i got the car running again finally and now when i turn on my lights the revs drop a bit.
heres a video of my car. whats wrong with it now?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5vRyxMy_UU

 

1.) Why the hell is the camera at an angle?

2.) You are only dropping 100 to 200 RPMs; this is not a big deal.

3.) Your car is idling too high anyways; it should be closer to 600~700 or so, check a repair manual.

The drop in RPMs is directly related to the load on the engine; the more demand you have from your alternator the more voltage/amps it is required to putout thus demanding more of our engine RPMs to turn it.

 

cameras at an angle because my phone is a pos.
and it idles higher when its cold.
should i replace the alt?

 

It is hard to say. I would take it off and have it tested before I replace it. A half *** way to test it without putting it under a true load like they will if you took it into an auto parts store is to use a multi-meter. Check the voltage and amps with the lights on and off. The only thing is to have the proper alternator speed to do this you need to keep it around 2,000 RPMs. It is much easier to just take it off and take it in. It is very easy it should literally take you 5~10 minutes to take off an alternator start to finish.

 

I would say don't worry about it. Unless your battery light comes on it is highly unlikely your alternator is pooched.

Every car's revs drop when a load is created on the electrical system it's no big deal at all.

 

The battery light comes on when there is a no charge situation (the alternator has failed), not when the alternator is if beginning to fail. I am not going to explain rectifiers, brushes, coils, ect., ect...

 

my rex did the same thing and it never affected anything so i wouldnt worry too much

 

its just an alt load dont pay it any mined until you start lossing power then its a problem

 

easy way to test the alternator is start the car up and disconnect a battery terminal. should still run if it is good