Hey guys,

So my truck died on me the other day. Got a jump and on the way home noticed my voltage gauge sitting down by 8.

Came home and put it on a trickle charger (2A) and it's been on for about 24 hours. Still says it's charging (also has a 'check battery' function). I had an extra regulator sitting around, so I installed that, and after charging for a day, the gauge is reading in the acceptable range, but if I had to guess, I'd say it's around 11-12 volts (vs the 14ish I'm used to).

Anyway, I started and drove it earlier and the battery seems to be taking a charge, as it cranked right over. I removed the battery terminals and cleaned them all up and tightened them down.

I know I'm asking questions I should know the answer to, but was hoping someone could point me in the right direction. With home renovations and a baby and working full time, I'm having a hard time even finding time to work on the ol' girl, much less wrap my brain around the charging issues.

Thanks,

damon

 

In your spare time, go find a volt meter, (a real one with numbers or a numerical display) start your engine, then check the voltage across the battery terminals. Tell us what you see, and we can go from there.

If yer too busy to investigate, don't expect us to successfully guess what's wrong. There may be some "Mine did this, so that must be it." answers that are totally worthless.

 

How old is your battery? Have you checked the water level? Is this the first time you "killed" it to 8V?

X2 with j_martin's advice. Or you can go to Autozone or Oreilly's and ask them to do it for free, including testing the condition of your battery and alternator.

 

I'll test voltage when I get home this afternoon. I have a volt meter.

Yes, this is the first time I've dropped it down like that. It's a circa 2003 Interstate sealed unit. I left my trickle charger on for several days and it eventually decided the battery was fully charged, so it seems to be taking a charge, but I'll test this afternoon and report back.

Thanks, guys.

 

Old batteries can play tricks on you. Though they look good on a volt meter, they crash under load. If it's 10 years old, it probably due.

 

You know...i would think that it could be the battery, too. That was my initial though, actually. But the battery seemed to take a charge from my charger fine and it seems to be holding it fine.

 

What that can't tell you is the capacity of the battery, and the internal resistance. Over time, capacity diminishes and resistance goes up. The combination makes the battery ineffective, but it'll look good on a battery charger or voltmeter.

To smoke the bad ones out (maybe literally), go to the auto parts store, walmart, or wherever they sell batteries and have them do a load test on the battery. You'll have your answer in ten seconds.

Even with a bad battery, the voltage across the battery with the engine running tells you something about the charging system.

 

12.3 Volts. On the drive home it was raining and with headlights and wipers the volt gauge was showing about 8 or 9 volts.

 

That extra regulator you installed, what kind is it?

So after charging the battery overnight is shows 12.3 and it's able to start the engine. So far so good. But when the engine is running with headlghts on voltage drops to 9V. That means the alt is not charging the battery.

Check your charging system cabling, wiring and have the alternator tested. When the engine is running the alternator B+ post should be around 15V with a discharged battery.

 

I'll Czech when I get home. Just a Duralast regulator...same kind I've been running for the last 4 years.

Thanks!

 

Ok, without disconnecting any wires, and with the truck running, I had 11.6 volts at the alternator

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk 4

 

Either the regulator and/or the alternator is bad. Have them checked.

 

Alternator. Thanks, guys. Ended up using a $50 off $100 at Advanceautoparts and got a rebuilt jobber for $70.