3Tc In Ke35 Not Charging

[springersrolla]

hey lads, got the car all setup sweet and running, no dramas earlier but now the charge light is on. running a 3 prong alternator off the 3tc into a ke35 wiring loom, was running the charge wire to the B+, swapped to unknown/unable to see wire and charge light went out, that was from a selection of 3, one being b+, something and something..... burnt out my multimeter, in all honesty i think ive dropped a cell in my battery as its about 4 years old, small shit and occasionally starts and is charged heavily,... but any other likely cause of this situation before i buy a new battery?? cheers

[B.L.Z.BUB]

Without a multimeter its gonna be hard to check. Most places will do a free battery check for you though. Whether they tell you the truth is another matter but you can always take it to a few places.

[springersrolla]

yeah i hear ya! batterys arent as cheap as multimeters but i wanna know if the batterys droped a cell or not charging does anyone elses charge light come on?

[oldie]

Reckon you still need a multimeter-set to DC voltage,low scale up to about 20volt or similiar,make sure you have the leads in the correct plugs for dc operation,start the car and put the meter over the positive and negative terminals of battery,red lead to +,black to - should read about 13.5 to 14 volts dc,if it does then your battery charge circuit is probably ok but you have a faulty circuit for the warning lamp,if it doesnt,then you probably have a faulty battery.This is a very general comment but it should give you somewhere to start looking.Stand to be corrected if anyone disagrees!

Edited March 9, 2013 by oldie

[altezzaclub]

Theory is that the charge light goes on when power is going out of the battery, and off when power is being pushed into the battery. If your red lght is on, the alty circuit is not charging the battery, so the battery is probably fine but being drained.

 

Google your alty and how to check it. Basically, inside they are making AC power and converting it to DC via half a dozen diodes. The diodes fail individually and the charge it puts out falls, or the brushes wear out and charge drops or stops. So if it is not producing more power than the car is drawing from the battery, the light come on, hence it may only come on when the headlights are on, or the wipers plus the stereo or whatever.

 

You whip out the plate with the diodes on, unsolder each one and check that it only flows power one way. Check the length of the carbon brushes while it is apart. Any auto sparkie can check the power output of the alty for you.

[19914afc]

Should just be able to check voltage straight from the back of the alternator when running. But yeah need a multimeter, haha. Supercheap ones are ok and seem to work fine.