Branson 4520c voltage rises to 20V!

[richied2003]

I have another meter I’ll try but I’m not attaching it, I take a reading then disconnect. The first reading is in the 14v range then subsequent are higher and higher. I seeyour point and thought that possible too.

 

[richied2003]

Slowpoke slim nailed it! It was my cheap ass meter. I tried my good one and no voltage rise, the cheap one read over 20 the good one read 14.28. As to why it starts out at 14.2.... both did, must be something to do with alternator output wave form not being pure DC and changing with load reducing as battery recharges. The cheap meter gets fooled and the good one doesn’t. What a pain! Thanks for the help!

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Slowpoke slim nailed it! It was my cheap ass meter. I tried my good one and no voltage rise, the cheap one read over 20 the good one read 14.28. As to why it starts out at 14.2.... both did, must be something to do with alternator output wave form not being pure DC and changing with load reducing as battery recharges. The cheap meter gets fooled and the good one doesn’t. What a pain! Thanks for the help!

Believe me, you are NOT the first guy that something like that has happened to. Trust me! The first time it happened to me, it cost me an entire day of "troubleshooting" a problem that didn't exist. I went out the next time I was back to town and bought a pretty decent Fluke meter that was sensitive enough to measure what I was looking at. It happens to most of us, sooner or later.

 

[ericm979]

I once bought a set of valve feeler gauges that were mis marked. I got a lot of practice adjusting the valves on my car before I realized that the problem was the feelers.