1,300kms from home and no alternator

**drivesafe** · 22nd January 2021, 08:23 PM

D4 plus Caravan, minus an alternator and 1,300kms to home.

Hi folks, this is an incident that occurred just before Christmas to an AULRO member, penglish.

penglish was enjoying some holiday time with his family but as he pulled up at a fuel bowser at the Pimba Roadhouse ( just south of Woomera ) and turned the ignition off, he sees a red light on the dash a split second before he turned the ignition off.

So he turns the ignition back on and sure enough, the battery light comes on.

After some investigating, he finds the alternator was no longer charging.

He is towing a caravan, and is 1,300kms from home, literally in the middle of nowhere.

After making some enquiries, it is going to cost him $800 to have the D4 towed to Port Augusta, and he would have to leave his family and caravan at the road house.

After making numerous enquiries about the availability of an alternator in port Augusta, he found there was not only none available there, he could not locate one even in Adelaide. Even Land Rover Adelaide did not have the part in stock. It was 30 December so most places were also closed.

So after a call to me, and told me he had a 2,000w Honda generator, and a battery charger in the caravan. Plus one of those cigarette plug LED volt meters.

penglish rewired his USI-160 isolator, so that all his batteries ( cranking battery, auxiliary battery and two house batteries in his caravan ) were now all linked together and spent the night in a local caravan park, on a powered site in Woomera.

The following morning, with all four batteries charged, penglish set off to Port Augusta, 188kms away. He made it to Port Augusta with the cranking battery at 11.0 volts.

In Port Augusta, he bought the biggest battery charger he could get. A 21 amp charger. He also bought a new cranking battery, just incase the now old one, didn’t make it.

In Port Augusta, penglish used his portable gen to power both the caravan battery charger and new battery charger. Running them for 3 hours, before proceeding on to Morgen, some 287kms.

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In Morgan, he stayed at another powered site, using both chargers to recharge all his batteries overnight.

The following day, he drove 226kms to Redcliff, where he spent another 3 hours recharging all his batteries before continuing 177kms to Hopeton, and another night at a powered site.

The following day was a 385kms drive from Hopeton to Melbourne and home at last, where he could finally get the alternator repaired.

The new battery charger cost $229, the new cranking battery was $329 and the alternator repair was $1,100.

**Bulletman** · 22nd January 2021, 08:34 PM

Thats why the second spare part i bought and always carry with me is a new alternator.

First was a code reader.

Glad to see some lateral thinking solved the issues.

Bulletman

**Briar** · 22nd January 2021, 09:10 PM

Three questions:
1) What about if I only have an SC80 on my Traxide system?
2) How many really carry a spare alternator, is this a frequent issue?
3) How much for an alternator to carry?

I mean I like the idea of carrying spares but where do you stop?

**Bulletman** · 22nd January 2021, 09:48 PM

Originally Posted by Briar

Three questions:
1) What about if I only have an SC80 on my Traxide system?
2) How many really carry a spare alternator, is this a frequent issue?
3) How much for an alternator to carry?

I mean I like the idea of carrying spares but where do you stop?

No - where do you start - the biggest killer of these cars is low voltage , the car basically stops and shuts down when the battery isnt charging and the voltage drops to if i remember correctly 10.8V.

An alternator for these cars is not something readily available ,i got mine from the UK ,genuine Denso unit and it stays in the car.

Each for their own ,but this thread highlights how hard they are to source , and what the possible costs could be if they fail... pretty easy decision in my eyes.

The cost of the battery, charger and alternator repair , would proberly buy 2 new units from the UK.

Bulletman

**DiscoDB** · 22nd January 2021, 10:15 PM

Gotta love being a modern day bush mechanic. By re-wiring the USI-160 I presume it was bypassed entirely.

But does show why carry a spare alternator if you have a generator handy. I can imagine mounting the generator on the trailer drawbar and leaving it running with the chargers connected. Could then double the range between stops.

**DiscoJeffster** · 22nd January 2021, 10:29 PM

Originally Posted by DiscoDB

Gotta love being a modern day bush mechanic. By re-wiring the USI-160 I presume it was bypassed entirely.

But does show why carry a spare alternator if you have a generator handy. I can imagine mounting the generator on the trailer drawbar and leaving it running with the chargers connected. Could then double the range between stops.

To be honest, that’s where I thought this story was going

**Milton477** · 22nd January 2021, 11:07 PM

Thanks for confirmation that this works Drivesafe. When purchasing & installing a Victron Multiplus Inverter/120A Charger in my van, I wondered if I could use my generator running on the van while travelling to charge the van batteries & then keep the D4 running & you have now confirmed what I hoped.

**Eevo** · 22nd January 2021, 11:08 PM

at least the honda was reliable

**Tins** · 22nd January 2021, 11:31 PM

Originally Posted by Bulletman

No - where do you start - the biggest killer of these cars is low voltage , the car basically stops and shuts down when the battery isnt charging and the voltage drops to if i remember correctly 10.8V.

Bulletman

Even a D2 stops when low voltage is reached. Well, mine did. ( Something else for the D1 vs D2 thread... )

Where do you stop? Well, I'd say you deal with obvious show stoppers. If I was planning a trip into remote areas I'd replace the usual suspects and carry the old ones as spares. I know that GVM is an issue, so I'd carry spares or things that cannot be cobbled together, although Tim's post shows that cobbling together can be more than you'd think.
Classic solution, and a reminder that help can be at hand. Well done, Tim, and penglish of course.

**Eric SDV6SE** · 22nd January 2021, 11:35 PM

Originally Posted by Bulletman

An alternator for these cars is not something readily available

Sorry but i disagree there, rovacraft has them in stock, genuine denso $680 or so. Replacing them takes about an hour.

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