battery or alternator failing?

[diymirage]

thanks for all the help guys

i have had the battery on my charger on "slow" (2 amp setting) over night and when i measured it this morning it read 11.7 instead of the 12.0 i started with

i bumped the charger up to 6 amp, to see what that does...but this sounds like it might point to the battery, no?

Old school trick here when it is running disconnect the ground wire from the battery if it dies the charging circuit is bad if it stays running its the battery.

i will try this trick later

if i got to pull the battery anyway to have it load tested (thanks @pauly ) i might as well do it in this order

then ill grab the battery from the duster and toss that in there

 

[diymirage]

couple of updated
after a few hours on the quick charger the battery now reads 12.4

with the battery in and the engine running im getting 13.4 at idle, 13.7 just over idle and about the same on the analog gauge in the dash

i pulled the battery and the truck kept running just fine
the radio did not work (bunch of feedback, like it wanted to but not enough juice to run it?)

i flipped on by LED back up spots, and they came on
flipped them off and flipped on the LED bar on the top, and it came on
flipped that of and flipped on the incandescent plow lights and the truck died

i also noticed some blue junk on the battery, needs at least a good cleaning...or is it shot?

How old is the battery?

06/15
2 1/2 years, should be good?

I suspect you had your meter connection in the amp test socket, and thats why the wires melted.
Ohms and volts on one socket, amps on the other.[/QUOTE

i had the red one on the top, black one on the bottom

 

[roccodart440]

Clean and grease though terminals, pronto

 

[diymirage]

Clean and grease though terminals, pronto

yes sir, i actually intend to replace the clamps as well, while i have it out

 

[RustyRatRod]

Get yourself a hand held carbon pile tester. You ARE in the hobby, after all, right? O'Reilly sells a nice one for a tick under 50 bucks. It's real nice. I love how it has an analog needle so you can see how far and how fast it falls. That's the real tell tale.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Just load tested a battery today,with my carbon pile load teater. There is nothing better.
Im suspicious of the battery.
Subjecting alternator to loads with battery disconnected is a recipe for disaster. I wouldnt do it. But it does prove alternator it outputting.

 

[diymirage]

i had the battery tested at my local vato zone, and it failed
so ill drop a new one in tomorrow

and then ill have to decide if getting a higher output alternator might be a good idea, or perhaps a second battery?

 

[67Dart273]

Old school trick here when it is running disconnect the ground wire from the battery if it dies the charging circuit is bad if it stays running its the battery.

Please do not EVER do this. It is hard on the system (spikes) and it proves nothing

1....If the engine is running slowly enough that it happens to not be keeping up with the load, but is otherwise actually working OK, the engine might die and you would wrongly conclude "it's bad."

2....If the alternator is partially working..........such as some bad diodes, at reduced capacity, and when you unhook the battery it CAN keep up, you will wrongly conclude "it's working"