Charging system road rage

By the way DO NOT EVER pull a battery cable off a running engine, and it is not a valid check.

"The old wives tale" is that if the engine dies the alternator is bad"

WHY THIS IS WRONG

1.....If the system is charging it generates a voltage spike which can damage electronics

2...If the system is actually working but the engine dies, it might simply be that the idle is too slow and maybe lights are on, causing you to (wrongly) believe the system is not charging

3...If the alternator is partly bad (several bad diodes) the engine may continue to run and make you think "good" when in reality the 40A alternator may be only putting out 15A or such