Battery/Alternator Question

[georgia357]

It's possible that the battery post/cable got corroded while it was loose. Might try cleaning both good and see if that helps.

 

[brad sweet]

Alright so today while sitting at a red light an hour from home my battery light came on on the dash. As soon as i accelerated away from the light the dash light turned off. Once again when i returned to a stop the light came on again. Progressively it went from only at a stop to intermittently while driving. I drive for a few miles and stop and check the battery post(4 week old battery). The negative post was ever so slightly loose. Used some pliers and tightened it up. Kept driving to my destination which was 30-40 minutes from home. At that point i used a socket and tightened both posts down tight. Continued to drive the rest of the way home on 285 in stop and go traffic running only my headlights and no problems at all but the dash light was still coming on and going off.
So now i am home and i just hooked the charger up to the battery and it is reading 12.2 amps. While driving home i hooked up the SCT and the battery voltage spiked at 12.31 and never went below i believe 11.48 with lights on and truck on. Correct me if i am wrong but there is no way possible i could have driven an hour home and almost 30-40 miles without dropping the battery below 12.2 if the alternator was bad? If the alternator was bad an i was in fact driving home on battery power alone then by all reason i should be much below 12.2 and possibly not even made it home. My thoughts are i just screwed up by not tightening the ground post all the way and now the truck is still throwing distress signals even though it has been corrected. Should i take the negative cable off and let the codes reset or just let it charge on a 2 amp charge overnight and recheck in the morning? Thoughts please.

yep 14/16 volts is what it should be reading...bad diode or rectifier ..it will kill your puter if you dont get that fixed

 

[Lockout]

16 volts way over charging and will cause damage

 

[republican]

The good news is that the alternator is right on top of one of those engines a couple of bolts and a ratchet in the belt tensioner and you will be done in half an hour.
P.s. when you buy the alternator have them test the new one before you leave with it . I got two bad ones in a row once.