Westy petrol eber after alternator refurb....

[The Bobdogs]

Interesting development with my petrol eber in my 1980 Joker ....
My alternator bearings were squealing so decided to get it rebuilt (bearings & bushes)...found a guy in a shed just outside Leicester who refurbed it for £20 inc parts..

Refit the alternator and think no more about it....



My petrol eber has always been reluctant to start without the engine running, unlesss the leisure battery was fresh off mains charge, didn't bother me too much it was just a pain when camping to have to get up and run the engine first thing in the morning in the cold...



Since the alternator has been done the heater runs like a good un! Fires up first time , every time..even after a few cold 'test starts' and then left standing in the cold for over a week...hit the switch and off she went..toasty time!



May just have been coincidence, or maybe the fresh bushes are shoving a little extra into the battery...

May be worth a punt if you have a 'lazy' heater!



Also discovered that if you turn the stat down to 1 the heater runs slower ,seems to be half speed...great for background heat if you wanted to leave it running all night

( I'm probably the only person here who didn't know about this )

[California Dreamin]

Interesting Andy....Eber needs an 11.7 volt feed minimum to fire up & run....the motor initially will cause the battery standing voltage to drop over the old tired wiring hence the reluctance to start. Temperature directly influences battery voltage...the colder the battery the lower it's voltage.
Did the chappy fit a new regulator brush pack? good if he did that with the bearings for £20...
If so, many of the replacement regulators are set at 14.5 volts (old ones just 14 volts) which may account for your leisure battery perhaps having half a volt higher standing voltage....maybe.

Martin