Quote:
Originally Posted by dodgerdad
My battery had worn down from starting it and shutting off repeatedly so I put it on the charger and charged it 100% before doing the tests above.
The battery is 13 months old.
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That's not old for a battery. the cluster might also be sensitive to fluctuations of the system voltage. Try measuring the voltage when you load is all connected but switch your voltmeter into AC mode. Check how big those fluctuations are. If you have an access to an oscilloscope it's even better. The higher the current draw the higher the fluctuations are. The alternator can keep up with the draw , the rectifier can but the filter might be small for this load.
If you see bulbs flickering then it's an indication the voltage fluctuates. The bulbs in general do not care , you just see it as a flicker, with higher RPMs and thus the frequency of the flicker your eye will not even register it. But if the cluster contains electronics it could be a big deal.
This can be addressed by adding a polarity sensitive capacitor in proximity to the cluster. It will be able to maintain the voltage level needed for the cluster unit.