1994 dakota 6 cyl.
if i pull my battery terminal after started, should my truck continue to run?

thanks

 

I believe it should, cause the wires are still bundled together and getting power from the alt and ground from the chassis.

 

Yes, in fact if it does not, it's an indication of a problem with the alternator

 

Correct but as a side note you dont want to disconnect for to long. The battery is the main supply of power not the alt. The alt only keeps the battery charged. When electrical power is needed the battery will supply more then alt.

 

when you disconnect the harness the truck should die, unless the truck is not computer controled. if there is no juice from the battery to the pcm truck will die. the alternator does not power the pcm, the battery does. on the older trucks with out pcm, the alternator runs the system. depending on your year and if there is a pcm or not.

 

when your battery dies and you try to jump start truck and it keeps dying. its not the alternators fault, its the battery, because it is not giving the juice it needs to run the computer, but if you hold the gas pedal to keep truck running, you are forcing the battery to give juice to the pcm, as soon as you let off the gas truck will die.

 

I can't agree with any of that... The reason your alternator runs about 2 volts higher than the battery is so current will flow from it to the battery and everything else (cause voltage is like pressure, things flow from high pressure to low pressure). Direct current can only move in one direction at any given time, so it cannot possibly be flowing to the battery and from the battery simultaneously. The only time your electrical system will draw from the battery while the engine is running is when so much current is drawn that it loads the alt down enough to bring the system below the batteries current voltage (making the battery the object with the highest "pressure").

 

If he disconnects every wire that ties into the battery post connector then yes it may die. But I dont think anyone will take apart every wire hooked up to the battery post connector. You will disconnect the battery post connector from the battery but not the wires from the battery post connector. The alt. wire is connected to the battery post connector. So it will power everything that is tuching that connector no matter if it is on the battery or not!




It may be the alt. due to the alt not keeping the battery at a good power level. And your 2nd senaro is not correct.

 

It still sounds like you think the battery is the main power source. I promise you the battery's only two jobs are to start the vehicle and then act as a backup in case the alt gets overloaded. Once the alt is turning over it has the high voltage, so current flows from it to the rest of the electrical system.

Voltage is the electrical equivalence of pressure, so for the purposes of this explanation, think of the battery as an 80 psi air tank. Now think of the alt, which has a higher voltage, as a 100 psi air tank. If you connect the two together, it is impossible for the 80 psi air tank to release air because it cannot overcome the higher pressure of the other tank. The air will go from the 100 psi tank to the 80 psi tank. This isn't a perfect explanation cause with two air tanks their pressure will eventually equal out, but the battery will never reach the voltage of the alternator, so the alternator does all the work unless it gets overloaded to the point where the voltage its producing drops below the battery. I really hope this makes sense, cause it's the basic explanation of a DC electricity.

 

It makes perfect sense to me, lot of ruffled feathers over this