Scott,
Here is what your baseline battery and charging system parameters should be.
A fully charged battery is 12.65V and this drops to 11.9V for a dead
battery. After you turn off the engine, your battery should read fully
charged. The normal voltage regulation range is 14.4-14.8V; that's with the
engine running after a few seconds, depending on the battery's state of
charge and your system's current charging capacity (40A, 50A, 65A?).
I once had a problem caused by a bad connection at the terminals of my
ammeter, which kept the alternator from delivering the required current to
recharge the battery. There can be any number of other problems that would
cause your symptoms. But first, verify whether or not the above baseline
numbers correspond to your system. Get an accurate digital voltmeter to do
the measurements and let us know the results. Then we can proceed with
evaluating the problem.
Here's a Website with some good info on batteries:
http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/carfaq.htm
Bob
|