odd readings for alternator/battery

[ryuji16]

hey all... i just swapped in a new alternator today because the old one crapped out a few days ago. i literally was running right off my battery... i had to turn off all my lights to keep the car from stalling out. driving on freeway - headlights - taillights = no fun. luckily it didnt die til i got to my lawn, where it finally stalled out and threw in the towel.

anyway, the new alternator works pretty good. i brought the car to autozone today to get my electrical system checked. heres where the wierdness begins. im gonna break stuff down into sections to make it somewhat easier (btw i drive a 92 v6):

1. at autozone, the battery read fine, but the alternator was at 176w. according to him, normal was only 80w, and that if my alternator was pushing 176, it would over-charge the battery and possibly cause it to explode. crazy. is this true? is there a possibility that his sensor read wrong?

2. i went to kragen to get a 2nd opinion. totally different opinion. it read that the alternator was normal, but the battery was no good. he said it was only working at half normal running condition. so he suggested replacing the battery.

3. wth is going on. what could potentially be causing these problems? is it because the alternator is new? or maybe because the battery is having an unstable journey back to normal after being drained?

4. also, im not 100% confident with the tightness of the alternator belt. it feels tight enough to me though. what would be the symptoms if the belt was too tight/too loose?

end post. what do you guys think?

[Ostornadoe]

To see if your alternator belt is too lose turn your car on, and turn the steering wheel all the way to the left and all the way to the right. If it is too lose, it will make a horrible screeching noise.

[McTimson]

That horrible screeching noise is the belt grinding away though, so don't do it for too long, otherwise you won't have much of a belt left.

[96CamrySport]

I had a similar story, except everything on my 96 was original, and it was 3 degrees outside. I figure the progression went like this: battery terminals corroded, battery struggled and died, low voltage killed starter motor, high resistance killed alternator. result? new dry cell battery, new starter, new alternator. died again the next day. took it to dealership, they put new battery clamps on and charged me $70. D'oh! I cleaned the contacts myself and it didn't work, when they did it they ground the wire straps down to bare brass. you may want to try new battery terminals, good ones.

[ryuji16]

my battery terminals are brand new, like 6 mos. old form the dealer. yea. also exp. as hell, but worth it guess, since i dont have to worry about them anymore. my old ones were crap.

the screeching noise used to happen way back when, before this all happened, and it would stop once the motor was warm. i will try this method later.

how can i know if the belt is too tight?