How Much Voltage Does A Car Put Out?

[imaspaceguy90 10+ year member]

I was talking to guy about amps and how they rate the power at 14v these days, i was talking to a guy that said people rate them at 14v so they can overrate them , but the other guy said a regualer alternators should put out 14v constant power .... so my question is, since i have a lincoln town car 95' , will it push 14v out ofthe alternator or is that only rare that it ever puts out that much?

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[Strecker25 10+ year member]

the voltage should stay up around 13.8-14.4 but once you put a load on the voltage output will drop..how much depends on how demanding your system is. Another factor is the amps an alternator is putting out and that depends on rpm but im not sure the true differences of volts and amps and which purpose each serves theres plenty of people around here that can help you though.

 

[imaspaceguy90 10+ year member]

bump

 

[Acidburn 5,000+ posts]

turn your car on

grab a DMM

set it to DC volts

place the leads on the positive and negative terminals of your battery

read the screen

 

[xSomeguyx 10+ year member]

Depends on the car. A friend's car will idle at about 13.9v, and mine is at 14.6v (no load). Get yourself a voltmeter and see for yourself, it will give you a better understanding of your vehicle //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif