611 Posted July 25, 2022 Share Posted July 25, 2022 After a little issue with the alternator not charging on the trip to Sywell and back! which i suspect is the alternator which was brand new and a him capacity Prestolite one (the battery is high amp as well) i now need to do some investigation but wondered when others are running? I suspect its the alternator (but need to do some testing) as it did have the odd moment or two on the way back that it would suddenly pick up and charge for the odd few mins. Im going to check all the connections etc.. first but it has not done it in all the time i have been running around and saved it for the longest trip so far! thanks Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sutty2006 Posted July 25, 2022 Share Posted July 25, 2022 I’m not an electrical expert by any means but sometimes you have to go back to basic. What voltage does is across the battery at idle? Then turn on as many consumers as you can (lights, blowers, radio, heated rear window) and see what voltage drop you get. Alternator should only drop a little. If it drops a lot, then the alternator isn’t up to the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Barrett Posted July 25, 2022 Share Posted July 25, 2022 We didn’t have a meter yesterday to check but you should be seeing at the very least 13v at the battery when running Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
611 Posted July 25, 2022 Author Share Posted July 25, 2022 2 hours ago, Sutty2006 said: I’m not an electrical expert by any means but sometimes you have to go back to basic. What voltage does is across the battery at idle? Then turn on as many consumers as you can (lights, blowers, radio, heated rear window) and see what voltage drop you get. Alternator should only drop a little. If it drops a lot, then the alternator isn’t up to the job. It used to work fine before. It just decided to wait for the long trip to Sywell before stopping 🙂 1 hour ago, Paul Barrett said: We didn’t have a meter yesterday to check but you should be seeing at the very least 13v at the battery when running Thanks for the help yesterday. I drove just past Northampton and stopped for petrol and it was still dead, luckily found a recovery truck stopped at the services and the guy was nice enough to give me a jump start, then drove to winchester and thought i should have enough fuel to make it home but saw a tesco's petrol station and did a splash and dash pay at pump with the engine running and got back to problem 🙂 It did have the odd moment when it did suddenly jump up to 12v for a few mins and then dropped back to 11v and when i got home i drove straight into the garage and parked but there was enough in the battery to run the fuel pump so it must have got a bit of charge as at the services it wouldn't even run the pump. I didn't try to turn it over so not sure how much charge but it must be getting some at some points. Tomorrow i will see if i can dig out the volt meter and give it a test tomorrow. I will drop you that link later to the clamps. Andy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sutty2006 Posted July 25, 2022 Share Posted July 25, 2022 Possibly the regulator is on its way out? Have you checked all your main connections? Battery terminals, starter motor, earths etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessopia74 Posted July 25, 2022 Share Posted July 25, 2022 26 minutes ago, Sutty2006 said: Possibly the regulator is on its way out? Have you checked all your main connections? Battery terminals, starter motor, earths etc? Yeah, was my immediate thought too, especially with the temps we had recently? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cam.in.head Posted July 25, 2022 Share Posted July 25, 2022 yes regulators can fail and obviuosly so can the brushes or any connections. the delco ones can be repaired fairly easily if you wished to but the bosch type is even better ,the regulator being external and a replaceable unit complete with brushes.2 screws and its out. alternative wise on the standard mountings you can find 55 amp versions (from the carlton 2.2) and possibly an early senator version at 65amp. some senator ones (royale,monza etc too) were even higher if i recall correctly but the had a different design of mounting and adjuster. all interchangeable thou Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanG Posted July 25, 2022 Share Posted July 25, 2022 2 hours ago, cam.in.head said: yes regulators can fail and obviuosly so can the brushes or any connections. the delco ones can be repaired fairly easily if you wished to but the bosch type is even better ,the regulator being external and a replaceable unit complete with brushes.2 screws and its out. alternative wise on the standard mountings you can find 55 amp versions (from the carlton 2.2) and possibly an early senator version at 65amp. some senator ones (royale,monza etc too) were even higher if i recall correctly but the had a different design of mounting and adjuster. all interchangeable thou 7 hours ago, 611 said: After a little issue with the alternator not charging on the trip to Sywell and back! which i suspect is the alternator which was brand new and a him capacity Prestolite one (the battery is high amp as well) i now need to do some investigation but wondered when others are running? I suspect its the alternator (but need to do some testing) as it did have the odd moment or two on the way back that it would suddenly pick up and charge for the odd few mins. Im going to check all the connections etc.. first but it has not done it in all the time i have been running around and saved it for the longest trip so far! thanks Andy 7 hours ago, 611 said: After a little issue with the alternator not charging on the trip to Sywell and back! which i suspect is the alternator which was brand new and a him capacity Prestolite one (the battery is high amp as well) i now need to do some investigation but wondered when others are running? I suspect its the alternator (but need to do some testing) as it did have the odd moment or two on the way back that it would suddenly pick up and charge for the odd few mins. Im going to check all the connections etc.. first but it has not done it in all the time i have been running around and saved it for the longest trip so far! thanks Andy I have a new and a refurb standard alternator can go into the workshop and see what rating they are if you need one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
