Voltage Drops - Is my Alternator Dying?

[Zermelo 10+ year member]

Ok, I'm driving a 2003 Accord with a stock electrical system. I am running around 1500 rms watts of power but I don't play my system that loud. Lately I've been experiencing voltage drops.

I noticed it when my head unit (AVIC-N3) sound started cutting in and out and sometimes turning off completely. I thought it might be a bad power or ground connection with the head unit, but I was watching the voltage readout on the AVIC and saw that it would fluctuate between 9-13.8 volts. Normally when the engine is on it would read a consistent 13.8 volts.

I still thought it may be a bad connection with my head unit but before I took apart my dash and started looking for bad connections I hooked up my multi-meter directly to the battery and also watched the voltage displayed on the AVIC and noticed that the drops were consistent from the battery and the head unit.

Evidently there are periodic voltage drops from the alternator. This is not consistent with use of the amp either, I turned off my subwoofer and the voltage drops still occurred.

Since the battery is the most direct connection to the alternator I am pretty sure the alternator is dropping voltage at random times. There doesn't seem to be any correlation with the drops.

Do alternators die like this? meaning inconsistent charging? or could this be a bad connection between the alternator and the battery, although I looked at the connection and it looks solid. I will check the alternator directly, but at this point I wanted opinions if it could be the alternator dying and if I should invest in a HO alternator.

Thanks

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[fbi90909 5,000+ posts]

replace battery. if your seeing 13.8v then the alt is doing it's job when supposed to. hondas have ECU's that regulate when the alt shoukld be on or not.

just take it to a advanced auto or similar and have them check the bat and alt for you..

 

[MitchZ 10+ year member]

It is your battery dying.

Get a yellow top for under the hood.

50-100$ more and you will be able to rip that system all day.

 

[SPL Blazer 10+ year member]

It is your battery dying.Get a yellow top for under the hood.

50-100$ more and you will be able to rip that system all day.

X2, and do the Big 3 upgrade while your at it.