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John, for an ammeter to correctly show the net current flowing through it to the battery (charging) or out of the battery (discharging), ONLY the hot ungrounded battery post, often via a connection at the starter, should be connected to its high input terminal,,,,, ,, while the other load termianl is wired to the BAT terminal on the Voltage Regulator plus other loads like the ignition (if it had a battery powered distributor) and lights etc. Therefore BOTH terminals on the ammeter MUST ALWAYS INDICATE HOT BATTERY (or higher if charging) voltage. An "ideal" ammeter would be zero ohms and it acts almost as a short circuit. If it were bad/open, current cant flow through it to get to and charge the battery (even with a good Gen and VR) and, likewise, loads like lights and ignition (if it had battery ignition) wouldnt be receiving any power. Verify the hot ungrounded batery post (maybe via the starter post) is indeed wired to the ammeters high input side (that should be the ONLY wire on that terminal) and a wire off its other load terminal is connected to the BAT terminal on the VR. YOU GOTTA HAVE THAT BEFORE THE GEN CAN GET TO AND CHARGE THE BATTERY. If its wired that way and the ammeter isnt bad/open, then there should ALSO be hot battery voltage present on the VR"s BAT terminal via the ammeters other load side. Then when the Gens voltage rises sufficient the VR"s cutout relay closes so the Gens oputput is present on the VR"s BAT terminal to get to n charge the battery. If its a good battery and a good charging system, battery voltage would be near 12.6 setting, then rise to the 13 to 14 volt range at wide open throttle n charging. I have no idea if its pos or neg ground, but type A charging systems and generators (provided VR is suitable) can still work n charge at either polarity if polarized and the ammeters right so it dont register backwards (but would still pass current). PS this is for type A charging systems that use the VR to supply the Generators field ground, its NOT for grounded field applications where its the input thats controlled to regulate field current. However, the ammeter discussion would still be true. John T
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