Electrical Problems or Gauge Problems????

[SunsetOrange98Camaro]

I was making a 3-hr. trip tonight and about 2hrs into the trip my "Check Gauges" light comes on and I see that my battery gauge is reading low, like 9 or 10 volts. Well thankfully my car got me home and I began doing some tests to see whats wrong. The battery seems to be holding its charge cuz I went to put it on the battery charger and its reading a full 12 volts. The car cranked up fine after I had already turned it off as well. So the alternator seems to be charging the battery up fine. I turned it off and turned it on again and let it run, no problems. I turned on pretty much everything in the car to see how it reacted with the load and the battery gauge dropped slightly but picked back up to 9 or 10 volts after one second. Im beginning to think its a strange gauge problem. Im gonna check any fuses tomorrow to see if thats the problem. Anyone have any suggestions. Im gonna get the alternator tested tomorrow just in case.
*NOTE* A couple of days ago my car went to a Chevy dealership b/c the car was skipping. They hooked it up to their computer and ran some tests and found out it was a single spark plug wire that had went bad or fried. Today was my first time driving it since then. But it went for 2hrs of straight driving w/ no problems.

[95slowcar]

I bet it's an alternator problem. But it could be the gauge itself. I just put a new voltmeter gauge in my car and its readings are quite different from the factory gauge.

[SunsetOrange98Camaro]

Thanks alot 95slowcar!! I had the alternator tested and sure enough it was only putting out 30 amps. I was actually hoping it was something simple like the alternator and not something more serious like wiring or gauge problems. Thanks again!!

[95slowcar]

No problem man, glad it worked out for ya. [img]graemlins/rofl.gif[/img]

[camaro_speedemon]

A good troubleshooting rule: If it's a voltage problem when the car's running, check the alternator, if it's a voltage problem when the car's off, check the battery. Not always 100% right, but a good place to start.