Can someone tell me how to check whether my charging circuit is working on
this old Merc? I ran a little test on the rectifier which indicated it was
bad and have just replaced it. Now, if I check voltage across one of the
batteries, with engine off, it measured 12.3 volts. With engine running it
went slowly up to 12.7. I thought it ought to get close to 14? Thanks in
advance.
LD

"LD" wrote in
:

I thought it ought to get close to 14?

Recharge the battery fully before starting the engine. Then, the voltage
will come up over 14 after the charging circuit replaces what starting drew
out. Lower voltage that slowly rises over hours means the battery was
probably low and was recharging until you shut it down. The voltage was
rising. Outboard charging circuits aren't 120A alternators with excellent
voltage regulation. Hell some only put out 10A which takes hours to
recharge a battery that's down.

--
Larry

Thanks for the reply. I was just expecting something like I saw on my Old
'70 Blazer, where it went from 12. something to about 14 immediately after
starting indicating what voltage the alt. was putting out (I thought).
LD

"Larry" wrote in message
...
"LD" wrote in
:

I thought it ought to get close to 14?

Recharge the battery fully before starting the engine. Then, the voltage
will come up over 14 after the charging circuit replaces what starting
drew
out. Lower voltage that slowly rises over hours means the battery was
probably low and was recharging until you shut it down. The voltage was
rising. Outboard charging circuits aren't 120A alternators with excellent
voltage regulation. Hell some only put out 10A which takes hours to
recharge a battery that's down.

--
Larry