Alternator - Various Fault Codes

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Originally Posted by Oztourer

What is the battery voltage when charging and with the ignition off?

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Checked battery this morning and 12.11V after being connected overnight.

Attached charger and after a minute or so was at 12.46V. Have left on charge and will check when I get home after lunch.

Hi Dale, before you do anything else, reconnect the Traxide setup and give BOTH batteries a good charge.

By a good charge, you need to leave the battery charger charging them for at least 8 to 10 hours after the charger has gone into FLOAT Mode.

From what you have posted about your driving habits, you are actually flattening the batteries because you are continually starting the motor, which uses lots of energy and then you are not driving long enough to allow the alternator enough time to replace that used energy.

This is what I call the Shopping Trolley Syndrome and you are just progressively discharging your batteries overtime you drive.

If after a good charge, the light has gone out, then you will need to repeat this charge cycle a few times to get your batteries back into a good condition, so they will hold a charge better.

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Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi Dale, before you do anything else, reconnect the Traxide setup and give BOTH batteries a good charge.

By a good charge, you need to leave the battery charger charging them for at least 8 to 10 hours after the charger has gone into FLOAT Mode.

From what you have posted about your driving habits, you are actually flattening the batteries because you are continually starting the motor, which uses lots of energy and then you are not driving long enough to allow the alternator enough time to replace that used energy.

This is what I call the Shopping Trolley Syndrome and you are just progressively discharging your batteries overtime you drive.

If after a good charge, the light has gone out, then you will need to repeat this charge cycle a few times to get your batteries back into a good condition, so they will hold a charge better.

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Thanks for the time and effort to post Tim. I understand how busy you have been.

I am certainly aware of shopping trolley syndrome and endeavour to get a decent drive in on the weekends. The week before last weekend it actually had more running than usual.

In reading back through what I had posted I realised that when the listed fault codes were present on the old alternator, the live Nanocom reading for the battery was 11.1 or 11.3V. When the battery light came on with Ean's alternator the live reading again became 11.3V.

I have commenced the charge you recommended Tim and when that is complete I will see what happens once I restart the vehicle.

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Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi Dale, before you do anything else, reconnect the Traxide setup and give BOTH batteries a good charge.

By a good charge, you need to leave the battery charger charging them for at least 8 to 10 hours after the charger has gone into FLOAT Mode.

From what you have posted about your driving habits, you are actually flattening the batteries because you are continually starting the motor, which uses lots of energy and then you are not driving long enough to allow the alternator enough time to replace that used energy.

This is what I call the Shopping Trolley Syndrome and you are just progressively discharging your batteries overtime you drive.

If after a good charge, the light has gone out, then you will need to repeat this charge cycle a few times to get your batteries back into a good condition, so they will hold a charge better.

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Gday Tim,

As Dale said , thanks for the reply. I am wondering why when we fitted the spare alternator why it showed as charging, my multi meter said 14.4 v and when Dale pushed up the revs his nanocom said as high as 15.3v and the light was off.
I packed up and headed home and 20 mins later when the car is started the voltage is low and it's not charging , yet when we first fitted it by all accounts the spare alternator was working.

Cheers Ean

Hi again Dale and Ern, can I make a suggestion.

If you have not already done so, try doing a HARD RESET, and see if this fixes things, but only do this after the charging is finished.

Thanks for that suggestion Tim. I will do that once the charging is done.

I would be looking for a broken wire at or near the signal connector at the alternator. That the fault is intermittent, it went away when the alternator was replaced but soon returned along with the fault codes indicating a field signal error suggests that its not a low battery state of charge situation.

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Originally Posted by Graeme

I would be looking for a broken wire at or near the signal connector at the alternator. That the fault is intermittent, it went away when the alternator was replaced but soon returned along with the fault codes indicating a field signal error suggests that its not a low battery state of charge situation.

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Thanks Graeme , I was a bit concerned the plug on the back of the alternator could have been put back on the wrong way as the plug was quite brittle. It turns out the pins are offset so it only fits 1 way.


Cheers Ean

If the housing has become brittle from heat then the connector sockets may also have become loose or be tarnished enough to not make good contact.

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Originally Posted by Graeme

If the housing has become brittle from heat then the connector sockets may also have become loose or be tarnished enough to not make good contact.

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Thanks Graeme. I will be getting the original alternator checked tomorrow so that will provide a little more information.

Fortunately the vehicle is not needed in the next week so another alternator swap is on the cards for next weekend which will allow checking of the housing etc.