Voltage, possible gauge problem? (1 Viewer)

[Ed Camenzind]

I’m dealing with the extremely cold temps in the Midwest lately and I think my voltage dial is sticking due to cold. I think our low was -11 yesterday. Has anyone had this issue? The vehicle starts fine but the dial stays below zero. Then after I drive and warm up the cab, the needle eventually ends up at the 14ish volt area. I’m getting 14.74v at the battery even when the gauge is reading 0.

I turned on the headlights, high beams, heater, rear defrost, and radio to create a load. At initial idle (roughly 900rpms) I got 13.56v under load. However once it warmed and dropped to idle at 650 rpms I was only getting 12.56v under load.

Also the dash clock goes blank in the cold and the clock’s alarm randomly goes off.

I’m thinking the alternator is probably ok and the gauge is just old and sticky. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Ed

 

[REKCUT]

Best to use something other than dash gauges. If your 95-97 use the OBD port to get better reading

 

[Ed Camenzind]

Best to use something other than dash gauges. If your 95-97 use the OBD port to get better reading

It’s a ‘94. I’m just testing with a multimeter at the battery.

 

[chap79]

Did you check the battery while it was turned off? If the clock is resetting and the alarm is triggering the battery is probably dropping below 11.5v while sitting. It's been cold and batteries don't like extreme temperatures.

 

[Ed Camenzind]

Did you check the battery while it was turned off? If the clock is resetting and the alarm is triggering the battery is probably dropping below 11.5v while sitting. It's been cold and batteries don't like extreme temperatures.

I did. It was sitting at 12.34v