Can a bad Ampmeter cause no charge?

I had replaced the harness, and cleaned the termainals well. I also sparked the voltage regulator to polarize the generator.

Looks like the ampmeter is dead, it does not register anything. How to check it? Can it inhibit the generator from charging the battery?

Sorry for so many questions, but just got it started, and uncovered these items.

Thanks,

Tony

The prev owner could not get it started, and I believe may have put 12 volts to the system. I do not know. I do know the new 6 volt battery he had in the unit was cooked. To many times running it to nothing, charging, and cranking to dead again.

I put 12 volts to the starter motor only. And it started up nicely after a few attempts.

Since the tractor came to me as a Not Running unit, I never had the benefit of going from working to not working.

I happen to be having a fun time uncovering one mystery at a time. each investigation has been rewarding.

Since the ampmeter registers no effect with the coil on, nor when I did crank it with the 6 volt, my guess is it's bad. It's not an original unit.

I will go back over all the messages and glean the next step checks.

Thanks

But according to Hakeem's Razor, its yer just replaced wiring harness..... .Dell, former cal-lab engr

Dell, is this what the old-timers used to call a "moving iron" movement as opposed to the more common d'Arsonval?

"Neither style ampmeter is very accurate. (20% accurate)."

As an old mentor of mine used to say, "It's a twenty-percent world, kid!"

This is why I tell people to look for "an approximately 2-4 amp static discharge" when they first throw the switch.

From a previous post: "6Volt system... I hooked a 12 volt up...It started with the 12 volt battery, after a bit...I tried to restart after I ran it 30 minutes, but no go."

He was advised by Joe(IN): "If you hooked the 12V battery up to the tractor with the battery cables instead of just to the starter only via jumper cables, then you've pretty much cooked the voltage regulator and that's why you don't see ammeter movement and the 6V battery keeps falling flat."

In my opinion (and I WILL defer to professional mechanics or those with more Ford experience), this was good advice, and you should have taken it, Hopeful.

There is a procedure to bypass the voltage regulator for testing purposes. I think that was given to you also; but several of the posters on this thread can repeat it for you if you need it.

If you have not already replaced the voltage regulator, I think this test would be an excellent use of your time.

In addition, the fact that you see no static discharge of approx. 3 amps when the ignition is first turned on indicates you have fried your coil or points or maybe the ballast resistor, although I don't have enough experience with these Ford to know which is the likely culprit.

If you think the ammeter is bad, substitute an aftermarket one in. They're not too expensive. Or you can test the ammeter you have with a battery and appropriate resistor using Ohm's Law. I would be happy to help you with this; I'm sure others would also.

I gently and respectfully suggest you put down the toolkit for a little while and do some appropriate reading from the aricles you see listed on the left hand side of this page.

A. Bohemian...Good Day!

If the tractor did not start the voltage regulator is safe. The Bat connection on the voltage regulator cut-out is OPEN and only closes if the generator produces ~ >6.5 volts.

JMHO

re-check your wireing and make sure you are wired as the diagram.

Soundguy

Amp meters do not go bad very often. It is more likely that you have it wired wrong.

Roger in Michigan

No they won't cause it to not charge.

With the latter ones with 2 terminals it is possible.

I'm not sure if it is probable.