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Other day I went out to crank my 1940 180 for the first time in about two weeks. It was stone cold dead. Oh well. So I hitched up the charger and checked after a little while. The red light was on indicating a battery problem. Sure, enough, there wasn't enough juice to turn the overhead light on.

So off to NAPA and a new battery (Model 7204). Put the new battery in and the car cranked immediately. But, I noted the ammeter was now showing a heavy discharge instead of charge. I turned the car off and the ammeter then showed a charge. Evidently, the ammeter is reading in reverse.

Suggestions?

Martin

Did you repolarize the charging system?

Regards


John Harley

Did you put the battery in right way round? Positive ground not negative like today's cars.

I did make certain about the positive ground. But I don't know anything about repolarizing the system.

I'll see if I can google something on that or find it on this site.

Here is out of 55-6 manual but will be the same on yours. Momentarily means just using a short piece of wire and touching the two terminsls together for a second or so. You will have a small spark when doing so.

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Simply removing and replacing the battery should not necessitate repolarizing the charging system. But can't hurt. With the car at rest, everything OFF but the battery connected, what does the ammeter indicate? If you remove one of the battery cables at the battery in this condition and bring it back into contact with it's post, is there any indication of a spark or movement of the ammeter?

BTW, that NAPA 7204 is a very good battery choice! I've typically gotten 7-8 years of service from them.

Martin writes:
"I turned the car off and the ammeter then showed a charge. Evidently, the ammeter is reading in reverse"

How much of a charge did it show???? With engine OFF the ammeter should have shown a ZERO charge or a DIScharge if lites or some other accessory was on .

I see no way it could show a charge with engine off.

I see no way it could show a charge with engine off.

Unless the engine is not running but the ignition is on. That's what i was trying to get at with my question.

Or the headlights or radio are on, even with the volume down my radio seems to pull a decent amount of power.

The only way for the ammeter to read in reverse is if the battery is reversed.