Jimmy Brooks
Full Access Member
Was up in Santa Clarita with my buddy that owns a 4Runner TRD Pro doing a little night time off roading. We were out there for around 5 hours and since it was night I had my high beams, fog lights (you can make it so you can turn both on at the same time via IID tool) and my big light bar all on. When I finished the trail and got to a fire road I noticed that my voltage was hanging around 11.7-12V. I immediately turned my high beams and light bar off but it didn’t change much, still was hanging around 12 and my batterys estimated state of charge was hanging along 75% and dropping a percent every 5 minutes. Yet no battery light poped on the dash and when I turned off the car and turned on accessory mode the battery voltage was the exact same as it was with the car running. Me realizing that my alternator may have completely failed and I may only have so much time till my battery dies and leaves me stranded, I picked up the pace and was able to get the voltage up to 12.5 on the drive to my friends house around, 15-20 miles of driving. When I got to my friends house and turned the car off and turned it on again 5 minutes later the car was reading 13-13.2 volts and when I tuned it on the next morning it was reading 13.5-13.7 (normal) and stayed the same on a 30 mile drive back to my house and the battery charged to around 95%. So now I’m confused as to why it seems to be just fine now? I smacked my skid plate pretty hard against a rock on the trail, could it have freaked out my electrical system? Also I do have a 400w sub in the back, am I asking for too much power from the alternator and should I consider a dual battery set up? Let me know what your guys thoughts are on this.
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