Is my car over-charging ?

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'70_Duster_340

'70_Duster_340

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Beautiful day here in CT, and decided to take the Duster out for some spirited driving :burnout: ..

I by-passed the amp gauge and put a volt gauge in, and it's charging over 15 Volts.. I know I have the high output alternator, but this still seems kinda high..

I checked the gauge against my volt meter and it was accurate .. At 1000-1500 idling RPM, it was 15.1 out of the alternator, and just a hair under at the battery.. The battery is in the trunk and not warm when we got back and tested things..

Should I be concerned ??

Thanks,

Kenny
 
I suspect the battery. They call them maint. free but most cases will have a way in to add water or look for that boiling cell (there's yer sign). The size of the battery is a factor too.
 
Kenny, sounds like the voltage regulator has taken a dump. Don't continue to drive the car like this untill it is fixed.

George
 
15 +/- 1 is not bad. Ours was doing 18 -20 at high rev and that was bad. It turned out to be the alter. It burned out a terminal.
 
The rule I was always taught to go by is 13.8-15.2 volts is charging correctly. Any lower it's not charging any higher and your over charging. Although usually your on the lower end of the scale when the battery is fully charged and the alternator is just maintaining the charge not trying to charge up a weak battery. On a newer car you can't really go by that because the ecm controls the charging. Hope this helps Justin
 
jjr426 said:
The rule I was always taught to go by is 13.8-15.2 volts is charging correctly. Any lower it's not charging any higher and your over charging. Although usually your on the lower end of the scale when the battery is fully charged and the alternator is just maintaining the charge not trying to charge up a weak battery. On a newer car you can't really go by that because the ecm controls the charging. Hope this helps Justin
Click to expand...

That rings a bell =D>=D>
 
I played around with the car for a while this morning, and it's charging just under 16V .. The voltage regulator is one of the few things I haven't changed since I got this thing drivable again, so I'm gonna start there .. Thanks George, and everyone else who's helped, I appreciate it.

Kenny
 
Just looked and the voltage regulator I have now is/was a chrome plated one.. I'm guessing it's a constant voltage one, and we probably put it on when we converted to electronic ignition ?? The car is eventually going to be street/strip, but more likely will see the track as much or more than the street.. Anyone have a suggestion as to what regulator to get ??

Thanks
 
'70_Duster_340 said:
Just looked and the voltage regulator I have now is/was a chrome plated one.. I'm guessing it's a constant voltage one ?? The car is eventually going to be street/strip, but more likely will see the track as much or more than the street.. Anyone have a suggestion as to what regulator to get ??

Thanks
Click to expand...

if old style it would be blue.
I would ,if you already haven't, get a dual field alternator and 2 wire transistor regulator and install.
 
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