19 volts at idle?

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

Okay this is kinda wierd...I went and metered my battery today cuz I was just wondering what kind of voltage I was getting out of my battery/alt. So I go out and hook up the DMM, put it on DCVolts, and I'm surprised as hell when it reads 16.4 volts, with the car off.

Then I turn the car on and at idle get a reading of 19.1 volts at idle, and about 19.4-5 at 2krpm. Keep in mind this is a stock alt, and not a high-performance battery (that I know of, I got it from walmart for like 60 bucks)

1. Thats hella high right? on both readings

2. Could this be bad? I've had the same electrical since I got the car, except for replacing the battery after the one that was already in it went dead, and there have been no issues with electrical systems inside the car that I know of.

3. Comments?

If I'm doing something wrong or just being an idiot let me know, cuz I couldn't believe it at first either.

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[kovemaster559 5,000+ posts]

IM IMPRESSED! check if your dmm is right on the money

 

[brtnboarder3241 5,000+ posts]

pics or didnt happen

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

as in with like a AA battery? will do right now

 

[bumpin buick 5,000+ posts]

somethign is wrong with your DMM

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

pics or didnt happen

I'll have pics soon as I find the cord to connect my phone to the computer, got em sittin on it ready to go

 

[boomzilla 10+ year member]

maybe the dmm is on the wrong setting?

ac volt instead of dc volt?

 

[dakotap 10+ year member]

Something definitely sounds wrong with dmm

 

[kovemaster559 5,000+ posts]

somethign is wrong with your DMM

i agree ur dmm is f'ed up

 

[ravens9322 10+ year member]

haha I don't believe it

 

[yunvme666 10+ year member]

ive seen gm alts do that a few times, saturns actually..... pumped out 20 somethin volts made the battery smoke , expand and melt the terminals.....yea those are fun .....lol.....

 

[94Mazda626 10+ year member]

maybe the dmm is on the wrong setting?ac volt instead of dc volt?

If that's the problem he would only be reading the ripple voltage, which should be nowhere near 19 Volts. Bad regulator maybe, get it checked out

 

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

It happens when the regulator in the alt goes out.

I think its a dmm problem tho, change the batts in the dmm

 

[bass-aholic 10+ year member]

You know how to use a dmm?

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

haha dam, just checked with a 9 volt battery and it read 10.5, which i'd guess means its over-shooting by a percentage or something, but that still seems like if you account for that overshooting my battery still reads high? I'm not sure but I don't think its truly 16/19 lol, shoulda checked with a standard battery first

Any idea what could have happened to the dmm? cuz I've been usin it for a long time and its never given me strange readouts before, thats just the first time I've metered this particular car battery, time to get a new dmm i guess lol