alternator problem?

[chris gregg]

Well tonight I ran into my first real problem with the audi.

I haven't had a chance to look at anything yet, that will come tomorrow morning, but I still wont have much time to check it out because I am packing everything up to drive up to school. I figured I'd ask here in case I can get a quick response. 

So...tonight I was driving to our local VW/Audi meet, and like 1/4 of the way there, the ac compressor stopped working (stopped blowing cold).

Everything else was fine though. 

Then after the meet, two lights came on. One was battery light, and one was ABS OFF light. I am assuming all of the above issues are from a dying battery. 

The question is WHY is the battery dying. 

Here are the additional clues to the problem. When car is running, lights dim and certain things fail to operate (like the cd changer lcd screen), when windows are rolled up, etc...voltage was sitting around 10 volts, and with windows in action, it probably dropped to about 8.25 volts. IMO, it cant be just the battery thats the problem if its dropping while the car is running. 

So my question is, are the other issues all related to the battery dropping so low...(I am assuming this is correct), and what is the deal with the alternator. (I'll probably figure this all out tomorrow, but I'd like to ask anyhow). I figure its either got a loose/bad wire, belt came off alternator..?, or alternator is bad. 

What do you think?

-Chris