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#1
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Battery light on at idle
My battery light is on at idle (700 RPM) and doesn't turn off til I raise the RPM's. I have a new battery and alternator. Thanks
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#2
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What size are you pulleys?
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#3
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does it stay off when the rpms drop back to 700? Is the lite full brightness or partial brightness?
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#4
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It's a 66 326 HO std shift. Standard pulleys and voltage is 12 V at alternator when running or not. Light doesn't go off til 1200 RPM. Light is bright at 700 and starts to go off at at 1100. Anything under 1100 RPM the light comes back on. Seems the the new remanufactured alt. may be bad?
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#5
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Your voltage regulator (mounted on the firewall) could be bad. If you have a known good one try swapping that out.
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#6
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I was doing some reading on Powermaster's site and from what I got the crank pulley should be 3x larger than the alternator pulley and that their alternator starts outputting 60-70a with an alternator shaft speed of 2400. Better than Stock. I think it puts out full amperage around 2800. So with a 7" (assumed) crank pulley and 2.5" alternator pulley the alternator shaft speed will be around 2000k which is too slow to charge
Please correct me if I have something wrong because this is a problem I'm currently working on on my 2 cars. BTW if someone is looking for a 5" rodney red crank pulley I may have 1 for sale soon. |
#7
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My crank pulley is about 7" on the smaller diameter that the bely rides on and the alternator pulley is about 2 1/2" dia. That means that each revolution of the crank pulley is 7 x 3.1416=21.99" or about 22". A full revolution of the alt pulley is 2.5 x 3.1416= 7.85" so about 2.8 ratio.
I thought that I should get more than 12 Volts at the alternator, maybe I fried a diode? I'm sure George Kujanski would know. |
#8
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Quote:
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#9
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I'm not sure if you would measure on the high point or the low point of where the belt rides.
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#10
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I assume you have the proper alternator for your car, i.e. if you have an external regulator, the alt should be a 10DN, (two wire plug in the back. If the car has been modified for an internal regulated alt, it should be a 10SI, two wire plug on the side, near the rear.
The normal cutin speed on an alt is about 1000 RPM shaft speed. With the above mentioned pulley ratios, there should be no problem at engine idle speed; the system voltage should be about 14 volts, assuming no heavy electrical loads such as head lights. Check that the belt is not slipping. Check the alt: unplug the connector from the regulator, with the engine running, take a wire jumper, connect it to the battery positive and the other end to the terminal in the regulator connector with the blue wire, the terminal should be labelled "F". The alt output should jump to about 16 volts if the alt and the blue wire connections are good. Obviously don't leave this jumper connected too long. There should also be a brown wire in terminal position 4. That's the idiot light connection. With the key on, jump terminal 4 (brown wire) to ground, the idiot lite should be bright. The wire on terminal 2 is normally a black with white stripe, and the wire on terminal 3 should be red or black with red stripe. Measure the voltage on terminal 3, it should always be battery voltage, key on or off. respond with the results of those measurements. George
__________________
"...out to my ol'55, I pulled away slowly, feeling so holy, god knows i was feeling alive"....written by Tom Wait from the Eagles' Live From The Forum |
#11
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The part # is 213-4013 marked 63A with the blue and brown connector on the back. The regulator is on the firewall.
I disconnected the 4-prong plug from the regulator and connected the voltmeter to the output of the alt and a ground, hooked a wire to the blue terminal on the connector, read 12 volts, started the car, connected other end of wire to the positve battery terminal and read 13 1/2 to14 volts. I never got 16 volts. Grounding terminal gives a very bright light on the dash. Voltage between terminals 2 and 3 is 6 volts. |
#12
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What's the voltage on terminal 3 to ground?
When jumpering the blue wire to battery you are maxing out the field in the alternator, and that is the MOST it'll do. the regulator typically drives the field less than that. Bottom line, the alt is not doing it's job, you should get around 16 v full field. Another possibility is you have a real heavy electrical load on your car which is laoding the alt output. Any possibility of that? Also check to make sure the belt is not slipping. If it is it won't make max output and the pulley will get hot real fast. George
__________________
"...out to my ol'55, I pulled away slowly, feeling so holy, god knows i was feeling alive"....written by Tom Wait from the Eagles' Live From The Forum |
#13
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The voltage from #3 to ground is 12 volts. The radio doesn't work and there is no fuse in the block. This is a non a/c car so there is no major load.
I bought this reman from NAPA about 8 months ago but it's only got about 50 miles on it. I'm trying to work all the bugs out of it. |
#14
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Went down to NAPA this morning and I told them that I was only getting 13 1/2 Volts max output. I bought the alternaor 10 months ago and it had a 3 year warranty. They exchanged it with no add'l money. Not prorated like batteries.
I installed the new alternator and after hooking up the connectors and pos lead at alternator, I hooked up the neg lead at battery. This caused a spark at the alternator main lead. I started the car and have the same problem, the battery light is on til about 1200 RPM. I have no idea what's going on. https://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/C...+50060+2060042 |
#15
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Since you have a meter, I assume a multimeter, it should have a 10A range and a DC Amps function. With the key off, pull off one of the battery cables and use the dcAmps function with the 10 A range, one probe to the battery, and the other to the cable end, to see what current draw you have.
If you get a substantial number such as near 10A or overrange, disconnect the regulator plug and check again. If you don't know how to use the dcAmps function, let me know. George
__________________
"...out to my ol'55, I pulled away slowly, feeling so holy, god knows i was feeling alive"....written by Tom Wait from the Eagles' Live From The Forum |
#16
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Quote:
A spark indicates a short or a draw. Another way to see if you have a draw is to hook a DC light in series. Remove the positive, using a brake light with a wired socket or equivelant light with the wires separated, hold the light on the batt and the cable. if it lights, you have a draw... Watch out though. A big draw will heat up that light really quickly.....
__________________
1967 Pontiac Tempest 2dr HRDTP Coupe 468 C.I. 500 HP 5 speed = FUN!!! 1990 Chevy Suburban R2500 Daily Driver 1986 Volvo DL245 Wagon.. Project car!!! The Burb Files |
#17
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I removed the negative battery cable and didn't get a reading on the DCA between the post and the cable,
I reconnected the negative lead, removed the positive lead and connected a lightr between the positive battery cable and the battery post and it did not light the bulb. This was all with the ignition off. |
#18
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Better check the alt main lead. It sounds like a burnt or rotten connection. maybe a lot of corrosion at that connection. Look close at the wire terminal and crimp.
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#19
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The terminal looks good to me. I could resolder it if you think that would help.
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#20
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It looks pretty good in the pic as well as I can see it, but if it was already connected to the alt and sparked there when you connected the battery, you certainly had a bad connection there. It would not hurt to solder it.
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