Voltage Drop

[swimmer27]

Hi all,
Whilst I had the engine running after replacing the cooling fan I noticed the volt gauge was reading under 12 volts even with the rpm raised it stayed below 12 volts, all electriacal switches were off including the radio.
I tested the output from the rear of the alternator and this was giving 13.4-13.6 volts but when I tested the voltage accross the battery terminals it was just reading 12 volts.

The battery is 1 month old and a decent quality.

What I did notice was the live fat cable that connects to the alternator is in poor condition, the exposed wires where the conector ring is fitted has a lot of corrosion.
I have ordered a new cable and also a new earth so my question is will it be ok to leave the old live and earth cable connected and just add the new ones along side or would it be best to disconnect the old and only use the new?
This still may not sort the low reading of course.

[phillpot]

swimmer27 said:

so my question is will it be ok to leave the old live and earth cable connected and just add the new ones along side or would it be best to disconnect the old and only use the new?

Definitely get all the old stuff out of the way (imho), start a-fresh with new cables and all terminals nicely cleaned up, new nuts 'n washers etc.

[swimmer27]

As you say it's the right way to sort it but having my lower back issues I was just thinking about adding the new cables along side the originals to save too much time bending over! perhaps I could do this as a temp job then come the winter again take my time and sort it properly.

[Donnysoutherner]

Would be best to just have the new but should work fine with both. Like water, electrics will just take the path of least resistance and use the new wires in any case.