24 replies to this topic

[olliecast]

Evening all,
getting the battery light coming on and off on my vvc 160 conversion then as the car warms it goes off.

All starts fine and no running issues at all..

any ideas?

cheers,
ollie

Thinking about it i`m thinking i`ve fried the alternator.

I had an issue the other day where the battery came loose in the cradle and connected up to the chassis, stopping the car and all electrics in its tracks. Seems ok but this has come on in the last few drives.

I`m guessing im lucky and not fried anything else too?

[Martin R]

Check the voltage at the battery terminals when the light is on. If its much less than 14v the alternator is not charging.

[stockhome]

I had the same symptoms when my alternator went

[olliecast]

Cheers guys. Cleaned up all the battery connections tonight and ensured the max surface area is in contact on the leads. if it doesn't change tomorrow I'll order a new alternator from eliseparts.

[Martin R]

Dont be rash. Check all connections and the voltage first. It may not be the alternator ? Get a multi meter. Hold one lead on the metal case of the alternator and the other on the connection with the thick Brown wire with the car running.

Be very careful as you are near the belt obviously. If the alternator is ok it will read just above 14v. Do the same at the battery terminals and you should get a very similar reading except for a tad of volt drop due to the cables.

[olliecast]

Good point martín and thanks. Ill grab myself a multimeter and get checking. I cleaned the battery terminals up last night and seems to be better but came on for approx 1 min this morning then off and not been on since.
Could the incident where the battery moved and shorted on tje chassis have anything to do with it?

Thanks for the input,
Ollie

[Martin R]

Hard to say really. Its obviously not done any serious damage if the car is running ok. The voltage test should give you a fair idea of whats going on though.

[olliecast]

Yeah need to check this. Neither screwfix or b and q have a multimeter.... Grrr

[stockhome]

Machine Mart?

[Martin R]

There are loads of MLOC in Notts, someone must have one ?

[olliecast]

Machine  Mart it is tomorrow! A few offers of lending one tonight but need to buy one myself

[John FISH Curtis]

I have a multi meter.... location in Kirkby in Ahshfield if you want to pop up.

You should have given a shout at last night meeting

Edited by John FISH Curtis, 19 September 2012 - 07:01 AM.

[olliecast]

Ok so accross the battery with the engine off its reading 12.2 volts. Start the car and the battery light comes on. It then creeps up until approx 13.5 then jumps up to 14.4 volts and the battery light goes off. Then fine for the rest of the journey.
Stays constant at 14.4 from then on?

Any theories what's going on?

Cheers ollie

[Martin R]

I dont think there is anything else in the circuit besides a large fuse ( 80A ) 14.4 volts is exactly as it should be. I suspect shorting the alternator may have made one of the Zenner diodes inside dodgy. An alternator produces AC this is converted to DC by a number of Zenner diodes inside. I cant remember if is 6 or 9.

Check the fuse connections just in case. I suspect it will fail eventually. They come up on SELOC for sale second hand fairly often. If you do change it fit an air feed as well whilst you are there.

[olliecast]

cheers andy, appreciate your help with it.

ill check the fuses.

already got a cold air feed in there along with a heatshield

is it likely to be a catastrophic failure? i.e. stop me in my tracks or something that will deteriorate over time?

cheers,
ollie