Alternators Indicates Over Charge

[Sadey]

My starboard volt gauge consistently shows charging right at about 30 volts. The port side indicates about 26 volts. The needle is sitting on the white tick mark just before the red area on the gauge. It is that way on both gauges so I’m going to assume it’s accurate.
What are the hazards of allowing it to sit there?
If it goes into the red area what are the hazards?
What if anything should I do about it in the middle of the Gulf?

[oscarvan]

Stick a multi meter on the batteries and get some accurate data.

[Avenger]

Stick a multi meter on the batteries and get some accurate data.

Good idea.

[rustybucket]

Third vote for the multimeter. Gauges are not the most trustworthy items. They are there to alert you to a potential issue. They have alerted you, now verify that there is an actual issue by putting a good volt meter on the circuit to verify their reading.

[Pascal]

Sounds like a regulator issue but indeed the first thing to check when troubleshooting any electrical issue is measure voltage with a hand meter.

High voltage will cook the batteries. What do you have? Lead Acid or AGM? If lead acid check water levels.

[SKYCHENEY]

The port bank is the house bank. All house loads draw on that bank. Do you have something running that could cause the volts to show lower?

What to do if it gets too low? Answer is to run the generator and the battery charger. But you are at no risk of losing the engine as it is a mechanical engine and doesn't need battery voltage to keep running.

[Sadey]

AGMs and this would be the starboard side. Both gauges were matched with that indication for quite sometime but now the pilothouse gauge reads normal so might be a gauge problem. I'll put a voltmeter on the batteries today while we run. Do I just put the leads on the battery terminals directly? Sorry for the rudimentary questions but wiring I'm good with, electrical diagnostics I'm not.

[miboatnutz]

Yes, put the leads from the multi meter on the battery terminals directly. Make sure you're reading from the battery terminals that are connected to main power leading to the master panel and not intermediate terminals.

I'd also check both port and starboard banks with engines running or comparisons to each other and the gauges.