Electrical problem/question... HELP! Bob, anybody!
 

Now that I'v got your attention...

I have a problem with my carging system I believe. Any time a small load it put on the batery gauge drops quite a bit. For example, if my AC is on high (blower on high) the batery level gauge drops down to almost the quarter line... I have an idea but any thoughts? Thanks!

take it to autozone and have it tested, they can do a load test on it as well. if youve never changed the alternator before on a 99 i wouldnt be suprised if it needed to be changed out.

First, check the battery cable connections - all of them (4?), hot and ground at both ends.

Regulator or the alternator itself? Battery could be no longer taking a charge?

IMO, you need to have it checked locally on a charging system load tester. I think some battery places will do a free charging system check in the hopes of getting you in the door and selling you something.

I just checked the batery cabels yesterday, they are good.

Battery is a 1year old Optima Red.. sure hope its fine.

Alternator is a rebuilt god knows what that is three years old now and taken on a lot of water over the years... guess this is what I'm leaning towrd... lol..

Yea, it's probably toast. Most reputable autparts stores can load test the alternator for you.

Put a voltmeter on the battery while the truck is off. Do it again with the motor started. If the voltage is higher while the engine is running, then your alternator is probably fine.

that test will only show if an alternator is bad, its not a load test like most auto places can do. just ride your lazy ass to autozone :wink:

All the autozone's around here you have to take the alternator in to them... they dont come out and do it on the truck. I'll make a couple calls tomorrow...

How would I get my hands on of them nifty 130amp stock alternators the Tremors have?

Isn't that the point? To each his own, but putting a couple of prongs on the battery is better than removing the alternator, standing in line at auto zone, etc etc.

I dont have a problem with no load.. thats the point Bob is making.. I'm going to try it though, it should be putting out ~14volts with no load, then I'll turn on the AC and see what it does, if it drops back to 11-12 volts it will at least give an indication.. so your both on track..

Ok so you know how when you try to get your truck to have its problem so you can diagnose it it never does it? Well you guessed it. It has done this for the last week every day, but now it wouldnt do it in the driveway... lol..

So.. how do I get a tremor alt.? lol..

Good idea but a little more to it than that.

1. Battery alone, no load should be about 12.6 or above. If it's sat awhile, maybe 12.4 or so.

2. Alternator should raise the voltage to AT LEAST 13.8 volts with the motor running, no load. Loaded voltage should not drop below 12.8 volts or you stop charging the battery and start draining it. Really, with a loaded voltage that low, you'd be in the situation of balance -- really neither charging nor draining and that alone is a bad sign. Anything less than about 13.2 volts and the battery isn't charging much if at all.

3. Maximum voltage from the alternator shouldn't be much more than 14.2 to 14.5 volts -- more than that for any length of time fries a battery by overcharging.

Optima's are great batteries but they have a VERY high failure rate, FYI.