low volts/battery light

SalRanger2

SalRanger2

Ranger Lover
im just noticing this tonight, battery light came on and the volts gauge is reading in the the green but on the low end. when parked it will be enough to not have the battery light on, when i rev it to 2k the volts go down a bit and battery light comes on. ?
i cleaned my battery terminals, checked fuses, battery is only a year old. is my alternator taking a dump??

any thoughts is appreciated!!
 
it has the stock battery terminal connectors, im thinking it may be them?? ive kept them clean and theyve worked well always. i might get new ones to put on but im thinking it will be a bitch because theres no slack in the damn cables to put new ones on
 
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well drove for a few miles in the morning and ended up having my guages go nuts and my truck die lol in traffic. had to push it into a parking lot and got a ride from a random person lol. then got an alternator and threw that on right in the parking lot. $125 later and lost time and were back in business haha
 
Ok, I do not understand why the engineers do this backwards. I also do not understand why after 20 years of them doing it backwards people still don't get this.

The battery light does NOT indicate a problem with the battery!!!! It means the battery is being discharged.

Hook the volt meter to the battery and unplug the alternator. Start then engine and rev it up above 3K. If your volt reading at the battery doesn't go up to 13.5V you need a new alternator.
 
it did need a new alternator u must have missed in my last post i put one in and the problems fixed now. i dont see a problem with a "battery light" i mean what other symbol would make sense to use for a problem with your charging system? lol
 
My battery light is on all the time, but thats because of a busted clip on my alternator, the indicator wire likes to vibrate loose. I have an aftermarket voltmeter on my pillar to confirm direct battery voltage vs what the gauge on the dash shows
 
I was gonna say it might be the voltage regulator in the alternator going bad... :huh:

It sucks that it crapped out on you on the road, but at least you were able to get it fixed.

I never trusted the voltmeter in my cluster nor the battery warning light. I always run a separate digital voltmeter that gets voltage right at the battery terminal so I can see exactly what's going on.
Went out to start the truck a week or so ago when it was sub zero for several days & I saw 10v & I knew the battery was dead, cranked the key & only got a few clicks. Luckily it was just the battery & I got a replacement for FREE :thumbsup:
 
yea so it worked out pretty decent today. do you have a pic of the guage and where you got it?
haha that worked out good for ya then!
 
SalRanger2 said:
it did need a new alternator u must have missed in my last post i put one in and the problems fixed now. i dont see a problem with a "battery light" i mean what other symbol would make sense to use for a problem with your charging system? lol
Click to expand...

I personally preferred the light that was on my 1978 Oldsmobile Omega.

It was a big red square and in the middle it said "Generator".

See everybody who isn't an engineer sees a "battery" light and says "Oh, there is a problem with my battery!" when really the battery is probable fine and the alternator is the problem.

When you see a big red light come on that says "Generator" or "Alternator", well then you know that you have a problem with the alternator.
 
I have an analog gauge, here's how I have mine mounted

IMG00018-20100113-1617.jpg
 
Man I'm waaaaaaaaay behind on checking threads...

Pics of my latest voltmeter mod:

IMG_2568.jpg


IMG_2583.jpg


IMG_2569.jpg


The meter wasn't fully seated in these pics, this was just a mock up before I added switches on each side for the dvd/back up camera functions.
 
Looks sweet man! I used to have a doubledin touchscreen dvd player like you, but after getting 2 of them ripped out of the dash and stolen I've given up. Now I have no radio bezel and no passenger door lock lol! F'n thieves
 
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