What causes high voltage alternator?

Battery. Alternators that overcharge will typically produce excess voltage to the battery, making the battery case swell up, become very hot and lose its electrolyte through boiling. This surge disrupts the wiring in the alternator, causing an overcharging condition.

How many volts should the alternator put out?

A good alternator should put out between **13.5-14.5 volts. Stress test the alternator – Place a load on the alternator by turning on the headlights, the radio and the air conditioning. The voltage should remain high with these circuits on.

What causes high battery voltage?

Higher than 15 volts indicates a fault in the charging system’s voltage regulator or related circuits. If it’s substantially excessive, this can cause electrical system and/or battery damage. You mentioned your voltmeter runs at about 15 volts most of the time.

What happens if voltage is too high?

Voltage that is too high can cause premature failure of electrical and electronic components (e.g. circuit boards) due to overheating. The damage caused by overheating is cumulative and irreversible. Motors can, on the other hand, often benefit from voltages that tend to be a little bit high.

How do you tell if a alternator is overcharging?

Symptoms of Your Car Alternator Overcharging:

1. Car Battery Voltage Gauge Reading is High. You notice a high voltage reading on your cars vehicle’s dashboard.
2. Car Battery Gets Hot When Charging.
3. Your Headlights Burn Out Quickly.
4. Your Car Battery is Bulging on Sides.

Is 14.6 volts too much?

Is 14.6 volts too much? 14.8 would start to be a worry (there might be liquid or corrosion on the battery) and 15 volts would be a real concern, but 14.6 is fine. Much less than 14.2 at a fast idle is bad wiring, bad alternator or regulator, or a bad connection or fuse link.

What happens if the voltage is too high?

How do I know if my alternator is overcharging?

What causes an alternator to over charge a battery?

Measure voltage across the battery with your DMM. You should get 0.5 to 2 volts higher than base voltage. If you are getting more than 2 volts above base voltage, most likely your alternator is over-charging the battery or the battery is faulty. Other potential problems are a faulty voltage regulator or a problem in the charging system wiring.

When is a voltage regulator bad for an alternator?

When your test shows a steady or intermittent high or low voltage output, the voltage regulator is possibly bad. Most voltage regulators fail by allowing a high voltage output, though. However, before going any further, check that all the connections to the alternator and battery are good and clean as described in the next section.

What should the voltage be on a bat alternator?

Measure the voltage across the battery and the big bat alternator terminal to alternator case. There are two things that you are looking for. The charging voltage should be between 13.9v to 14.4v. Also the voltage at the battery and the voltage at the alternator should be within 0.5v of each other.

What should the voltage be in a Chevy alternator?

When your Chevy is running, you should get approximately 12.8 to 14.0 volts of power, and there is a quick and easy test to determine if your regulator is over- or under-performing. Place the red lead of you multimeter onto the positive battery terminal on your car battery.

Measure voltage across the battery with your DMM. You should get 0.5 to 2 volts higher than base voltage. If you are getting more than 2 volts above base voltage, most likely your alternator is over-charging the battery or the battery is faulty. Other potential problems are a faulty voltage regulator or a problem in the charging system wiring.

When your test shows a steady or intermittent high or low voltage output, the voltage regulator is possibly bad. Most voltage regulators fail by allowing a high voltage output, though. However, before going any further, check that all the connections to the alternator and battery are good and clean as described in the next section.

How is the voltage of an alternator determined?

The actual charging voltage designed into a voltage regulator is dependent upon factors such as how far the alternator is located from the battery and the ambient air temperature surrounding the battery as calculated by the PCM. This is why the ambient and underhood temperatures are critical data for the charging system.

What should the charging voltage be on a Harley stator?

You can use 13 as a good all around battery voltage. That is a good healthy battery staying charged just above 12 volts. Example only: Let’s say the stator is rated for 10 amps x 13-volt battery: 10 x 13=130 watt charging system. So you have a 130-watt charging system in this example.