[eagle]

This is the perfect reason to buy a good quality volt/ohm meter. (DVOM or VOM) In this situation you can just put the meter across the battery and check voltage with engine off, with engine idling, and with engine revving somewhat. You'll be able to see exactly what's happening. "Needle wiggling" is a poor replacement for actual testing. If you like to get good service life out of your battery, and don't like being stranded, you NEED to know how well your charging system is operating.