Voltage drops when idling

[wreedps]

Yep it is confirmed as I read in another article. When I turn either the headlamps or wipers on, the alternator goes into 'charge mode' and the needle jumps to 14v. Click them off and it drops back down to 'economy mode'

Guess my 05 is smarter than I thought! Learn something new everyday!

 

[ccapehartusarmyINF.(ret)]

okay for awhile what i thought was normal i guess wasnt
finally my voltage dropped to 12 volts and after driving for a bit almost to 11 volts
now as soon as i got home popped the hook and found the bolt for the power wire in the orange box was a hair loose and my ground by the front bumper was also a tad loose so i went throug all my connections and re solderd tightened etc and
immediatly when i started it up it was back at 14.4 volts and hardly budged with the AC on so normal operating range should be between 14.1 14.4 if its dipping below that even for brief periods of time
so before you go replacing batterys and alternators check all yer cables for high resistance if any show any resistance then its loose or corroded and a loose terminal wire what ever causes high resitance and resistance causes voltage drop (voltage pushes current and resistance is like a 2 4 lane highways connected by a short 1 lane bridge )
high resitance can also cause stuff like this to happen
the nut inside the orange box came loose causing this wire to get really hot enough to melt the sheath