Briggs charging

[38racing]

Same ariens repower. This is 3rd engine. Original was dual, 2nd had full regulation and now back to dual. Original chassis dual connector was still there. Previous engine had slow cranking issues which I resolved by changing out the starter that had bad upper bushing but in arriving there I put the extra relay in the safety circuit and had 2 grounds from battery ,one to frame, one to engine. Initially on this repower I did not connect to engine but had slow crank(was fine on test bench) so I connected to engine and crank is fine. So my observation is this. Running voltage across battery starts just about battery (brand new) and slowly rises to 12.9n. Clamp meter on positive cable shows 6 amps. Clamping negative cables shows 4.5 on one and 1.5 on the other. Anything that this tells me that I need to deal with?

[bluemower]

are you saying the ground cable to the engine carried 4.5 amps
and the ground cable to the frame carried 1.5 amps?

also, how did you connect the ground cable to the engine? Just wondering.

[bgsengine]

First thing I would have done is break out the multimeter and run voltage drop tests to pinpoint where the original battery-to-frame ground problem is at - Adding a ground direct to engine is just masking the real problem which then can in its own turn affect the charging.

[KE4AVB]

Basic ohms affecting readings. Disconnect one of the grounds and test. Even with the cables being very low resistance the current will divide on two parallel cables. Therefore the more current is carried by least resistance path but some will also be carried the higher resistance path.

[Arkie]

Appears the 6 amps is normal, the battery is charging at 4.5 amps and the safety relay is drawing 1.5 amps.

Output from the voltage regulator is 6 amps.

BUT you had a bad neg cable connection, probably at the frame or less likely the engine was.is not bolted down to the frame good. When you connected direct to the engine you bypassed the bad connection.

[38racing]

Been hot here and stiff back so just getting back to it. Original frame ground was to metal side of dash assembly and light gauge. I drilled a hole in main chassis rail. Ground off the paint and attached automotive gauge wire to battery. Currently that's only ground connection. Cranks fine. After a few minutes charging voltage reaches 13.10. Clamp meter shows 7.2 on positive and 1.5 on negative. These show as negatives on bothcables

[38racing]

Maybe I don't understand clamp meter. Just noticed that when I turn dial to 200 amp it displays -3.5, not near any current flow.

[Arkie]

With clamp meters the neg/pos reading can be changed (reversed) by turning the clamp 180 (just turn the clamp the opposite direction) when clamping onto the ONE wire.

Also sometime the jaws will get rusty/greasy at the mating surfaces of the clamp and cause squirrley/erratic readings. When they are rusty or dirty just opening and letting them snap shut while on a wire will get a different reading. Sometimes you have to let the jaws gently SNAP together instead of gently closing. Some owners manuals mention such. The dirty jaws will also cause AC current reading to be erratic but seems to affect DC reading more commonly. It's most generally at the junction of where the jaws snap/mate together.

Most DC clamp meters also have a button to hold down FOR AWHILE to ZERO out the reading when you first choose DC amps especially when trying to read low amps accurately. (sometimes takes 5 to 10 seconds for the meter to start indicating close to DC ZERO AMPS

Your clamp meter is reading wrong. How ever much current is on the positive battery cable will be SAME (or very close on a meter) to the same on the neg cable. (the same amount that leaves the source will return on the other cable)

To give you an idea how to check a battery for charging or discharging with a clamp meter, kill the engine and connect the clamp to either the neg or pos battery cable, then momentary crank the engine or if it has DC headlights turn them on and note if the meter reads neg or pos.
This is battery drain even if it shows positive amps. Start the engine and if it's charging the battery the meter polarity reading will be just the opposite of the battery DRAIN reading.

[38racing]

Thanks Arkie. Just read your post after Google suggested that I read the manual. Yes. I had failed to zero it. Will redo the measurement tomorrow.

[KE4AVB]

Those clamp meters are iffy at the low end. I am going to making a 100A Shunt system here for testing that can test for charging and draining currents. I just ordered the meters and yet to get myself a project bow to put the works into. I go to find a how of one I need first.

Here is link to meters I am planning on using.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013PKYILS/?coliid=I2YUWUEFL3D24T&colid=2N91VL1JQY5EQ&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it