I have my gm alt wired up on the zuk. Fired it up, and put a meter on the battery, and was astonished to see 16.5 volts.

Im using an old junk battery that wont take hold a charge, and without the vehicle running, or a charger on it, only has 8.5 volts showing on the meter. Am I safe to assume that the gm alt is running wide open because its seeing the battery as dead, and trying to charge it quickly?

I dont want to install my new good battery until I know the answer to this alt. question.

My jack stand queen is about to come down.

Jim

At idle mine runs 12.5-13 volts. From 1500 and up it runs 14.5. Is the alt. new or used. You may want to see if the regulator has taken a vacation. Have it tested.

my $.02

I found out the same thing the hard way. I fried my battery in no time after installing my Delco (16.8 volts). I know one of the guys at the local AutoZone and we used their machine to test various alternators voltage. I found one that was 63 amps and ran at 15volts. Then I bought an Optima battery because they have low resistance and can handle up to 15volts.:usa:

If you are running a 10si delco (the little one ~63 amps) the diodes go and they put out too many volts.

2 of them have bit the big one on my truck.

$32 at napa with a 3 year warantee though. battery was waranteed too but I carry a spare alternator too now.

Ron

It is a used alt. but I had it tested at Oreilly's on their machine before I installed it, and on their machine it put out 14 volts.

I guess I can install my new battery and put a meter on it, and see what it does.

I also talked with an old altanater guy, and he told me that with me wiring thru the zuk guage, that the guage can cause the alt. to charge the battery like that. Anyone ever hear of that? I have read alot in the search section, and alot of these alts on the zuks seem to over charge.

Jim

Yep, I found that out also. Both alts. put out .3 more volts when installed in my Zuk, than when they were on the test machine.

my alternator is on deaths door and was thinking about installing one of the gm alternators. My question is, i found one that puts out 135 amps, will that be to much power.

I guess it all depends on how big and how bad your stereo is. Also, how many lights and how large are these lights.

Are you planning on an On Board Welder, Air Compressor and other cool items?

135 Amps Hmmmmmmm....................

i don't plan on taking out the back seat and fill it full of 1000 rms 15 inch subs, but i'm going to put enough in there to rattle your head -my cars have always ran better with the stereo on, covers up all the ungood noises-. i plan on running 4 lights up front, two in the back and small ones in each fender well. the reason why i said 135 amps is cause i found where i can get them pretty cheap. whats the best way to do this change over, i need to do it soon, my alternator sounds horrible.