MG TD Voltage Regulator :cooking Battery?
The ammeter in my TD has always read around plus 15 amps at crusing speed. This amount of constant charging didn’t seem right to me, so I hooked up a voltmeter and discovered the generator was pumping up the battery to 16 volts. This sounds too high, but the shop manual indicates the correct setting is 15.8 to 16.4 volts at room temperature. The rule of thumb in EE circles is 14 volts for charging a car battery. Does anyone know why MG set the charging voltage so high? Does anyone else get +15 amp readings on the ammeter all the time? (Yes, the battery is losing water faster than it should.) For 1950’s batteries this was correct. For modern battery technoligy, a lower voltage is appropriate (I’ll let others reply with the number). I don’t. That’s way too high. Mine flutters in the +2,+3 amp range when it’s all charged up and I’m cruising. With the headlights on it’s around 0. At idle it drops to around -5 and with the headlights on and idling it’s around -10. I had that problem too, an
