I've been using alternator voltage as a way of determining if the car engine is running on a variety of vehicles, and it's normally fine. If the threshold is set about 13 V, the voltage is almost always above that with the engine running, and below when stopped.
On a couple of 2016 Peugeot 308s, the voltage doesn't seem to stay high all the time with the engine running, so going down below 13 V. So far, I've only noticed this on these two vehicles. On one, the voltage was dropping frequently when the vehicle was going slowly or idling, and on the other the voltage would reduce when moving as well. I don't know if there were different usage patterns between the two vehicles, like having the aircon on or off.
Is this some odd battery / power management thing going on? Has anyone else monitored alternator voltage on cars in everyday use?
On a couple of 2016 Peugeot 308s, the voltage doesn't seem to stay high all the time with the engine running, so going down below 13 V. So far, I've only noticed this on these two vehicles. On one, the voltage was dropping frequently when the vehicle was going slowly or idling, and on the other the voltage would reduce when moving as well. I don't know if there were different usage patterns between the two vehicles, like having the aircon on or off.
Is this some odd battery / power management thing going on? Has anyone else monitored alternator voltage on cars in everyday use?