Car loses a volt as the engine warms up..., weird one Options

[anthony]

Ok, here's the situation. When I start the car cold I get 13.2 volts across the battery terminals. Perfect, right?

As the temperature gauge moves towards the middle of the gauge I slowly loose more voltage until I'm down to 12.2 volts.

Is this normal? I'm thinking that at full operating temperature with no accessores (lights, brake lights, etc) I should have full charging voltage. It seems that something is kicking in as the engine warms up and draws a full volt.

Are there any D-Jet components that would draw voltage as the car warms up.

The voltage drop is gradual. As the temperature gauge goes up the voltage gauge drops in sync. And this is not a faulty voltage gauge issue. I've verified this with a volt meter across the battery terminals.

[anthony]

When you turn on the ignition does the alternator light come on at all?

The light comes on and then goes out. The car runs and drives normally. The battery always seems to have plenty of charge when I go to start the car.

The only "problem" I've had is that my last Optima only last two years. I got that replaced.

So my first questions is what voltage should I be seeing across the terminals with the car running?

What gauge are you looking at? The one in the dash? Or a multimeter across the terminals????

I'm looking at both the console gauge and at my multimeter. The console gauge reads 1/2 volt less but other than that it's consistant.

I have an extra regulator I can swap with. Are there replaceable brushes in our alternators?