charging question

[Wherlwind]

On a recent trip in our HJ61 I noticed the ammeter reading almost 30 volts. I assumed, possibly incorrectly, that the regulator was not working properly. I had no way to test it at the time and had to be home for work the next day. I bought another alternator and put it in. I was happy for a minute but when it revved up I was back to 28 to 30 volts. I drove home( 300 miles) with no problems and when I got home tested the batteries which only tested fair.
My question, could poor batteries have caused the problem in the first place ?
I also did something really stupid when I was about to test the alternator. The AC compressor is very close to the alternator and I didn't disconnect the battery ground. Well, when I disconnected the alternator lead it shorted on the compressor case and I had a wonderful puff of smoke from the high side battery.Turns out I fried one of the leads that goes to the connector labelled glow. I rewired it and it's running fine but I didn't carry on with the test and went and tipped a few pints instead.
Second question, could I have screwed something up doing that?
I was thinking I could also swap the batteries out of our HJ60 for the ones in the 61 and see if that makes a difference.
Sorry for such a long question but I had to get that bit of stupidity off my chest too, Pete

 

[Ron R]

My question, could poor batteries have caused the problem in the first place ?

Don't think so. High voltage should not be caused by bad batteries.

....... I fried one of the leads that goes to the connector labelled glow. I rewired it and it's running fine but I didn't carry on with the test and went and tipped a few pints instead.

Two things you did good here. Rewire and tipping...
With the lead replaced you should be fine.

Second question, could I have screwed something up doing that?
I was thinking I could also swap the batteries out of our HJ60 for the ones in the 61 and see if that makes a difference.
Sorry for such a long question but I had to get that bit of stupidity off my chest too, Pete

I don't think you screwed up on this part. But you still have that high voltage.
Have you checked your on-board voltmeter is correct by using a hand-held and see what it's reading is compared to the onboard one?
If voltage is still high I would check the ground connections thouroughly. Especially from alternator to engine to frame and battery to frame.