I just finished putting in some 7" driving lights behind the grille and i Have a quick question. I noticed that when my headlights are on, the battery gauge in the dash dips about a cm or so. Now with the headlights AND the driving lights on, the needle dips about 2cm. When I rev the motor, the needle returns to normal position right in the middle (where its vertical ). Now im just wondering if this happens to you too. I have a power wire coming from the battery to a switch in the dash, and another power wire coming from the switch to the lights. Each light is grounded in a different spot. My battery is less than 2 months old and it is one of those ever-starts from walmart (not my first choice but the stock battery died while I was in walmart). Just wondering if this is normal or not. Look forward to your responses thanks!

 

 

I don't notice that on mine, in fact it barely moves. I have the same setup as you, check the alt voltage and see what that is doing.

 

now im not sure how to do that, I have a multimeter with the round switch in the middle and its all greek to me lol

 

2 cm is nearly an inch. That would put the gauge SERIOUSLY low. The Ever-Start is actually a pretty good battery.

BTW, you need to put a relay in there ASAP. FWIW, my gauge doesn't even twitch when I turn on the DLs. I've read that it isn't really a voltage gauge, though.

A meter connected to the battery posts with the motor off, motor running but lights off, motor running and lights on should show you what's happening. My guess is so much current is being lost that the voltage is dropping to compensate.

 

Would putting in a relay change the charge drawn from the battery? Or is it just for protection? Also to clarify where the meter in the dash drops is to right in between the middle post and the first post. (If the black lines make a W, it would be in the middle of the first V), im gonna try to see if i can get the multimeter to show me something, but I have no clue what to set it at (its an analog)

 

Mine dips a little when I turn on the lights.

 

no, but thats alot of power for a little switch. What i mean by check the alt is to use a load meter. You could simply take a voltmeter and put the positive on positive, neg on neg. See what the voltage looks like with the lights full on and at an idle. With a third arm or foot raise the throttle and see where its at. I say from experience, its alot easier to catch an alt going bad before its bad. Your battery shouldn't affect it. I have used the Ever-Start Maxx with great luck before.

 

Ok if I did this meter right (which i probably didnt), it looks like the driving lights take away about 2V? I probably had the settings wrong on this thing, I had the switch on 50V DC with the engine at idle and it read about 10V, with the lights switched on 8V. I had it on AC 50V at idle it is was something weird like 16-18V. Anyways, I should probably let a professional look at it. I had the pins from the meter hooked up at the battery posts. Thanks for your help guys, I appreciate it.

 

"Hurricane" Ida is beginning to make her presence felt, so I don't wanna go get rained on. I believe the gauge "middle" position is normal -- that is, 13.8VDC. From what I've read, the gauge is not really a voltmeter, so a real meter is in order. Set it to 20VDC, touch the red lead to the positive of the battery and the black lead to the negative. With the motor and all electricals off, you should see about 12.8VDC (since it's a recent battery). With the motor running and no other electrical load, you may see upwards of 14.5-14.8 VDC.

The voltage should not drop below 13VDC and that would be with all the reasonable electrical load applied (A/C, lights, radio, wipers...).

A properly-installed relay is a must on high-current devices (efans, driving lights, etc.). There is just no substitute. What gauge wire did you use on the lights? Too-small wire would cause a voltage drop, big time.