TOPIC: Amp meter reading.

Anyone know what the amp meter should be reading while running a '67 Johnson 100? WOT mine is reading around 10-12 amps. Can't tell exactly what accurate number because the small meter reads 0 to 15 +/-. What is normal?

Should read 0,once the battery gets recharged from starting the engine. If it is charging or discharging all the time, something's not right IMHO. Mine has a 20 amp alt on it. I guess yours does too.

Jim, I never noticed the reading after being on the water for awhile, just that I saw it while in a no-wake zone and idling to open water. Something that might affect the reading is that I have one of those small battery minder chargers hooked up, a tiny little thing that keeps the battery charged while not in use. Could be giving a false reading??

Cal,I don't see how that would be drawing current out of your bat, but don't know for sure. Next time your out,if you can, unhook it and see if your amp gauge charges down to 0. If it does ,there's your culprit. I have a Y shaped wire attached to the positive and negative on my bat that I plug into a 1 amp motorcycle trickle charger. I have read if you rapid charge the battery without unhooking the negative cable,you can damage the charging system on these motors. jim

Factory Generator put out 10 amps max.

lights and other wiring running near the meter will make it read dif

Fact ---the 67 factory brochure I looked at says for the 100 hp

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15 amp alternator , with rectifier and voltage regulator.

professor wrote:

Fact ---the 67 factory brochure I looked at says for the 100 hp

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15 amp alternator , with rectifier and voltage regulator.

Huh,I wonder why they cut back on the output of the alternator on the later models??

Thank you professor. That's worth a karma

Check the voltage at the battery while running to see if it actually is overcharging.

I'm in the process of adding a voltmeter in addition to the amp meter just for drill. Amps read zero while idling in a no-wake zone and increase with rpm's which I think should be normal.
With a 15 amp alternator I can run some pretty heavy accessories without any problems. Thinking of all those lights on venetian nights. Could also run a trolling motor with the outboard idling in neutral and still keep the battery charged up.

63 Sabre wrote:

I'm in the process of adding a voltmeter in addition to the amp meter just for drill. Amps read zero while idling in a no-wake zone and increase with rpm's which I think should be normal.
With a 15 amp alternator I can run some pretty heavy accessories without any problems. Thinking of all those lights on venetian nights. Could also run a trolling motor with the outboard idling in neutral and still keep the battery charged up.

My take is I'll take a volt meter over a ammeter any day!

I now have both, an amp and volt meter. Picked up an inexpensive Sunpro (snap-on China) at Auto Zone $18. Easy to install, one wire to ground the other to the IGN or ACC terminal on the key, even lighted