611 Posted July 26, 2022 Author Share Posted July 26, 2022 15 hours ago, cam.in.head said: yes regulators can fail and obviuosly so can the brushes or any connections. the delco ones can be repaired fairly easily if you wished to but the bosch type is even better ,the regulator being external and a replaceable unit complete with brushes.2 screws and its out. alternative wise on the standard mountings you can find 55 amp versions (from the carlton 2.2) and possibly an early senator version at 65amp. some senator ones (royale,monza etc too) were even higher if i recall correctly but the had a different design of mounting and adjuster. all interchangeable thou This one has the same setup as the Bosch and i dropped the tech people an email and they said i can use a Bosch regulator. Im going to do some testing once i have replaced the batter in my multi meter as that's flat as well 🙂 They have told me what to check to see if the actual alternator is ok and what part number for the regulator and i will double check wires in case something has worked lose. 12 hours ago, IanG said: I have a new and a refurb standard alternator can go into the workshop and see what rating they are if you need one. Thanks Ian. I will do some testing and let you know how i get one. Just got to go out and get one of those pesky 9V batteries now for the multi meter!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanG Posted July 26, 2022 Share Posted July 26, 2022 5 hours ago, 611 said: This one has the same setup as the Bosch and i dropped the tech people an email and they said i can use a Bosch regulator. Im going to do some testing once i have replaced the batter in my multi meter as that's flat as well 🙂 They have told me what to check to see if the actual alternator is ok and what part number for the regulator and i will double check wires in case something has worked lose. Thanks Ian. I will do some testing and let you know how i get one. Just got to go out and get one of those pesky 9V batteries now for the multi meter!! Yeah never have one handy when the smoke alarm low battery warning starts at 2am usually! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
611 Posted July 28, 2022 Author Share Posted July 28, 2022 Ok, so don't you love electrical issues! Took the alternator off the evening i got back as the multi meter wasn't working so not much i could do, so thought i would take the regulator off and check the brushes etc.. were all ok. Everything looked alright. Got a battery for the tester, so today put it all back on, found out what the output should be from the tech guys at Prestolite (quite quick with their support) and they told me the best was to test so i was doing it right. All connected up, fired her up, and guess what, all running fine, charging at the right output and the taco terminal had the right voltage too which they said would confirm if the charging circuit was working or not, so who know!! Think i might buy a spare regulator and keep that in the tool kit just in case! Time for a run out at the weekend to see if it stays that way. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cam.in.head Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 not sure about the tacho terminal as none of mine have or use that.the tacho signal comes from the ignition coil -.but ifthe output measures around 14.2 ish.(can vary depending on state of battery charge and load)then all sounds well. i suppose given the fact that the regulator relies on the spring contact to get its power / output and only has an actual proper bolted down earth connection on its mounting lug then you could have had a poor connection there but now ok ? regulators (and internal coils for that matter) usually either work or dont . and yes ,electrical problems especially intermittent ones are always a pain to find as they always seem ok when you are actually looking at them !. yours may well be ok now but you could always remove the regulator again just to check the contact and spring contact are clean and shiny, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
611 Posted August 2, 2022 Author Share Posted August 2, 2022 This one does have the tacho output but im not using that as the Omex has a dedicated rev counter feed so im using that. I cant think it was an earth issues from the car side as i had replaced that with new when i put the alternator on. The live feed from the alternator looked a bit suspect but we stripped and re-did that at sywell and it didn't make any difference. Im more thinking it was some contact issue from the regulator as i took that out and put it back in (wish i had done that before removing the whole thing!) so at least if it does it again i can do that first and i now have the multi meter in the car 🙂 and i will get a spare regulator i think and keep it just in case. Its odd as it has never done it before in all the time i have been running around, but then they do like to save these things up for when you have an important trip, not when your just nipping to Tesco!! Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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