feel the love? charging problem.

alancordeiro at att.net alancordeiro at att.net
Tue Sep 16 17:22:06 PDT 2008


Ed,

Sorry to see you so frustrated. Lets approach the problem slowly.

Something in the bootstrap charging circuit is awry.  Else your battery 
light would be coming on. This problem may be in the lamp, the socket, the 
IC solder joints, the wiring upto the alternator, the alternator regulator, 
the alternator brushes, or the field winding itself.

If you turn on the ignition (not start) try and measure the voltage in the 
charging wire where it goes into the alternator. You may have to press in a 
fine pin in through the insulation to get the reading if you do not have 
access to the terminal at the back of the alternator.
If this voltage is close to battery voltage, the problem is in the 
alternator. If close to zero, the problem is in the wiring before it gets to 
the alternator.
Hope this helps narrow down the location of your problem somewhat.

To confirm your diagnosis from the above test, if you get full voltage at 
the field wire, ground it and see if the lamp in the IC comes on. If there 
is next to zero volts, feed the wire at this point from battery + with a 2 
watt lamp in series, see if the alternator charges.



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