I hooked a trans temp guage to my 06 STX a while back and intalled it in a guage pod with two holes. I finally got tired of looking at the empty hole so i bought and intalled a volt guage. The problem is the volt guage says the truck is runing at 14.4 volts...Shouldn't it be 12?! I hooked it to the switch power on my headunit.

 

14.4v while running is normal, it should be at 12v when the truck is off.

 

Oh, thanks 05supercrew

 

it shuold be running at 14.4 and rest at 12.4-12.7 usually, mine sits at 14.6 usually and about 12.6 at rest

 

No problem

 

A little further explanation for you: The truck reads 14.4V after you start it up because the alternator is sending a charge to the battery to replace what was lost during startup/low rpm operation (idling). When the truck is off, the alternator isn't giving it the charge, so the battery should be at or above 12V. If you see the battery go below 12V, you either need to charge the battery or you may have a bad battery/alternator. It isn't uncommon to see the voltage go down closer to 12V while driving a long distance because once the battery is recharged, the alternator will reduce output to keep from overcharging the battery.

 

Dang! That's why my output drops throughout the day as I'm driving. At startup my CTS shows 14.5 - 14.8V for the alternator output. By the end of the day my output is showing between 13.8 and 14.0V. Great explanation. It's been bugging the heck out of me why voltage was dropping despite knowing that everything was working properly.
Thanks!