Alternator issues?

Howdy fellow Tundra lovers!

I have a 2014 Platinum with 53,xxx miles. My stock battery died almost a year ago, and at that time, I went to the Oddyssey AGM battery. Well, it's been almost a year, and that battery is on it's last leg. Apparently, my alternator is running at 13.5-13.6 volts at idle. The battery shop rep said that it's low, and that he thinks my alternator is dying. What is everyone's at at idle, and is that considered normal?

Thanks in advance, I am hoping I don't need to swap it out, especially bad timing right now as I'm gearing up for the last week of deer season here in CA.

Jerry

 

Also, is there a recommended one that is an improvement over the factory one, if it does need to be replaced?

Jerry

 

Damn, hard to believe that an Odyssey only lasted you a year. Might be the alternator or something is drawing power. I'm not sure what the idle voltage is...maybe in the mid to upper 14. Someone else will chime in. Good luck.

 

Yeah, the only aftermarket electrical items on the truck are Rigid SAE foglights and I have swapped out some bulbs to LEDs. I don't there's any form of parasitic drain on the system.

Jerry

 

Doesn't sound like it to me either. Just read a couple articles online that said Tundras are typically around 13.5 volts, which seems low to me, but then again I've replaced an alternator before and it ended up being the battery. Maybe your Odyssey is faulty.

 

I have read on various threads that "normal" range is between 13.5 and 14.6 volts, but for some reason, 13.5 seems low to me. Strange...

Jerry

 

Most parts stores will test alternators for free. Plus they test for more than voltage.

 

At idle (~600 RPM) 13.5V is perfectly fine. At ~1300 RPM I have seen 14.2V depending on how long the motor has been running. It is also useful to use a battery charger once a month, especially since glass mat batteries require a slightly higher voltage to fully charge.

 

Keep in mind anything higher than 12 means your alternator is working.
Yeah, 13.5 at idle is fine. Yeah, it’s lower than most.
My Tacoma runs 14.2 at idle.

 

13.5 is fine at idle has battery ever gone dead we run Odyssey agms in fleet application over a thousand with telematics so they have a small draw when not running and have found agms do not like going below 10 volts in fact we were told warranty was void if they went below 10 volts I am a agm fan hate leaking lead acid batteries just don’t let your agm sit for long periods without battery maintainer

 

A handy method of extending the life of any battery is to avoid all punctuation.

 

Hmmm 13.82/14.02 at idle load/no load here, but it's higher sometimes.
If he tested the alternator and not the battery he gets the bonehead award.

California is dry as a bone so I doubt water damage to the alternator (recently due to hunting)
You could have a bad battery.
Parasitic draw? Winch etc?

I'm leaning on bad battery with as little info as we have.

 

If I know I'm not going to drive the truck for more than a day or two, I will put the battery tender on it. I travel for work from November to February, so I'm pretty on top of that. The stock battery lasted me four years, the Odyssey AGM lasted a year. I'm leaning towards a bad battery. I check the voltage with the loaner battery, and after driving home in traffic for 30 minutes, it was a 13.7 at idle.

The voltage was tested at the terminals of the battery, with the truck off, and at idle. California as a state is dry, but where we go camping and hunting, there are several springs that feed creeks the whole year. During the spring, there's about a foot of water (on average) I have to drive through, usually spans for 15 feet across. There is nothing that would have a power draw when the truck is off, it's all stock with the exception of 33" tires, rolling bed cover, Rigid fog lights that replaced the stock ones (same harness, no splicing) and a power lock for the bed. I just swapped out the stock 2014 headlights with the 2019 PRO headlights two nights ago using ihacker's harness, but the battery was causing issues before that. No winch, no compressor, nothing.