When stopped at a light or stop sign and the rear defrost in on, the drop goes halfway down from 14.

Using the turn signals causes the arrow on the battery gauge to wiggle back and forth the whole time the signal is on. And now, using the rear windows causes a drop.

Weird or possessed?

 

your alternator might be getting old. but you should clean the wires that comes to the battery and also the on that attached to the alt. before you clean the wire that is attached to alternator, disconnect the neg cable. I have a similar problem when i turn on my turn signals it waves. I am not really sure what could be causing that maybe somewhere in the cable that goes to the turn signal, there is a cut. defrost takes a lot of power, when i turn on mine in my blazer or my 07 focus or my girlfriend's 09 escape the lights dim a little when the cars are at a stop. let us know if you find out what is wrong with it.

 

Explain how this is dangerous if you will?

 

I'm guessing because of the arc that you could create by removing the cables, combined with the fact that lead acid batteries create an explosive vapor while being charged is a recipe for disaster...... Although I've never seen one actually explode there is a small possibility of it happening.

I'm just assuming this is what he's speaking of.

 

This is a test I have done since before I even started driving. Never had any problems nor have I heard it was unsafe. Thats why I asked.

 

I haven't ever had any problems either. Nor have I heard of any....however it IS a thought to keep in the back of your head. Also the voltage spike created by d/c or reconnecting the battery could damage the computer, however it's more likely to blow a fuse before computer damage occurs.....

 

Yeah thats true, I guess thats why I was taught to shut the car off before re-connecting. I've been messing around with my battery a lot. I seem to have a drain somewhere.

 

That's why i said it was dangerous. Instead of risking that just use a multimter to check the voltage.

 

Oh ok, Thats all new to me.. If a battery could blow up and you've got a voltmeter there, just use the voltmeter right?
I learned something new

 

I'm gonna offer some facts here.

1. If your alternator is good and solid working order, disconnecting the battery cable while running wont hurt anything.
- If, HOWEVER, there's something flaky in the alt's voltage regulator.. you COULD see 100 + volt spike coming out when you disconnect the cable. Of course the chances of that are less than 1 in 100 that will happen and fry all electronics.
- If one of the diodes in the rectifier assy is partially shorted, you COULD see as much as 3 volts negative spike on alt terminal. Which usually doesnt hurt anything.
Your call.

2. Which is about the same as the battery exploding.. it hardly ever happens.

Of course everything IS working right almost all the time.. Oh, wait.. what's this thread about?

And a half charged or even a dead battery will NOT destroy a good alternator PERIOD. Unless ..AGAIN... The voltage regulator is flaky.

But then it would not be a good alternator would it.. straight off the shelf or not.

Guess how most remanufacturers test the voltage regs for over-current shutdown? They dont. Load testing is NOT the same thing.