RE: [DML] Why Volts gage not Amps?

["John Hervey" <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

David, Volts is the standard unit of measure for almost everything. A 12 car
radio may only need 2 amps of power to operate but you amplify the radio
output audio into a power amplifier which may need 20 amps of power. Both
are designed to operate on 12 volts. So if they are operating on the same
circuit the design would be able to handle 25 to 30 amps and they would fuse
accordingly. 
Keep in mind that 12 volt is a relative term. Our cars and a lot of older
cars operate on alternator voltage which will vary but normally around 13.8
volts after warm up. If you have to much current draw and start overloading
the circuit then the volts will normally go down and you would see that
indication on the dash. Vice verse the volts will go higher with less
current draw up to the regulator design in the alternator. That's why in the
morning when you crank the car you will have a higher dash reading than
after driving around for a while. Regulator design volts is normally 13.8 to
14.5. More when cold and less when hot. 
If the volts drop to less than 12.66 then you are running off the battery
and if the volts go much above 14.5 for a while then you will smell the
battery being hit with more volts than it was designed for.

John Hervey
www.specialtauto.com
www.deloreanautoparts.com

      

-----Original Message-----
From: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
daviddelorean
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2008 12:30 PM
To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [DML] Why Volts gage not Amps?

Just out of curiosity, why do DMCs (and most cars) have a gage that 
measures the 'volts' of the electric system and not the 'amps'? As I 
understand it, volts is the resistance in the loop, bascially how fast 
the electrons are traveling thru the loop. Amps is the actual amount of 
power in the loop.  So wouldn't it be better to know the actual output 
of the alternator?

Also, in what instance would there be too high voltage in the system? 
Obviously if your alternator died the volts would drop below 12, but in 
what case would they go too high?



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