Volt meter reads 11 volts

[BlueBDA]

Driving to work this morning I noticed that my volt meter reads 11 volts. I bought a new battery a few months ago. Is this normal? Should I be concerned, and start investigating further?.

[waltermitty]

Not normal. It could be faulty gauge, battery or alternator.

[SCse7en]

How many volts show across the battery when you check it with a hand held voltmeter when the car is running?

If only 11 volts, it is not charging and may be a bad alternator, or a possible loose or cut wire. Or a loose or corroded battery ground wire(s)

[BlueBDA]

Thanks for the input guys. Will check later in the week.

[Nick OTeen]

Remember that in a car with a generator or alternator the battery is only involved when starting the car. Once the engine is running the generator or alternator (if working properly) provides all the electrical current the car needs (and also recharges the battery for that next start). So, as mentioned in post #3 the low voltage reading you're seeing tells you something else is amiss as it is not an indication of a bad battery.

[BlueBDA]

I checked with my hand held volt meter tonight. It correlates with the volt meter in the car, but reads consistently about 1 volt lower.

 

At idle, the VM in the car reads around 11V. When I rev to 3k or so it moves up to around 13V. Hand held meter on the battery reads around 10 at idle and 12 when revving. Battery is a lawn tractor battery, new this year. Turning on the headlights drops the voltage by about 1/2V.

 

Do these numbers seem reasonable, or low? If low, what's my next step?

[waltermitty]

How hard is the alternator to get off? If you can take it to some place like Autozone they can check the output for free.

[yellowss7]

I seem to recall that i have a pulley that effectively slows down the spin rate on my Alternator to allow for the higher rev range when on track. I think it doesn't begin to charge at less than 3000 rpm.

 

Maybe something similar in your case?