Volt check/charge.

[DarkKnight]

Let's see. So i was gonna check my alternator charge tonight with my little volt meter. had the volt meter on dc 20

Put the positive wire to the positive and the - to the -

Ok what it read was .45 and when the car was off it read .41.

Now im wondering if i have a screwed up volt meter, or either if my alternator is burnt and not charging at all. Or If i have a wire misplaced hehe.

What do you mang's think?

:Side note :
O, when i took the alternator off. The little screw thats on the back of it after i unscrewed that wire off i put that screw back on it.
then when i put the alternator back on i took that screw back off and placed that wire back. however that small ass screw fell off. and i just happend to have a spare at that time! so i used it. But am questioning myself now..
:End of side note:
Ugha.

D.K.

[Nathan in MI]

If it was reading 0.45 volts with the car running, then something is wrong about the way the meter was reading it. It wouldn't be running like that, and you'd have to have one seriously dead battery. Are you ABSOLUTELY sure you had the meter on the correct setting?

[DarkKnight]

Indeed. I got one of my roomies to double check it. He was a electrician for some odd years before he went into college back in the 60's.

So busted volt meter is the blame. Good to know THANKS NATE!

[gadget73]

need at least 9 volts or so to keep the car running. 0.45 volts is definitely not right.