Voltage Question

[Grambo246]

I had to replace a wire to the cigarette lighter in my car and now im running 14.4 volts. Is this going to do damage?

[kpatz]

No, this is a normal voltage when the engine is running. With the engine off, you should see roughly 12 volts.

[compu44]

Not a problem at all. I show 14.3-14.4 while running, 12.5-ish when off.

[AirMoore]

Average car:

13.8-14.2 (Car on) +/- .2 Volts
12.4-12.6 (Car off) +/- .2 Volts


Average truck:

14.0-14.4 (Truck on) +/- .2 Volts
12.6-12.8 (Truck off) +/- .2 Volts



(This is just normally, generally trucks (especially heavy duty) run at a little higher voltage level then you average car.)

-Also just because your car is on this DOES NOT mean your alternator is putting out anywhere near 'average/max' output. You have to raise the RPMS up a few hundred (some cars even up to 800-1,000 RPM) for the alternator to be at 'full' capacity. It actually SHOULD be the way I described, your idle alternator output should be lower then your 'driving RPM' alt. output.-

[Kremithefrog]

My cars are usually around 14.3v

[below_the_radar]

I had to replace a wire to the cigarette lighter in my car and now im running 14.4 volts. Is this going to do damage?

No worries, Escort's own X50 manual says that it's good to 16.5 Volts before they consider it to be above voltage and display an over voltage condition. (if set to "V" mode to monitor the voltage) If you are looking at their manual under the specifications section where it says "12 VDC Negative ground", there are no lead acid car batteries that are actually 12 VDC. They all are a nominal 13.8 VDC, and need to be charged slightly above that, so the 14.4 VDC you are seeing indicates a healthy electrical system.