Amp meter vs. Volt meter for A-4

[Bill Sandifer]

I have an Atomic 4 that I have rebuilt and am in the process of re instrumenting.
The origional instruments had an ammeter but in speaking to Don Moyer he recommended installing a Voltmeter rather than an Ammeter.
What is the rational for the change and how do you connect the voltmeter? Does anyone have a schematic for an A-4 instrument panel?



wsandifer@cdicorp.com

[Tom Coons]

I have an Atomic 4 that I have rebuilt and am in the process of re instrumenting.
The origional instruments had an ammeter but in speaking to Don Moyer he recommended installing a Voltmeter rather than an Ammeter.
What is the rational for the change and how do you connect the voltmeter? Does anyone have a schematic for an A-4 instrument panel?

Bill, I was waiting for someone with an A-4 to answer because I don't have one, but it looks like there are no takers so I can at least address the volt vs ammeter question. An ammeter tells you how much charge your alternator is putting out. A voltmeter tells you the state of the charge in your battery. It's nice to have both. The ammeter is wired in line between your alternator and your battery on the positive side. A voltmeter is wired across the battery terminals.The rationale for one or the other is whether it is more important to know the state of charge on the battery so you'll know when to start the engine and charge it up before it runs down too far, or whether it's more important to know that your alternator is putting out a charge. If the alternator is putting out a charge but your battery becomes discharged you have a defective battery or some other problem in your system like the regulator or bad wiring.

TacCambria@thegrid.net

[Tim Zens]

My Catalina 30 (1979 model year) has an Atomic 4 which runs normally like a Swiss watch, except on long trips. When the engine has been running for an hour or more it tends to die. No sputtering it stops as smoothly as if I turned off the key.

When it happen the first time I went through the normal troubleshooting procedures and found that after removing the fuel bowl to inspect for water and debris (none was present) it restarted and ran normally. The fuel is clean and fresh and the inline fuel filter was brand new. This has reoccurred several times since.

The motor still has the manual fuel pump, is it possible for vapor lock to occur?

Tim Zens



Tim_Zens@Henkel-Americas.com

[denny]

Your fuel bowl is possibly at a high point in your fuel line? If your dip pipe into the fuel tank does not reach the bottom of the tank you could be sucking up air when the boat rocks around. After a period of time the build up of air in the line has displaced the fuel. There is no fuel at the filter because the air has risen the top of the fuel line,at the filter. You could also have an air leak in the dip pipe connection or in the fuel line. It is under vacuum so you could pull in air without leaking fuel.

My Catalina 30 (1979 model year) has an Atomic 4 which runs normally like a Swiss watch, except on long trips. When the engine has been running for an hour or more it tends to die. No sputtering it stops as smoothly as if I turned off the key.

When it happen the first time I went through the normal troubleshooting procedures and found that after removing the fuel bowl to inspect for water and debris (none was present) it restarted and ran normally. The fuel is clean and fresh and the inline fuel filter was brand new. This has reoccurred several times since.

The motor still has the manual fuel pump, is it possible for vapor lock to occur?

Tim Zens