James Posted January 4, 2006 Report Share Posted January 4, 2006 me thinks u should check ur earths a friend owns a sprinter and I had trouble figuing out why her battery was not charging, I thought it was dead. However it turned out to be lose earth. I think Love has a good point Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolla__Boy Posted January 4, 2006 Report Share Posted January 4, 2006 weird coincidence, but my battery/altenator in my ke70 are playing silly buggers too. Went to batteryworld to get an opinion. My battery's on the way out, but the dude reckoned it was because of my alternator, as it was only putting around 13.5 back into the battery. I realise he's a pro and all, but being KE70 related does this sound a bit low? It was really bizzarre, one day I went to start the car and it was dead flat. When it'd been running fine before that and its been running fine since we jump started it :D How much am I look at for a reconditioned alternator? Might just flog one off another 4k... we'll see. Just so you know...people who work at battery world, are most likely not professionals. They are just salesmen. Take you're car to an auto electrician, and they will tell you that 13.5 is prefectly fine....in actual fact, my car only charges at 13.5, and my battery is fine. And if the alternator wasn't charging enough, the battery would continue to go flat, not just once. I'd say it's more likely that you left something on by mistake, even a glovebox light will flatten a battery over night. I have worked in a battery shop, and as an apprentice auto electrician, and all I did was rebuild alternators and test them. well as i said theyre limited to 14.3 so should be up around that, mine runs 13.8alternator, new is expensive, second hand wont be so bad a recon unit somewhere in between me thinks Alternators have a regulator, which regulates the voltage. Anything up to 14.5 volts is fine, and they are not limited to 14.3. If the regulator dies, the alternator can just keep rising the voltage, (I have seen one charging at 18 volts) and this will boil you're battery. VERY bad :y: If you put a multimeter on you're battery with the car off, it will be somewhere between 12 and 12.5 volts, if it is in good condition. If you watch the multimeter as you start the car, and it drops below 9 volts as you kick it in the guts...that is bad, and either the battery is flat, or if it's charged, it's stuffed. Now given that the battery is 12 volts....ANYTHING above that when you check with the multimeter on the battery when the car is running means that the battery is being charged, and even as low as 13 volts should keep a standard engined car going for a long time. But as my boss (Auto electrician for 17 years) used to tell me, 13.5-14.5 is what you are after!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muller Posted January 4, 2006 Report Share Posted January 4, 2006 you know what your on about. surely thats not all you did as an auto elec app? i had the problem of the instrument panel lights wouldnt work, i tried for 2 days to find the problem, my old man had a look, the guy from next door, and the guy from across the road who knows about as much as superjamie it would seem and none of us could find the problem. gave up and took it ot an auto elec and it turned out to be a dirty fuse box. FFS. morel, check the easy things befor you go looking for hard stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love ke70 Posted January 5, 2006 Report Share Posted January 5, 2006 Alternators have a regulator, which regulates the voltage. Anything up to 14.5 volts is fine, and they are not limited to 14.3. the ke70 runs a bosch alternator regulated to 14.3 v, forgive me for using the wrong word Now given that the battery is 12 volts....ANYTHING above that when you check with the multimeter on the battery when the car is running means that the battery is being charged, and even as low as 13 volts should keep a standard engined car going for a long time. wrong...13 volts is not enough to keep a battery charged for all that long, it has to do with the chemical processes of the battery, basically when u turn ur key a reaction creates lead sulphate which is a solid Pb + H2SO4 = PbSO4 + H2 or something along those lines, and the lead sulphate is no good for giving power, coz its the reaction of lead with the acid that makes power, now what an alternator does by passing a current through the battery is charge it, it does this by reversing the previous reaction. to reverse the previous reaction a higher voltage is required ie PbSO4 + electric current = Pb + H2SO4 so the higher the voltage the more this reaction will occur, if you have a low charge voltgae very little of the reaction by-products are returned to reactants, thus reducing your battery life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolla__Boy Posted January 5, 2006 Report Share Posted January 5, 2006 Sorry but I'm not wrong...I have had a battery charging at 13 volts. For a long time. As I said I worked in a battery shop and at an auto electricians...I am quite aware of how a battery works. A decently sized battery in a standard engine car, is HARDLY being used, and takes next to nothing to charge it back to it's normal state. If your battery reads 13 volts while the car is