Should car still run on alternator with ground terminal off battery?

OK, here's my 2C- Connect a voltmeter to your battery with the engine running. Should read about 14 VDC. If it's not and dropping, go to the field lead on the back of the alternator (small wire) and you should read something. If not, then the voltage regulator or it's wiring are not doing their job. If you do read something, you either have a bad alternator or bad ground somewhere. Mine was a bad voltage regulator. It was that simple, for me.