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Lotus in the Peak
28th - 30th June 2024

Alternator Light = Hot Battery!


adrok

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Hello all,

 

I am new here and have a problem with my s2 k-series elise.

 

I have just been on a long run in my elise when near home the alternator light came on shortly followed by the ecu light, immediatley thought oh well the alternators given up! so pulled over had a look saw that the belt was still there and rather than wait for recovery took the risk of the battery going flat and carried on home.

 

Got home and thought i'll have a look in the morning only to pop the boot and get overwhelmed by the smell of stinky battery juice, pulled the cover back to be greeted with smoke, battery acid and a melted soft top bag, ARSE.

 

Whipped the battery out as it was mega hot put it on the drive and had a cup of tea,

 

Has anyone had this happen??? I guess my battery is duff now as its a bit swollen and stinky, could this have been caused by an overcharging alternator, or is the battery just clapped out? Or both?

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My money is on you having a knackered alternator connector on the harness. Same thing happened to me when I did a Walshy day. I put some info about it in a post after the Walshy day - there's a lot of other stuff in the post, but take might be worth a read here

 

HTH

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Thanks for that Neil, I plan on having a proper rummage tomorrow, I think a new alternator and battery are in order,

 

Anyone have any thoughts on these alternator heat sheilds on elise parts? I did get stuck in traffic on the A1 and am convinced it help kill my alternator(all that heat from the downpipe next to it), Also any recomendations when it comes to alternators there are a bunch to choose from, expensive, more expensive and gold plated expensive!

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No idea on the battery itself, but you can buy stuff like Nimbus heat shield in single or double layer varieties and easily cut / bend your own. Take care on the sharp edges, though. A 1m square sheet is probably less than the EP one, and leaves you a lot left over in case you need to create other heatshields.

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No idea on the battery itself, but you can buy stuff like Nimbus heat shield in single or double layer varieties and easily cut / bend your own. Take care on the sharp edges, though. A 1m square sheet is probably less than the EP one, and leaves you a lot left over in case you need to create other heatshields.

 

 

Thanks, I'll give it a bash, I am expert in origami!

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Hi adrok,

 

I agree with steve-n. Regulator failure in alernator and too much juice pumped back to the battery. I had the same thing happen on my Caterham last year in France resulting in a nice trip back on a yellow lorry ;) . Not serious, fixed in UK in 25 minutes it was just getting parts in France on a Bank Holiday weekend.

 

regards,

Matt.

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Thanks Matt,

 

I have purchased a new alternator got it half fitted before it chucked it down,(N.B. must get the garage cleared out for the winter), hopefully all should be good, got a new battery, it differs slightly in that it has a an outlet on the side like a vent or similar, should I ignore it? Or should I get some tube and poke it out of harms way? Or should I take it back? its the same unipart number and stuff which is odd.

 

If anyone knows I'd appreciate some guidance.

 

Cheers

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