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View Full Version : Defender cooks two batteries. How?



JamesH
26th July 2005, 05:49 PM
Hi All

Any ideas on the following?

1 defender with dual battery system - secured and bolted under seat formly. All contact points in place. Everything seems fine until 6000k into our trip all of a sudden...

1 alternator light comes on.

owner is camping and running an engel on freeze. checking volts regualrly it appears there is a charge of some kind coming through. Decides to limp home. "We at least I know if it starts I'll be OK for driving in dry weather during the day" Wrong, very close to home it dies. "Bloody thing has an electric fuel pump. Well that;s something I learned the hard way..."


car is at auto electrician. alledgedly two brand new deep cycle batteries are stuffed. Alternator (recently overhauled) is stuffed though bearings and belts all AOK.

What happened? It looks like something occured which stuffed the alternator in that the voltage regulator failed and the alternator kept charging the batteries until they were cooked. But what?

One theory is that battery was stuffed from the shop which in turn stuffed the alternator. Doubtful given the 6000km of faithful service.

Battery was shook on the leveque road so a plate shifted and shorted which led to a fart in the alternator?

Another theory. The car was pulled apart in the process of pulling out the clutch and batteries were disconnected and somehwo a short happened.

The thing is that none of the troubles mentioned occurred near to the event where the light came on.

DEFENDERZOOK
26th July 2005, 07:17 PM
<span style="color:green">alternator had reached its use-by date......</span>

abaddonxi
26th July 2005, 09:48 PM
How about this:

When it was in for the clutch they disconnected the main battery but forget the second battery.

Or the other way around.

Disconnected second battery, main battery gets toasted, everything runs on second battery and all is fine for 6000km until you put the heavy engel load on second battery so it drains itself real fast and toast all round.

Simon

DEFENDERZOOK
26th July 2005, 10:14 PM
<span style="color:green">the alternator that was overhauled....

why was it overhauled?
what exactly did they do to it?



if they just changed changed bearings and checked to make sure it is charging.....


it may have overheated on the long trip from working harder than normal and dropped a diode.....or stuffed a regulator.....


what controls the charging of the two batteries.....?
is this working ok?
was the electrolyte level in both batteries correct? or had they been boiled dry from overcharging?</span>

JamesH
27th July 2005, 11:07 AM
All interesting questions and theories guys. Thanks.

Will report if we find anything out.

DEFENDERZOOK
27th July 2005, 08:18 PM
<span style="color:blue">hopefully before a repeat performance....</span>