How to check the Alternator Voltage Output?

[Solorange]

Lucky me I couldn't start my car this morning. I look at my battery and mysteriously I had a hole in the top cover next to the positive terminal. Of coarse the terminal was corroded to hell and back again. Got a new battery and cleaned the terminal as best as I could. I also wanted to confirm that my alternator was good since I did have a good contact across the terminal even with the bad battery. Question is how do I measure the voltage output of my alternator to make sure its charging my battery? I just put the voltmeter on the battery terminal with the car running and it was reading 14.5 volts. Is that the right location because I couldn't find where I should put the voltmeter on the alternator to get an accurate reading.

[TadS]

Anywhere in the system is good. 14.5 when running is good output. With the car off you should see 12.6-12.9.

[TLMNICK]

What you did is correct. The only thing is you should have put a load on the battery.....try it again, only with your headlights on, foglights on, rear defogger on, heat on.

With all those accessories running, if you're still running 13.5 and up....your alternator is all good.

[Solorange]

Cool thanks guys! I had the lights, fogs, and main defrost on.