16+ volts

[mpo414]

About once a week my electrical system goes crazy, dash gauges reset, heater fan surges, headlights dim and brighten, battery light flickers. I threw in my voltmeter and when it happened this last time i checked the voltage through the cigarette lighter and it was fluctuating between 14 - 16.8. Could the voltage regulator in the alternator be going bad causing too much power? Or would it either be working or not, im confused by the intermittent problem.

[LBSRACING]

Did you check the voltage at idle or while you were driving down the road? Had to ask lol. If it was idle then yes its too high and most likely the regulator. If it was above idle sounds about right. Since it comes and goes try moving the charge wire around coming off the alternator see if your problem occurs then. It bight have a pinch or broken spot.

[Big Papa 03 dually]

Clean the battery cables, and grounds, sometimes a bad ground at the battery cable will give you this type of problem.

[dhanna6powerstroke]

Originally Posted by LBSRACING

Did you check the voltage at idle or while you were driving down the road? Had to ask lol. If it was idle then yes its too high and most likely the regulator. If it was above idle sounds about right. Since it comes and goes try moving the charge wire around coming off the alternator see if your problem occurs then. It bight have a pinch or broken spot.

On a properly operating charging system, you should never see anything above 13-14 volts at idle or higher rpm's.

[mpo414]

thanks for the help, i measured this voltage (16.7 volts) while driving down the road at about 1400 RPM's. When I measure the voltage the same way that the same RPM's it usually reads around 14.4 volts which I believe is normal. Then when the dash gauges stop working and the battery light comes on it reads 16+ volts which I think is too high. I did replace the alternator and have driven it for a few days whithout any problem, i thought it might be the voltage regulator. Since the problem only occures about once a week i'll give it a few days before I call it fixed. Im also going to clean all of the grounds I can find just in case. Thanks again for the help.