So my xj is coming along nicely. Mild rebuild on the top end, now I'm fixing dents so I can put some new ones in it. Anyhow I've been through 3 alternators due to water xing. When my jeep is idling my gauge in the dash says like 12 volts but my multimeter on the battery says 14.5... anyone else have this? Any thoughts? I cleaned ALL the connectors and electronics under the hood.

 

Depending on where the dash gauge gets it's readings from, maybe rewiring it directly to the battery, or beefing up the power wire from the positive terminal going to the under hood fuse/relay box might help with accuracy. Speaking of which, one of the best electrical upgrades in my opinion is whats commonly called the "big three" upgrading your power and ground wires to your battery, I have 0 gauge going from my alt to battery +, frame to battery -, and engine block to battery-. I also beefed up the underhood fuse/relay box wire to 4 gauge, didn't feel 0 gauge was required as it was less than a foot in length. The only other electrical upgrade that matches this in my opinion, is the upgraded headlight relay harness.

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Ooooh I like the way you think! I will have to start doing this. I'm going to have to run a rest in the cab. The thing is it fluctuates on the gauge but not on my meter. My windows operate slow and I'm thinking I need more juice.

 

I didn't trust my in-dash voltmeter, so I installed this. http://www.jcwhitney.com/led-digital...wx?filterid=j1

I picked up my connections from the fuse box under the dash, and compared this meter to my Fluke 77 digial VOM across the battery posts, and have a much better idea as to what voltage my battery is seeing.