I just recently replaced my battery & alternator (which was bad) after starting issues and power loss resulting in a "check gages" maessage in my '98 Ram. Before my battery voltage was reading ~14 amps and my brother, who has a '01 Ram does too. Now it reads ~10-12 amps and when it drops below 10, gives the message error. Is there some other reason why it is not back up to the norm after driving a little; to possible recharge new battery? I thought that there might be an issue with the voltage regulator, but I thought that was part of the alternator, which is new & was tested when I bought it.
Or maybe this is possibly where the voltage is going to read @ now? Then again, I haven't tried running my AC,radio,lights,etc. in order to use the battery to see if it drops below 10 amps due to needing the truck to get to work right now.


Can someone plase help...thanks!

 

Is it a diesel? Give us some more info.

 

First of all, the gauge reads volts, not amps. So, you replaced the alt because it was bad? If it was bad, the volt gauge wouldn't be reading 14 volts on the old one, it would read straight battery voltage, which is 12.5 on a fully charged battery. Since it's now reading 10-12 volts, I would check that you have a clean connection at the alternator, and make sure the power wire to the alt. has power, if not, check the fuse. I'm guessing a defective alternator.

 

This is why I wish they would go back to putting ammeters in vehicles. You could actually tell if the stupid charging system was charging or not and how fast. A volt meter is little more than an idiot light with a needle.

... oops ... that came off sounding awfully close to the beginings of a rant ... sorry ... pet peeve.

 

All...my RAM truck is a V8 with the 318 and I checked to make sure when I bought the alternator at the auto store to ensure that it was working from the start (good tip if you replace yours, so you don't replace it and it ends up being bad too). Well, it ended up being the 140A alternator fuse that was also bad, which must of became defective @ the time of the old alternator. Just wanted to post the end result for those who may end up with similar problems; this would be one of the things one could check to rule out. Once that was replaced, my truck was back to normal reading out at just over "14 volts."

Thanks for the replies (however given)