Whats up with it now....

[raceboy]

After finally getting the wiper sorted (thank Joolz) And the Accumate to keep the battery happy wired in, I used the car for the 1st time in anger for a while over the weekend and all the issues you have with a car drift away after the first sweeping left hander and the 1st island
But then put it back in it's garage plugged in the Accumate and left it, went to it Sunday afternoon, there was still a bit of daylight left after I'd finished all my 'jobs' but the Accumate was reading low battery, then after fitting a new battery in the Alarm remote I fired up the ignition to be greated with just a yellow dash light, no red one, (94 Chimaera, yellow light and red light between the speedo and revcounter)
So the question is 'Whats Broke Now?'
IIRC that light is something to do with the alternator, but I know if that light comes on while driving it's thrown a belt, but what does no life at all out of it mean, oh and the battery was flat even after 20 hours of Accumate charging so I retired to the sofa

[Incorrigible]

Check you're getting 12v at the fag lighter, I had a loose conection inthe door, meant I wasn't charging through the socket when thought I was

I haven't heard of anyone else having a similar problem though

[shpub]

Battery conditioners are not battery chargers. If the battery is flat, you could levae a battery conditioner on for 3 years and it will never charge. Bit of an exaggertaion but hopefully you get the picture. I would suggest putting the battery on a real charger first before doing anything else. Could be that the battery is flat and needs recharging or dead in which case it may need replacing. Conditioners are great at maintaining a battery but don't work so well when the battery has gone flat.

[raceboy]

Thing is the car was fine on Saturday, started 1st ime, twice while I was out and about on my travels,
The battery conditioner is wired straight to the battery terminals so that should be fine
So 1st thing before I start taking the alternator off, is take the battery off and give it a good hard long slow charge via a 'normal' battery charger

[simpo two]

Even with a conditioner, batteries will still die of old age. In fact, that's one small downside of a conditioner: they keep the battery charged enough to let you start and get to your destination, but then the battery's gone flat when you want to get back home. Without the conditioner, at least you'd have broken down at home!

[raceboy]

So 1st port of call might be dropping off the 8 month old battery then

[snorky]

shpub said
"Battery conditioners are not battery chargers. If the battery is flat, you could leave a battery conditioner on for 3 years and it will never charge"

if you have an accumate/optimate it will charge it up - the optimate on my bike recovered a battery that was well arseh*led, till I could get a replacment.

[shpub]

Got both but neither will restore a flat 12 volt car battery in my experience. There is either insufficient voltage available so that they think the battery is dead or the charging current (around 1 amp) is so low that it takes 60 to 100 hours to fully charge because of the capacity. They will help if the battery is partially discharged but they are not brilliant when the car battery is really dead. Easy to assume that the battery is dead and needs replacing when all it needs is a real good charging.

Just worth trying before shelling out good money on a ne battery.

[raceboy]

When I 1st hooked up the Accumate the battery was pretty flat, and reading the instruction booklet it does say that for a battery of the power rating in a TVR your looking at a 60 hour charge, this I did and somewhere about the 60 hour mark it lit up as 'fully charged' but now it's not happy
and I don't like the fact the alternator warning light doesn't come on when you switch the ingnition on
But is the 1st 'to do' to take the battery off and give it a right good chargeing

[simpo two]

raceboy said:

So 1st port of call might be dropping off the 8 month old battery then

No, first port of call is to find your receipt and take it back to the shop.

[shpub]

There may be two issues here.
1. The alternator is U/S which is why the battery has been flat.
2. You have a flat battery.

Worth charging the battery just in case.
Also worth checking the alternator fuse before assuming the worst.

After this it's battery back and get the alterntor chceked out.

[GreenV8S]

raceboy said:

I don't like the fact the alternator warning light doesn't come on when you switch the ingnition on

No, that isn't a good sign. If the alternator is healthy, the no-charge warning should come on unless the battery is absolutely as dead as a door nail. No charge warning light effectively means no working alternator.

[raceboy]

GreenV8S said:

No, that isn't a good sign. If the alternator is healthy, the no-charge warning should come on unless the battery is absolutely as dead as a door nail. No charge warning light effectively means no working alternator.

Now thats what I thought, the clock still ticks, the alarm led is flashing, it even primes the fuel pump but didn't have enough juice to turn over, it just sent the central locking relay into spasam
So I'm thinking........
Battery off and a good off the car slow charge
Alternator off, bench tested and fixed if need be
This car used to be fine when I used it every day, and before I mentioned changeing it

[5ltr-chim]

raceboy said:

before I mentioned changeing it

And thus he deduced she was sulking..

Once 'charged' check running voltage - should be about 13.8V and plenty of current from alternator by operating lights when running - ~ 15A or more.

Could be a rectifier diode in the alternator gone dry joint - will provide ewnough to keep car running but not enough to keep battery fully charged as well.

Good luck.

[bsdnazz]

I left my Chim battery on a conditioner for a week and the light stayed amber. It was only after I cleaned up the battery binding posts and the clamps that things improved. Now I have one happy battery and one happy conditioner!

I think the resistance of dirty/corroded binding posts and clamps is enough to stop the conditioner from being able to do its thing.