You can tell in my previous posts that i have been having weird problems with my ram 1500. i decided to test the battery and it seems to be putting out a lot of ac voltage. my alternator also started whining. could this cause problems with how the truck operates? thank you

 

Batteries do not put out AC voltage. Batteries supply DC voltage in the range of 12 to 14.5 VDC depending on if the engine is running or not.

 

thank you for your reply . I installed an led bar on my car. it turns on fine when the car is on but isnt running. once i start the car, the led's start to blink rapidly. i was told my alternator might be putting out ac charges due to a broken diode. could this be true?

 

Diode is the rectifier that makes DC from AC. My $ is on a bad alternator.

 

Yes. If you are truly feeding AC to the battery, alternator is fubar.

 

well, i took the truck to the stealership. i was told the alternator was fine but the flickering led lights still bug me lol

 

You said in your opening post that the alternator was "whining", what's with that?

 

Its a sort of whiny noise my alternator does. It's really loud on a cold start but dies down after the rpms drop. I though it was from the back of the engine but I got closer and listened carefully.. I also hear another kind of whiny sound when I'm driving. But I'm pretty sure that's the idler pulley.

 

try attaching the LED bar to another auto to eliminate the LED bar as a possible problem in itself

Hopefully you have an electric meter... cheap ones at Harbor Freight or even a hardware store... $5-$10 is fine... measure the battery with engine OFF... should be about 12.6 VDC, with engine ON should be about 13.6 to 13.9 VDC... switch the meter to measure AC with engine running should be 0 VAC

finally stop the engine, disconnect the electrical connection at the back of the alternator to take it out of the circuit... tape up the sire out of the way.... start the engine and check the LED lights...

 

thank you rsdata!! i'll try that when i get home. last night, though, after i shut of the car, i heard a faint buzzing noise coming fro the led's. i disconnected them this morning. it might have an internal problem.