1994 Buick Regal

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kelshawmic - 28 Jun 2006 16:21 GMT

I recently have been noticing that my battery gauge has been going down
drastically to about 9-10 with everything on (turn signals, radio,
headlights, etc.). But when everything is off- the voltage goes back to
13.

So I got a new alternator and had the battery charged up for about 10
minutes. Finally, with everything on, it stayed at 14. Excellent right?

Well the next day on a cold start, the voltage went up to 14, perfect.
But then when driving I was testing if it still something wrong, so I
put everything back on and the voltage again went back to 9-10.

I went back to Sears because that is where I got the battery from 3
years ago. They tested everything (new alternator, battery,
connections). And everything came out fine. These were the readings;

CRANKING VOLTS=11.06
LOAD VOLTS= 13.97
NO LOAD VOLTS= 14.04
CCA=625

So on my way home from Sears I kept everything on and it stayed at
13-14. Perfecto.

So are these reading fine? Or do you think there is something wrong
with the gauge?? Help!

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Pop - 28 Jun 2006 18:05 GMT

> I recently have been noticing that my battery gauge has
> been going down drastically to about 9-10 with everything
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
> So are these reading fine? Or do you think there is
> something wrong with the gauge?? Help!

I'm betting on the "gauge"; I assume it's an inpanel gauge,
meaning it's not a very good one to start with?
It's a pretty sure bet if the "bad" readings go along with
outside temps or underhood temps, depending on where it's wired
in. Temperature can have quit an impact on readings unless
it's properly temperature compensated by design. OEM gauges in
particular are pretty cheap things, regardless of what we paid
for them at purchase time.

If it's been there since '94, it's also a pretty good bet that
the internal components of the gauge have drifted considerably
over the years. It could even be a wear issue inside the gauge -
bearings, etc., making the needle if htere is one, "stick". If
it's an LED readout, it won't be a hardware problem, but the
instability of components still makes is supect. From your
numbers, it sounds like an LED readout.

You would wire up a $12 RS voltmeter into the driver compartment
and see what it does at various times. I'm betting it will be a
lot more accurate than the inpanel gauge, depending on where it's
connected, which, by the way, -could- read voltages other than
what you think you're looking at. Not all of them are
necessarily across the battery and so can fluctuate with
equipment usage.

HTH
Pop

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=AB Paul =BB - 29 Jun 2006 00:54 GMT

> I recently have been noticing that my battery gauge has been going down
> drastically to about 9-10 with everything on (turn signals, radio,
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
> So are these reading fine? Or do you think there is something wrong
> with the gauge?? Help!

Sounds like a dirty connection somewhere that was increasing resistance when under
load (and probably getting quite hot).
Its possible that the connection has now welded itself together.

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