May 11, 2011

Mr. Goodwretch Works Here

Further exciting adventures in automotive technology.

1. The battery charger now charges batteries in the same sense that Harry Reid thinks, that is, slowly and well below advertised specifications. I'm on my way to the city where I hope to find a heavy DPCO switch which might bring it back.

2. The truck stasis is due to a probably bad battery born in 2002 or 03  and a definitely bad alternator.  I'll  pick those up too and try not to dwell on the cost measured as a hefty fraction of another 1911.

I offer a word of thanks to the Sperry folks for making their Snap 6 ammeter (Model OHM-525).  A handy way of discovering that your alternator is gasping out only seven amps at speed is a tool to be cherished, however seldom used.

4 comments:

ASM826 said...

% of a 1911 is exactly how I measure the cost of larger things. It makes it real. If I'm doing a vehicle repair that costs $400, that about 1/2 of a 1911.

Ammo is the other way to measure expenses, as in, "I'm not buying that camera! I could get a case of 9mm for what that costs!"

KurtP said...

You're using clamp-amp on a DC wire?
Does that work?
I've only been told A/C makes those work (it reads IMF), unless someones been lying to me..

Jim said...

Kurt: I think the output has a pulse form even though it's DC. If I remember my Navy-taught electronics correctly, it's "pulsating DC""

KurtP said...

Ok, that makes sense.
Which makes it a form of alternating current.