and the alt will not put out enough power. I think my alt is a 150 amp. The snowplow motor is the size off a starter motor and will draw high amps to use. We used to install 2 batteries run parallel to run the plows because you are constantly using the battery to work the plow and if you only used 1 battery it would be run down in a couple of years. This was back many years ago when alternators were only 100-110 amp. Since the larger alternators are now available the batteries last longer because the alt can keep the charge up.

yes is true, I don't have in mind how you are connecting or how you have wired the snowplow into the truck... will be great you shown me

however... is more less the same the alt is providing what snowplow is sucking. In line Ammeter is registring that load requested by the snowplow... but if you turn off the snowplow, the SAME alt at SAME RPMs with SAME ammeter, will get you smaller to 0 reading, because there is nothing sucking power, no matter if alt is still spinning the same.

would need to know how you have wired everything to tell you exactly what is happening thought

alt provides what car needs ( devices, batt ) if there is nothing demanding power, alt ( of course, managed by the regulator ) won't send anything. Ammeter will register what batt is getting or providing, but if fully charged, nothing will go or come from it, so ammeter will read 0... everything will be playing into the alt side without ammeter play.

There is much being lost in translation here.
If you would like to know more about the design of a snowplow circuit pm me and I will take some pics and see if I can come up w/the schematic when I have more time.
Basically the snowplow circuit is the same as a starter circuit.
The motor is hooked directly to the battery with a solenoid inline, when the switch is activated 12v is sent to the solenoid and a hydraulic valve. Up to full battery power is then allowed to be sent, through a 4 gauge cable, to the plow motor which then sends hydro fluid to the lift or angle cylinder. Since the plow motor is pulling 200+ amps the voltage regulator will then tell the alt that the battery needs to be recharged. When the switch is released the solenoid opens and the plow motor stops however since the battery is still low the alt will still be charging.
This is usually not a problem since there is time for the battery to get charged up while your making a pass down a parking lot. The battery can start to get low if you have to make a few movements of the plow w/o enough time for recharging or when it is extremely cold and the hydro fluid is cold making the motor work harder (draw more amps).
Back in the 70's & 80's when the alts were only 65-110 amp output this was more of a problem. There was more room under the hood so the solution was to install a 2nd battery hooked up in parallel.
With the modern trucks there is not so much of a problem now that the trucks are equipped w/150 amp alts. They can keep up w/the repeated discharging of the battery.

There is nothing wrong w/my truck or plow. They are operating as the engineers designed. The testing of my alternator was performed decades ago when we were trying to understand why a 2 yr old battery was dead. An ampmeter was hooked up to the alt and a load was put on the system (plow was activated). Everything work fine. What we found out I stated above...that there was a huge draw on the battery to use the plow. Every time the plow was used the battery discharged (voltage dropped below 12). It was like starting your car every few minutes. Of course the battery was worn out being used like that! The solution? Install a 2nd battery parallel. Then when the plow was used voltage stayed above 12v so batteries weren't "used" so much and they would last 5 or 6 years.

I think I have   so I am going to move on. Thanks for your help Nach. Catch ya on the 3rd Gen site.