p1bigun

probably a loose battery connection when not making a good connection putting a heavy load on alternator causing belt slip and you may end up replacing the alternator

Evil_F

Alt. is ether on or off, load makes no difference.

302f150

..............wrong.......the more amps your alternator is putting out, the more load, and it gets reeeeeeeeaaaaallllllyy hard to hold. we had a machine at my high school to spin alternators, and you can load it, and the tensioner is you..... as soon as you load it, the belt slips so u have to pull harder and harder. p1bigun hit it on the head. A loose connection will make the alternator draw more amps inversely related to the amount of voltage. If you have a bad connection, it will pull many time the amps, loading it waaaaaay down, and causing thr belt to slip. For example, at half the voltage, the alternator would pull twice the amperage. Clean your terminals, maybe even redo the cable ends, then check the connection to your alternator(the biggest cable goin to it). and it wont happen again.

Evil_F

That is total garbage. Not a word of truth to what you just said. The alt produces a certain amount of volts & amps @ wut ever RPM. How much your car is using makes no difference to the alt.

302f150

..once again, wrong. you ever heard of a voltage regulator??? what on earth does it do i wonder....... it supplies a certain amount of voltage, and the alternator amplifies that, i bet you thought alternators just make voltage on their own. go read a few tech articles friend.

Evil_F

[sm=shutup.gif][sm=icon_rtfm.gif]

302f150

lol, no you read the manual my friend. http://www.alternatorparts.com/under...lternators.htmlook about halfway down where it says regulators

Evil_F

That has no relevance to the load produced by the alternator. Plus, what about one wire, internally regulated ones? But, I know that is all off. Because no matter what a batteries charge is. If you hook up a multimeter to your alt. It will always give the same out put reading at that certain RPM. The so called regulator in alternators are just switches. To turn on and off.

Fox

I agree that you may have a loose battery cable/terminal. An alternator produces voltage, the regulator keeps that voltage constant at approx. 13-14volts. The current changes with the amount of load. Example=Radio, air conditioner electric widows etc. When the load increases, the current (Amps) increases and voltage stays the same. With this in mind, the serpentine belt is driving the alternator. The more load,(amps required from alt.),the harder it is to turn the alternator, therefore if the belt tension is loose it will slip. Also if you are able to move the cable on the post, you are difinately changing the load at the alternator. Check belt tension/wear, and clean and tighten battery connections

302f150

............waht about them? they still regulate it....listen to fox and me, i promise you that more amperage makes the alternator harder to turn. if you dont believe me, turn your car on, full field the alternator, and watch the belt squeal.