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You need a voltmeter, with the car not running it should register 12v at the battery and with the car running + if the alternator is functional you get 14 volts. Most parts stores will test the battery and alternator for free-but that is with the hopes of you buying battery/alt from them.
If your alternator is shot, chances are you also need a new battery.
Could be a bad connection somewhere... I had some issues with my car recently and due to it's behavior I though t it could be the Alternator. After looking at it and measuring the Volts, I found the best thing to do was begin by changing the clamps on the wires connecting to the battery, works fine now (lets hope it continues that way).
Oh goodie. Sounds like a trip to the auto parts store is in my future!
It wouldn't be a bad idea to head down there anyway. Like 00molavi wrote, most auto parts stores can check the entire charging system (including the battery) in less than 5 minutes for free, that way you know for sure if it's just the battery or something else. It's also true that, if it is the alternator, chances are pretty good you'll need a battery as well. At a minimum, you would need to at least get it fully charged (again, something most auto parts stores do for free) before firing up that alternator for the first time.
Any of the autoparts stores will check the battery and alternator for you. It's also not a bad idea before heading down there to check and clean the clamps and terminals on the battery and see if that fixes the issue.
If money is tight a used alternator from a boneyard might be a good option.
If you have a good auto-electric (starter, alternator, etc.) shop in town, if you get a good used alternator and have them put a set of brushes in it, you have something close to a rebuilt alternator for about half-price.
That said if the original alternators in these have been superceded by an improved one, it would be a waste of time to put in another original.
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