At 11:37 PM 3/13/2011, Scott Daniel  - Turbovans wrote:
>when there is 13.8 volts of charging ooomph at the alternator main
>terminal ...
>
>and only 13.4 at the (  new  ) battery .

What's the charging current?  And before you trust your little
stick-on-the-wire gizmo, see what it reads with the engine
stopped.  Then go pay the $60 for a Sears 82369.  They invented DC
clamp-on ammeters while I wasn't looking, and this one comes with a
thermocouple and Volt/ohm/continuity/cap meter built in.  That shroud
around the charging wire means you have to get way too close to the
alternator's iron core for the little magnet thingy to be happy.

But anyway...start by getting out your voltmeter and finding out
where that 400 millivolts is getting lost at.  Also, if the lights
and blower and rear blower and defogger and wipers and megawatt
stereo and all that stuff are on, what's the voltage drop then?  That
goes back to what's the charging current...

Yrs,
d