3G alternator over charging at idle?

Cubey

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I have a cheap digital volt meter in the dashboard I added a few months ago and voltages were fine, until this morning. It was reading 15v at idle. Driving makes the voltage go down, to 14.4-14.7.

I drove the planned 200 miles this morning. Made a few stops along the way and it was idling around 14.8 when I got here.

Regulator on it's way out? or....?
 

IDIBOBS

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I’d say so. Did you get the alternator from a vendor with life time warranty? I’d pull it out and swap it under warranty. If not a new regulator can be had for less than $20.
 

BeastMaster

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Is there a voltage differential between the "A" wire of the regulator and the battery positive terminal?

I suspect you may have some extraneous current flow contaminating the feedback voltage seen by the regulator.

 

Cubey

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I’d say so. Did you get the alternator from a vendor with life time warranty? I’d pull it out and swap it under warranty. If not a new regulator can be had for less than $20.
It was on the van when I bought it in September 2023, so I don't have warranty for it. The regulator isn't that cheap, from what I see. It's $57 on RockAuto. It's actually cheaper from O'Reilly, $49.99

Is there a voltage differential between the "A" wire of the regulator and the battery positive terminal?

I suspect you may have some extraneous current flow contaminating the feedback voltage seen by the regulator.

I haven't looked into it yet, beyond a bit of googling. One thing I read said that ground issues can cause it. It wasn't showing this high yesterday, so it just started. I don't suppose it being pretty cold weather wise has anything to do with it?

The batteries are showing 12.9v at the stock cigarette lighter (with old plug in digital 12v volt meter) after sitting for 6 hours, so they seem ok still. I need to wait to do anything if I can. I'll keep an eye on the voltage when driving, which I do anyway some. I'm on my way back to my mom's house, and I can look into it after I get there.
 
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The_Josh_Bear

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Did you verify the charging voltage at the batteries with a real meter? Sometimes that's all it takes to see things are fine but the instrument is busted...

That said, I've never seen a 3G pump more volts at idle than running, so that's weird!
 

BeastMaster

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Try switching various high-current loads on and off. Lights, heater ( blower ), brakes, and special attention to glow plug activity. See if you can correlate to any disturbance of the van's power rail.

The disturbance my glow plugs were placing on my van's rail was what tipped me off to my glow plug controller contacts not opening up properly. It showed up on the voltmeter.

I would do a quick clean of the battery post/connectors too. You probably know the routine...the run through with the spiral wire brush and post clean with a strip of sandpaper.

I get the idea your voltage regulator is seeing insufficient voltage sense and is responding by increasing alternator call for more voltage.
 

Cubey

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Did you verify the charging voltage at the batteries with a real meter? Sometimes that's all it takes to see things are fine but the instrument is busted...

That said, I've never seen a 3G pump more volts at idle than running, so that's weird!
I have a hard wired digital meter in the dashboard, and the 15 year old plug in digital volt meter, and both were within 0.1v of each other. So I didn't see any point digging out a separate meter. The hard wired one is on a separate custom circuit/fuse panel from the factory cigarette lighter.

The meter there is on separate wires from the added on outlets so it gives a pretty direct reading of the driver side battery, via a solenoid that's on with the key on.

I didn't think to record a video, just took a picture. This was first thing, 7:42am
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After driving a few miles to a park (7:54am) to walk Lucy, that one was idling at 14.7 and the old plug in one was 14.6 at the factory cigarette lighter, which was the first time I checked it with the plug in, so it went down some after warning up.


Try switching various high-current loads on and off. Lights, heater ( blower ), brakes, and special attention to glow plug activity. See if you can correlate to any disturbance of the van's power rail.

The disturbance my glow plugs were placing on my van's rail was what tipped me off to my glow plug controller contacts not opening up properly. It showed up on the voltmeter.

I would do a quick clean of the battery post/connectors too. You probably know the routine...the run through with the spiral wire brush and post clean with a strip of sandpaper.

I get the idea your voltage regulator is seeing insufficient voltage sense and is responding by increasing alternator call for more voltage.

I had the headlights and blower on (about mid) because it was cold and a bit cloudy yesterday, and it didn't make a difference.

The voltage reading with glow plugs on is something like 11.2 or 11.6, i can't remember for sure but it's above 11 for sure. It was close to 32° when I started it yesterday morning and it had no problem.

I just cleaned the battery terminals and posts with a proper terminal cleaner just a few weeks ago after replacing the brake booster and master cylinder, because it had weak cranking after being disturbed. Cleaning the terminals solved that and voltages were fine when driving, 14.3-14.5 typically.
 
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Cubey

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Here's a video I recorded during the cold start this morning. 14.9-15.2v at idle, and it went down to 14.6v with a little throttle in video.

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Driving was fine though, it was steady at 14.3v on the highway for a bit over an hour.
 

Cubey

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It must have something to do with cold temperatures.

It's a much warmer day today, and it was late morning when I cranked it up. 14.3v at idle. Same when driving.
 

Brian Wagner

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Did you verify the charging voltage at the batteries with a real meter? Sometimes that's all it takes to see things are fine but the instrument is busted...

That said, I've never seen a 3G pump more volts at idle than running, so that's weird!
I'm with josh bear on this, sounds like a cheap gauge
 

Cubey

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I'm with josh bear on this, sounds like a cheap gauge

It's showing fine again after getting out of freezing temperatures. I'm guessing it's something wrong in the voltage regulator, maybe the circuits contract when cold and cause issues.
 

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