Faulty altenator

illegalpower

So driving home last night my battery light came on followed by abs and then i noticed my wipers were very slow as were my windows. I got the car home and as soon as i turned it off and tried to restart ... nothing. Jumped the car and got the muli meter on the on the terminals and only 8volts registered. I think it's the regulator on the altenator but the car's under warranty with ford so i'll let them fix it.

My problem is this, i have to get the car from arklow to the naas road in dublin tomorrow. I'm charging the battery from a motorcycle battery charger at the moment and it's up at near 12volts. Does anyone know if i could get there without the car dying on the way. Yesterday i was about 30 miles from the house when the light came on and i made it home. It's about 50 miles and i'll be leaving the battery to charge till tomorrow morning. Obviously i wont be using any electrical stuff on the drive, unless it rains. So do you think i'll make it

Tropheus

I'd say it would be touch and go if the battery was at only 8v after 30 miles. Any chance you could borrow another battery and switch them over if you get stuck? If it's raining and you need lights and wipers, don't even attempt it.

Had the same problem myself back in November. Luckily, I was only about 10 mins from the house and my mechanic is only 2 mins from the house.

Esel

All depends on the output rating of the charger.

Dividing the Ah rating of the battery by the charging rate should give you the number of hours it will take to recharge a fully discharged battery.

Let us know how you get on.

illegalpower

Thanks for the advice lads. Made it thankfully, it was lashing rain and i was stuck on the m50 in bad traffic but still got there. They warning light didn't re-appear so it might slowly discharging. It's at ford now so hopefully i'll have it back today

Tropheus

If the warning light (battery light) wasn't showing, then your alternator was working.

illegalpower

Altenator was faulty. The battery light was showing until i took at the battery out and fully charged it. It didn't reappear on the journey back to dublin as the discharge was quite slow and i had nothing but the engine using power. I put a multimeter on the terminals when the car was running and no charge was going to the battery. The garage fitted a new altenator under warranty as the old one was faulty, all working well now

Tropheus

My understanding of the battery light is that it shows that the battery is not charging not the battery charge level.

Maybe it differs on different cars. Glad to hear you got it sorted under warranty.

Capt'n Midnight

ksimpson wrote: »

My understanding of the battery light is that it shows that the battery is not charging not the battery charge level.

Maybe it differs on different cars. Glad to hear you got it sorted under warranty.

IIRC it just measures the voltage on the battery

it might depend on the car, does yours light up when you use the starter motor ?


I've seen a charge meter on ancient tractors - based on current into/out of the battery so the needle would swing both ways

jimmyw

ksimpson wrote: »

My understanding of the battery light is that it shows that the battery is not charging not the battery charge level.

Correct

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

IIRC it just measures the voltage on the battery

it might depend on the car, does yours light up when you use the starter motor ?


I've seen a charge meter on ancient tractors - based on current into/out of the battery so the needle would swing both ways

Thats an ammeter your thinking of.

Capt'n Midnight

jimmyw wrote: »

Thats an ammeter your thinking of.

It is of course