Installing a voltmeter. Hooked up to the radio harness accessory

Dude 14 or so volts is normal, that's the alternator giving out that voltage to charge the battery. Almost any car will show 14+ Volts while running if the battery is good.

>>15798671

Either the meter isn't accurate or your getting voltage sag due to thin wire or a bad ground.

>>15798702
Thats when i tested the batt and alternator showing 14s

But showing a full volt less on the installed gauge in the car.

>>15798702
Try reading that again

>>15798716
This. Check the voltage across the meter, that will tell you if it's the meter or your wires

>>15798762
I checked the voltage across the terminals on the meter and it showed the same as the meter.

>>15798716
also its 16 gauge wire. And the ground Im using is from the radio harness.

>>15798671
hook it to the alternator signal wire.

>>15798671
There is a voltage drop that happens from the battery terminal to the wire you connected the voltmeter to.

Could you post the actual distance from voltmeter to battery. Or estimate.

>>15798671
12.5 is all youre going to get from a battery while off.

while running, ideal is 14.4 but thats not always going to occur.

>>15798671
>Hooked up to the radio harness accessory wire and ground.

Don't wire it in parallel with another impedance. Go as direct as possible to the battery, otherwise you won't get an accurate reading.

>>15798671
>The voltmeter shows about 13.2v while running but the battery is giving off 14.4v while running

The battery is not giving off 14.4 volts but is being charged with a range of 13.3 to 14.4 volts from the voltage regulator attached to the alternator. When off, the battery will have a normal voltage of 12.6 volts and if freshly charged the voltage will be a bit higher.

You still have to determine the purpose of your voltmeter. From your uncertainty, it seems you don't know what you actually want to measure. Is it the voltage at the battery? If you run a separate wire to the battery, please fuse it as close to the battery as you can. A voltmeter has high impedance, so even a small wire is good because you are drawing negligible current and the resistance of the wire is a very tiny fraction of the voltmeter's input impedance. So there is basically no voltage loss due to the wire.

The other thing you could decide to measure is the voltage sag at the head unit / amplifier. You might even see the voltage drop for large bass notes. That's why some people install big capacitors to even out the temporary sags.