Well this goes along with the "taking a long trip soon" idea, just like my "Fuel filter replacement cause fuel pump death?" question. My alternator is charging at 14.30 volts... yeah, that's not much more than 13.8, but is it too much more? At idle with nothing on, it was charging up at about 12 amps... with the headlights on (low beam) and the heater motor on high, it went up to about 30 amps. This was measured with one of those "hold the meter near the wire" meters... I measured the charging voltage with my Fluke.

Should I panic and replace the alternator before this trip of mine? Or will it be alright?

 

That all sounds about normal to me... most alternators are designed to attempt to keep about 14.2 volts on their sense lead... you can spend your worry on other more important things, like tire inflation and coffee-cup holders / thermos and enough new CDs to keep you from getting bored and stuff like that

 

yeah all my cars/truck with gauges read right under 15. i wouldn't worry about it, sounds normal to me.

 

Great! Thanks again, guys! (The fiance isn't going to like my CD collection, though. Any tips for that one? At least she won't argue against the Zeppelin cd's...)

 

I would be concerned when it gets closer to 15 volts...but you are fine to at least 14.5...

The range is 13.8 to 14.3 normally...so you are close...

HTH,