Alternator reading at +30 -----problems or no big deal?

[billschroeder5842]

Wonder if I have a problem or if I'm just too damn sensitive!

My 69 sat for close to a month while I was on military duty. I fired her up today and noticed that the Alt gauge pushed over to about +30. That did not concern me as I figured that a little driving would bring it down to the normal, slightly right of center.

I drove for about 25 miles at some good (65 mph) and the gauge continued to stay at that +30 reading. The car ran great and worked as it should. Is something wrong or should I be concerned?

BTW....the battery was brand new in March.

[Nacho-RT74]

Yes, is a problem, will overheat ammeter wires and gage itself

yesterday I got suddenly the ammeter gage reading like it was an RPM gage LOL... I thought it was baterry related since all my load is on alt side, no reason to get a reading on ammeter, and definitelly it was battery related, some sulfated ends... add some lemon juice on them to clean it up and VOILA! ( at least it looks was that ).

Beside that... do you have electrical upgrades ? where did you took the power ?

what Alt do you have and batt specs ?

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,62772.0.html

[billschroeder5842]

I just ran it around a bit....the gauge is coming back to "normal" under the 20 mark now.

I put a meet on the battery....12.6 without the engine running and 15.2 with the motor started.

Still Okay?

[A383Wing]

if ya got a battery charger, put it on the battery for a while, like a slow charge up to 8 hours....alternators were designed to keep a battery charged while running.....not to charge up a dead battery

All that extra amps flowing through yer wires is putting a big strain on the harness's and gauge

15.2 is still a little high....usually 13.8 to 14.2 is normal

[Nacho-RT74]

totally agreed with Wing

a stock alt will get a hard time to charge back a big amps reserve batt and that will STRESS ALL AROUND. Thats one of the burnt reasons on our cars

If you upgrade the batt, will need a same or more proportion upgraded alt.