running, this means that the alternator is running everything, and still charging your battery at 13 volts. Which will work. It is not ideal, as I have said over and over 13.5-14.5 is what you want, but yes 13 volts will keep you going. When you start having problems is when you check the battery and it's voltage is the same as when the car is running, (or lower) this means that the battery is having to work to run the car. Batteries these days have a CCA rating, and also a amp hour rating, which is how many hours they will last if they are running 1 amp. So they will usually get a car home even with no alternator, but it wontbe much good for them. You can also get semi-deep cycle/starter batteries, that do both. And batteries like Odyssey's can sit on a shelf for 2 years and still have half their cranking power, which is enough to start the car they were designed for. They aren't a lead acid battery, and that is why they are so expensive. But well worth the money, looked after, they will last 10 years. They are even getting 5 years out of them in Harleys, which as anyone with a knowledge of Harley's will appreciate is a long time, as they vibrate ALOT and kill batteries quickly. And you saying your alternator is regulated at 14.3 so that is where it is supposed to be charging, then turn around and say it is only charging at 13.8, so what you are saying is that you think you're alternator is no good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love ke70 Posted January 5, 2006 Report Share Posted January 5, 2006 your probably correct, as I'm used to having to look after my battery more due to my stereo, which is along way from standard i assumed you did know, but i included it for other people as i think its valuable information to know how things like that work, and why. maybe my alternator is no good, i did think about swappin it but i couldnt be bother for half a volt, and its likely the stereo drain on it. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolla__Boy Posted January 5, 2006 Report Share Posted January 5, 2006 Like I said 13.8 is fine...and there is nothing wrong with the alternator.... Let's look at my KE35 for a moment, it has a thermo fan, as the normal fan can't fit due to the supercharger belt, it has an electric fuel pump, it has the wiring for the supercharger, it has a high powered Pioneer head unit, it has a DVD player, a TV, it has the amp for the 900W sub. Then you have all the normal things like heater, wipers, lights, rear demister. That is a huge drain on the factory system, I have a standard Alternator, and a very powerful battery, and it all seems to work ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killswitch Posted January 5, 2006 Report Share Posted January 5, 2006 Cheers for that Rolla Boy, so its not as bad as it was made out to be but it could be better. I'm stingy so I'll run it into the ground first :) But hopefully by then I'll have a 5K lined up and equip that with all new ancilleries(sp?), we'll see though. Damn rustbucket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolla__Boy Posted January 5, 2006 Report Share Posted January 5, 2006 How many days has it been since the time it wouldn't start? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corolla_bitten Posted January 5, 2006 Report Share Posted January 5, 2006 hey rolla boy, your car would go so much quicker if it didnt have any of that stereo crap in it... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killswitch Posted January 5, 2006 Report Share Posted January 5, 2006 How many days has it been since the time it wouldn't start? A good week, not real sure. Has started fine everytime since then though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolla__Boy Posted January 5, 2006 Report Share Posted January 5, 2006 My car probably would be faster, but meh, at least I can watch tv :) If it has started fine for a week....I would say you just left something on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjenman Posted January 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2006 Yes the alternator was broken. I could have used a multimeter but I got an offer of a free check by a car electrician, who probably used a multimeter anyway. Thanks for the offer of a spare alternator love ke70, and cheers for all the replies everyone :) So yeah long story short, KE30 and KE70 alternators ARE EXACTLY THE SAME PART... I have confirmed this, if anyone wants me to confirm any other random 4K alternators being interchangeable to whatever corolla then just ask me. I have now done the swap it was easy as. So yeah I can now make it on Sunday to see all you crazy toyota brandishing randoms! Hooray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love ke70 Posted January 5, 2006 Report Share Posted January 5, 2006 haha top notch mate! so u didnt have to pay at all? nice :) shame i wont be there to see ya on sunday :S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolla__Boy Posted January 5, 2006 Report Share Posted January 5, 2006 The two types are Bosch and ND....The Bosch ones have a solid looking housing, the ND one has a series of holes around the housing, that is the easiest way to tell.... All auto electricians will do a charge check for free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.