regulated alternator voltage?

[onetuford]

I used my mutimeter to make sure my alt. was working, and at the battery terminals I got 16 volts. I always thought 14-14.5 was normal. Is this to high? It the regulator junk?

[fordman]

this was while running right? do you have the old style regulator? the large one. or the newer style electronic type smaller case? the larger case one is adjustable i am told.

[1972hiboy]

Well it sounds like the alternator is full fielded, so whether the regulator is stuck,bad connection or the battery is shorted internally and not accepting a charge prompting the regulator to induce a "charge as much as you can" condition. With it running id try maybe tapping the regulator to see if voltage drops. then maybe move onto a battery load test. Id say once youve determined the battery is good through proper diagnosing that you could move onto checking the regulator and wiring connections. Obviosuly the alternator is capable of a high charging voltage....one upon a time I had a bad ground wire from motor to battery and that caused the charging system to go to "full charge" mode.

[onetuford]

Its got a replacement regulator, made by standard. Its big. The battery is probably junk. It seems to hold a charge for a while anyway, but I don't have access to a load tester right now. I tested it running. I want to upgrade to the internal regulated alternator anyway so I'll see if tapping it (regulator) helps. I also cleaned up and tightend all the ground conections already, so that should be good.