Technical Alternator

[dfk]

A quick one while checking out the lights I measured the voltage as 15.2v while the engine was running.
Is this high or normal.

 

[paddyponchero]

Thats very high for a dumb alternator, smart charge alternators may put out those kind of voltages in cold conditions happily though. What year / engine is your van?

 

[T14086]

I believe the OP has new (250) model so its not that high if battery low, seen some ford smart charge systems hit 17v.

 

[paddyponchero]

I believe the OP has new (250) model so its not that high if battery low, seen some ford smart charge systems hit 17v.

Never seen one go that high though I've heard about it happening with jump starting. I repaired the smart charge loom on a focus last week it defaults to 13.8v when the system is offline. I used to think it was a pointless addition but the original batteries seem to go up to 10 years which is definitely an asset. Shame about the quality of the wiring its more like the soft stuff you get inside a multicore cable.

 

[dfk]

Engine battery is not low.
I have a secondary battery charged through a charging relay and last week I took a high load off this battery and the relay started clicking because the secondary battery was low,the engine was running at the time and i believe the alternator was trying to feed the load/charge the secondary battery so i'm wondering if i've caused a problem.

 

[dfk]

Thanks for the inputs but problem solved dumbass Meterman reading 1v higher than it should.
Gave myself a fright there.

 

[Arkk]

Hi DFK, Ive been caught with the same fault. It is quite common for digital multimeters to overread volts when the internal battery is flat.

 

[corkman]

Hi DFK, Ive been caught with the same fault. It is quite common for digital multimeters to overread volts when the internal battery is flat.

Some if them don't read right with rechargeables either as they are generally 8.4v its about the only thing i put a non rechargeable into these days but i get sux months from a good alkaline as mine has auto standby

 

[dfk]

Yea its got a rechargeable in it.