What should my voltometer read?

[Hotrodjosh]

Im a new owner of my first bobbed duece on 53's. I noticed yesterday that my voltometer is always in the yellow, not in the green... And when i am running the lights, it is rigt on the line between yellow and red. I feel like it should always be in the green...... But i have little experience with these trucks. I havent checked the out put yet, but just wanted to know about the gauge. HELP??

 

[armytruck63]

It should read in the green zone with the engine running and some of the voltmeters have a little tick mark. The tick mark is right around 27.2 volts.

Sounds like you're not charging at all. Does your truck have an alternator or the older generator and voltage regulator set up? The generator won't charge at idle. It cuts in at around 1000 to 1200 RPM. Both set ups are adjustable, but I think you might have another problem.

Welcome to the site!

 

[wb1895]

In the green section of the gauge there is a small white "tick" mark. Ideally the needle should be sitting on that. If I were you I would check the voltage at the battery and then at the generator. If your generator is not putting out that much voltage, then you need to look for a hex head nut on the top of the generator. You need to remove this hex nut and look for a flat head screw. Turn the screw either left or right and adjust your voltage accordingly.

 

[Hotrodjosh]

Sounds good! Thank u. I go home in a week, so i guess ill look at it then. Didnt look right to me, but it seemed to be running fine.....but maybe just off the batteries. Before i left, i unhooked all the battery connections and cleaned all of them, but it didnt make a difference.

 

[Barrman]

Put a volt meter across both batteries with the truck off. It should be above 24.4 volts. Start the truck and it should be 28.8. If you have that, then you have a bad gauge.

If you don't, it is time to start checking the alternator first and then the rest of the wiring. Look in the -20 manual and it walks you through what to check, how to check it and what to do with the results.

 

[Stalwart]

I agree you need to use an actual digital meter, 27.4-28.2 is optimum. Old gages in the dash are only reliable to see a trend, not to give accurate results.