Is there a surefire way to tell if your battery is being charged? I was told by a couple of people that if you remove one of the connections from your battery and the car dies then the car was running off the battery. When I do this my car dies, does this mean that the alternator is not getting voltage to the right places? I know my alternator is good, I just had it tested, so if the battery is not charging it must be a wiring problem.
BobbyZ 280
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Do that on a modern car with an internal regulator and you can kill the alternator or at least damage it. That worked on cars with a generator or points type external regulator. Old shade tree "tricks"die hard.
First you need a volt meter and check to see if you are charging at the BAT post on the back of the alternator and go from there.
First you need a volt meter and check to see if you are charging at the BAT post on the back of the alternator and go from there.
Measure battery voltage with car off and with car running. If voltage is say 12V when car is off and 13.5 to 14.7 when running then the battery has to charge due to the elevated voltage. You could measure the voltage acrosss a shunt resistor placed between the alternator and battery to measure charge current.
I agree with blue. AN alternator can produce as much as 250v un- controled. the battery being charged is that control. if you disconnect the battery leads while the car is running you might fry all of the electronics in the car. that will cost a lot more than a new alternator. first you want to do battery open circuit voltage. negative lead of the voltmeter to negative battery terninal. positive lead to positive battery terminal write this number down. next, start engine and run it at 1500 RPM WITH NO ELECTRICAL LOAD(lights,radio). Charging voltage should be approximatly 2v higher than the open circuit voltage.(13.5v- 15v)
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