volt guage

ok so this isnt so much hodna related as it is universal. ive installed my autometer volt guage and well when its cold out it reads jsut udner 14. but when it warms up (the car that is) and when i drive it immediatly drops ot jsut above 12 volts. then kidna bobbles between 12 and 14. is my guage fried or is this truly what electrical systems do.

Its just fluxuation in the alternator.

so should i be worried about this. or its it all good.

no worries.

It just means your car is about to explode, if your into that sort of thing..

It's fine... doing what it's supposed to do. You bought the gauge to monitor the volts your car is running right?

thats true i suppose. just not really used to it all yet.

Your alternator puts out upto 14.4v, the extra voltage, is to help charge the battery, while still keeping your car's accessories powered... In other words its normal...

http://www.mmxpress.com/technical/electsys.htm

if you are just steady gas, no major power drains and your volts are jumping, i would say thats a problem.

if you talking about everyday drving, like hitting the brakes using your turn signal then yes the volts jump

I had a volt guage stock on my 944 and the only time it jumped was when my 12s pounded. But that was a 944 with a bigger engine and alternator. Civickiller is right. Does it bounce around all the time or just using stereo and hard braking, etc.?

On a car that old it is somewhat normal. The alternator will go out at some point, but thats a very braud warning. It could also have to do with an old battery- but normally that would go up very slowly then plung rather quickly repeatedly. At this point its nothing to worry about, when it starts jumping between 10-12v is when your going to start having charging problems.

trust me i think its my battery. its been threw hell i.e. few other alternators and some really high charging like 16 volts or so. but im gonna upgrade to a optima yellow top.