Teutone
Guest
Some of you may remember that I had some charging problems last year coming back from Italy. Van Battery wouldn't get charged and Voltage was randomly dropping even lower than 12Volt while driving.
I went through the Gotthard tunnel with the lights off an 11.5 Volt on the display.
To cut a long story short, I went and bought a new battery. No difference.
Went an bought a new alternator. First it seemed that this had cured the problem but after a few weeks it just started to drop again. And sometimes not. Or it would drop straight after starting the engine.
However. I saw a posting on the Fiat Forum about charging problems. One of the posters recommened to use a jump lead and make and extra earth from the alternator housing direct to the minus of the battery.
BINGO! Voltage went straight to 14.4Volt! It was sparking when I attached the jump lead to the battery.
I tried to clean all the ground strap points but the engine one didn't even want to come off. Slicing the insualtion of the ground strap off, I found a green brittle mess.
I have attached an additional earth strap from the alternator bracket to the chassis ground point under the battery tray and boy this made a difference.
Voltage does now hardly change (14.4 - 14.5), engine starter seems to rev much more eager and finally my Van Battery get's charged!
I went through the Gotthard tunnel with the lights off an 11.5 Volt on the display.
To cut a long story short, I went and bought a new battery. No difference.
Went an bought a new alternator. First it seemed that this had cured the problem but after a few weeks it just started to drop again. And sometimes not. Or it would drop straight after starting the engine.
However. I saw a posting on the Fiat Forum about charging problems. One of the posters recommened to use a jump lead and make and extra earth from the alternator housing direct to the minus of the battery.
BINGO! Voltage went straight to 14.4Volt! It was sparking when I attached the jump lead to the battery.
I tried to clean all the ground strap points but the engine one didn't even want to come off. Slicing the insualtion of the ground strap off, I found a green brittle mess.
I have attached an additional earth strap from the alternator bracket to the chassis ground point under the battery tray and boy this made a difference.
Voltage does now hardly change (14.4 - 14.5), engine starter seems to rev much more eager and finally my Van Battery get's charged!
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