Battery Cable Alternator Test

With no battery in the circuit to act as a buffer the alternator can put out up to 150 volts depending on engine rpm.

Battery cable alternator test.

To do a quick check on an alternator i was told that you could start the car and then remove the negative battery cable. Now about the ineffectiveness of it the vehicle will run if the alternator is producing enough juice. Doing this would allow you to check whether the alternator is putting out enough current to run the vehicle. But it s also possible that the alternator is actually in a bad shape but is producing enough to run the.

Test alternator by connecting voltmeter on dc 20 red on positive battery terminal and black on negative battery terminal. Test the negative battery cable by using the same procedure as above for the positive cable but this time you will have the red lead of the multimeter touching the metal housing of the starter motor and the black lead of the multimeter connected to the negative battery terminal. Dear tom and ray. That was the risk of it.

So when you test an alternator by pulling battery cable you increase the probability of killing that regulator. When the smoke clears that simple test could end up costing you several thousand dollars for new electronics. Start vehicle and voltage on voltmeter should increase to around 13 volts and stabilize there. Pcm tcm electronic power steering radio etc.

Testing alternator by removing battery cable was a valid test back in the day before computers. Testing alternator by removing battery cable can you test an alternator by removing battery cable.