Alt does increase voltage with engine speed, but dodge was never known for their wiring. My neon was the biggest peice of crap I ever looked at. Tailight bulbs melted, dash constantly went out, fronn lights wouldn't light up, and airbqg light and check engne light were always on. The camshaft sensor was getting eaten by the cam shaft. Even after putting on a new from dodge head and cam after a blown head gasket, same problem. Gave up after buying about 10 sensors at $80 a pop, went to the junkyard, million neons, not a single camshaft sensor. Don't think I'm the only one that had the same problem.
All and all, your voltage regulator probably just went out, and alts are the same between makes. Ford uses bosch and mitsubishi(dodge) alts on most of their bigger trucks. A lot of componants in a car are diesigned to work from 8-16 volts, or even higher. A good healthy alt at idle should put out right around 14.2 with full load. Unloaded should be 14.6 or so. At higher rpm's it will probably get near 15-16vs.
To blow head lights you were probably well over 16 volts, and your lucky you didn't burn out all your other components.
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