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Looking for some guidance as I'm a bit puzzled. My battery light started flickering mostly at idle and low speeds to begin with. Did not notice any changes in driving. Got the car tested by both auto zone and AAA. Both said alternator was fine but battery was going bad. The battery was only a year old and I got it replaced for free under AAA warranty. Now the battery light was flickering only at higher rpm's on the way to work. Leaving work, I started the car and it stayed on solid red until I drove for about 20 seconds. Again no driving issues. I tested the voltages and it's at 12.8 with car off and about 14.4 with the car on. I can turn every electrical component on and the light will not illuminate nor will the car die. Suggestions?
Looking for some guidance as I'm a bit puzzled. My battery light started flickering mostly at idle and low speeds to begin with. Did not notice any changes in driving. Got the car tested by both auto zone and AAA. Both said alternator was fine but battery was going bad. The battery was only a year old and I got it replaced for free under AAA warranty. Now the battery light was flickering only at higher rpm's on the way to work. Leaving work, I started the car and it stayed on solid red until I drove for about 20 seconds. Again no driving issues. I tested the voltages and it's at 12.8 with car off and about 14.4 with the car on. I can turn every electrical component on and the light will not illuminate nor will the car die. Suggestions?
Now you know how useless Autozone and AAA testing services are. There are problems that can happen with the alternator where charging voltage might still be high. It is important that the charging voltage at higher RPMs maintains high 13s, low 14s with every possible electrical load turned on.
Could be two problems-
Loose belt.
Voltage regulator. It is a PCB in the alternator. Could be an intermittent problem with one of the circuits going bad. PCB can not be repaired/replaced. Must replace alternator.
Now you know how useless Autozone and AAA testing services are. There are problems that can happen with the alternator where charging voltage might still be high. It is important that the charging voltage at higher RPMs maintains high 13s, low 14s with every possible electrical load turned on.
Don in Austin
It does. Stayed in low 14s with little to no fluctuation with everything on and wife revving engine.
Looking for some guidance as I'm a bit puzzled. My battery light started flickering mostly at idle and low speeds to begin with. Did not notice any changes in driving. Got the car tested by both auto zone and AAA. Both said alternator was fine but battery was going bad. The battery was only a year old and I got it replaced for free under AAA warranty. Now the battery light was flickering only at higher rpm's on the way to work. Leaving work, I started the car and it stayed on solid red until I drove for about 20 seconds. Again no driving issues. I tested the voltages and it's at 12.8 with car off and about 14.4 with the car on. I can turn every electrical component on and the light will not illuminate nor will the car die. Suggestions?
My battery light issues all revolved around the alternator starting to go bad, then one day bam, alternator done, all the tests before that said the alternator was fine.
Could be two problems-
Loose belt.
Voltage regulator. It is a PCB in the alternator. Could be an intermittent problem with one of the circuits going bad. PCB can not be repaired/replaced. Must replace alternator.
Many people think their alternator has gone bad when it is actually the internal voltage regulator. It's just a small PCB that gets fried from the heat of the engine.
Being that it is internal, it can not be tested. A way to test if it is working is having a volt meter on the battery. With engine running, volts will be about 12.6. You will know that voltage regulator is working when volts on meter jump to 14+. [Alternator is always on, constant 14 volts] When battery is re-charged, volts on meter drop again to 12.6 This cycling will be much quicker if lights, radio, fan, a/c are on. And it doesn't matter if engine is idling or 4000 rpm
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