Battery light is NOT happy

[Toff54]

Hi again hope you all had a good xmas/new year and all the rest of it. inbetween the festivities I've mostly been tinckering and now getting a bit annoyed with this problem.

My van is a 89 1.6td club joker westie Here goes.

My battery light has been on for a while now. turns itself off when travelling @ 3000 rpm but still not good. The inevitable happened on morning and wouldn't start so had it charging overnight topped up with de ionesed water etc. basically given a little pamper. Ran ok for a couple of days but the light
came back.
A friend of mine put his battery tester gizmo on it and it said to replace. been and bought a new one this morn wired her up and started up well but the battery light is STILL on! The guy in the shop said it was fully charged ready to go.
I took it out for a ride and the light wouldn't turn off even at 4000rpm.
Dunno if it's worth charging the battery again or if it's the alternator not charging right. i've read alot on here about the alternator diode or something. I had a go at tightening the alternator belt stills seems a little slack to me but couldn't pull it up any further on my own whilst trying to tighten up the nut at the same time.
Any input guys????

Also as a foot note my temp gauge needle has just got stuck at the bottom. the light flashes when ignition is first turn but needle is having none of it.

[the baron]

mine kinda does the same the light goes out with a little tickle of the accelerator pedal. it sounds like your alternator either needs changing or alternator brushes need changing have alook on justkampers site hope it helps

[Mickyfin]

I would go with checking the wiring to your alternator as well as tension of belt.

[Toff54]

i'll get onto that. the only thing that throws me is that the light is on from first start up with a fully charged battery.
Surley the light dosn't come on until you have low charge?!?!

[nevill3]

The battery light isn't an indication of "how much" is in your battery, just an indication that it is either charging or not. When the light comes on you are not charging the battery simple......it should go out once you start the engine and stay out........

(mine has a dim flicker when on idle and lots of electric items being used, indicating that most of the alternators output is being used by them and so very little current/amps left to charge the battery...but this stops when I begin to rev the engine to get going again)

[kevtherev]

your problem would be solved with a new alternator brush pack.
As neville points out the ign light is telling you that the alternator is not charging your battery., it is NOT telling you the condition of it.
the gauge not working means the sensor has failed.or a wire has come off, probably the former.

Sensors are readily available from brickwerks
new brush packs are available from your local alternator repair shop.... use google

red lights are an indication that something is wrong or about to stop..... you know like brake lights, I wouldn't ignore those either

[Toff54]

Nice one I'll get onto that cheers everyone.

[California Dreamin]

Percentage guess would be that the regulator brushes have worn out.
A new regulator brush pack can be picked up for around a tenner (posted), here is one source:

VEHICLE ELECTRICS, 166 STOCKFIELD ROAD, ACOCKS GREEN, BIRMINGHAM, B27 6AU. TEL : 0121 706 0688 EMAIL: VEHICLEELECTRICS@AOL.COM

Two screws on the back of the alternator...you may need to move the alternator on it's pivot to get to the screws...10 minutes max.


Martin

[Toff54]

My parts came during the week so we'll have a little blast at that this weekend.
I've also got her booked into an auto electrics spot in Malton for them to have a look at my Erber. been fiddling with that for ages and I'm not getting
anywhere. I'll let you all know how it goes, and thanks again for all the advice.

Cheers ladies and gents

Toffee

[kevtherev]

Lots of Eberspächer experts on here...

[CovKid]

I fitted a new brush pack and it made no odds - still have to rev it to get light to go out

[kevtherev]

I had this with a 90 amp alternator once.
Start up without revving and the light stayed on. changed the brush pack ..still the same, had to rev it to 2000rpm before it blinked out.
put the 45 amp back on with the same brush pack and it went out immediately.. odd

[CovKid]

From a page about Volvos but the principle is the same:

"The alternator (charging) warning light in the instrument cluster feeds a small amount of electrical current to the field coils in the alternator when you turn the key on and the engine isn't turning. This excites the coils (electromagnet) and the alternator gets the magnetic field it needs to start charging as soon as the engine runs. When the alternator isn't charging at all (engine stopped) that wire to the alternator also provides a ground path for certain warning bulbs in the cluster, so they light up. Diodes in the network keep current from backfeeding into unwanted circuits. So if you have a bad connection for the alternator warning wire, the alternator won't start charging right away. But most alternators will self-excite once the revs get high enough (say 2000 engine RPM) and then they stay excited and charging, even at idle RPM."

http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/ElectricalStarting.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Certainly worth checking the exciter wire (usually blue) on the alternator and where it terminates up front.

[Oldiebut goodie]

My boat engine/alternator is exactly the same - it needs a good rev up to get it charging, the annoying thing is there is a high pitched warning buzzer to warn you! At least we don't have that on our vans.

[Toff54]

Good and bad news guys. the good first ........
The light is out

the bad news.......

It took a new alternater to sort it altho managed to find one for just 70 quid