Thread: Possible stuffed alternator - under charging?

Originally Posted by pawky

Hi Tim

I agree on the 20th all was well until the time marked with the arrow.

Do the other 2 charts look normal to you? They are both more recent. In both I start driving with low SOC batteries but the alternator voltage never climbs very high. My batteries now seem to only get to approx 12.6 volts despite solid driving.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Pawky

Hi again Pawky, first off, the high voltage time at the beginning of each day is sufficient to replace the bulk of the used battery capacity of the Optima and your cranking battery, but your voltage drops quite rapidly when the motor is off during the day, and each evening.

Can you post up what is drawing from the batteries while you are camped?

Hi Pawky, can you post up the graph for July 29 and August 3.

I can then see you usage a bit better then.

Also, any idea why you Voltage took a dip over a few hours, and then rose to 12.63v, a near fully charged battery?