Alternator

[Chris Hawes]

My Alpine system says that the battery is around 12.7 volts at peak and I have noticed that the battery light is very faintly on when driving at night. I guess this means that the alternator isn't doing quite the same job at charging the battery as it did a while back. I have a 6 month old battery (heavy duty) on the car and the original Motorola? alternator hasn't let me down yet.

If when new it was doing 110 amps then I would like to know what I should do next. As the car has an alarm/immobiliser plus a reasonably heavy duty ICE system should I have the alternator re-conditioned to a higher amperage and if so by how much? Or do I just replace it and if so with which model?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[NickT]

First thing to check would be the drive belt isn't slipping !

Do you mean that when the engine is off the battery is at 12.7 Volts?
If so then this is an indication that the battery is fully charged.

If you mean when the engine is running the peak voltage is 12.7 volts then this is a bad sign as (depending on current load) the voltage should be between 13.5 and 14.5 volts.

This is what I would do for a test:

Test by running the engine at idle (with ALL accessories unplugged)
Connect a volt meter (set to 20v range if not autoranging).
Connect red cable to jump start post.
Connect black cable to inlet manifold (or other earth point like engine lifting hook nr right hand cylinder head cover to the right of the throttle spool)

You should get between 13.5 and 14.5 volts with no interior lamp warning light on.
If the light is on then remove alternator and get it tested. We don't want it to spike any electronics.

If the light is off, turn on accesories one by one until the warning lamp comes on. You should be able to at least turn on all standard DeLorean accessories like front headlamps, air conditioning, rear heater, stereo etc.
If the light is still off then the alternator output is within spec.

Now turn on your other ICE goodies one by one. If the warning lamp comes on then I would say that the alternator is not quite up to meet the demand of your extras.

I am presuming here that the battery is at full charge and that you calculated the extra current consumption when you added the ICE.

I personally have a specialTauto 140 amp alternator and an 096 Halfords calcium battery and have had no problems with it. Once I forgot to disconnect the battery for 8 weeks and it turned on the key. The only downside was that the autobox didn't change gear right for the first 3 miles until the battery voltage came up to normal.

http://www.specialtauto.com/delorean-pa ... ators.html

Hope this helps,

Good luck,

NickT.

[NickT]

Hi again,

You said you have a heavy duty battery on the car, what is the Ah rating?
(Ah - Amp hour)
It shoud say this on the battery itself.
The code i gave "096" is the actual physical dimension of the battery.
(I think it is an 096, it might be an 095 - I could have a check)

The Ah rating on mine is 75Ah if I remember.

Nick-forgetful-erm-T

[zippy]

Nickt Have you got a part number for the alternator or who makes them. Should be fit to get them some where in England are get the old one up graded. I need one thanks.

[NickT]

Link on earlier post:

http://www.specialtauto.com/delorean-pa ... ators.html

Any PRV Engine one will work with at least 90Amp although I would say 110 Amp would be the minimum

NickT

[Guinney1971]

Can I just say a big public thank you to "tc ozzie" who we met up with last
week.

He generously and very kindly let me have his old alternator for Flopsy - and
he even drove out to find us when the Sat Nav got us lost trying to find his
house :lol:

Really good to meet you Tony (and see DMJ once more) - and cheers for the
cuppa and natter

Top bloke!

[NickT]

Top news, so when will you be fitting it to Blingy (the car formerly known as Flopsy)

Isn't it typical that when there is a holiday the weather is always bad.

I should be in the garage, not clearing the loft out. I'm only halfway!

Bad NickT......

[stunned_monkey]

NickT Wrote:Any PRV Engine one will work with at least 90Amp although I would say 110 Amp would be the minimum

No, only some Renault engines had the alternator mounted in "our" location with the same bracket and mounts. Others, incl Volvo had them elsewhere with different belt setups etc.

[Guinney1971]

cheers Nick, it just goes to show what great club members there are out
there, restores your faith in the human race sometimes.

I've not even looked at Flopsy in weeks tbh, feel like that there's not much
point when I cant even drive the car - or afford to run it even if I could
The car is basically just expensive garage jewellery at the moment, which really
gets me down sometimes. I wonder if I'll even bother putting it on the road
at all this year..... ah well, you never know, maybe my solicitor will finally pull
her finger out of her backside and sort my claim out..... :roll:

Shame really, cos Darren and Chris have worked wonders on the car, and
I'm gutted that I cant show off what a fantastic job they've done - I cant
recommend them highly enough

[Glen & Sam]

chris

i,m not surprized at all with the kit you have in your car if you put any more in you will need to run on mains like me i have got to upgrade mine next month aswell due to the invertor pulling most of the power out for the smoke machies

[NickT]

Claire Usher Wrote:cheers Nick, it just goes to show what great club members there are out
there, restores your faith in the human race sometimes.

I've not even looked at Flopsy in weeks tbh, feel like that there's not much
point when I cant even drive the car - or afford to run it even if I could
The car is basically just expensive garage jewellery at the moment, which really
gets me down sometimes. I wonder if I'll even bother putting it on the road
at all this year..... ah well, you never know, maybe my solicitor will finally pull
her finger out of her backside and sort my claim out..... :roll:

Shame really, cos Darren and Chris have worked wonders on the car, and
I'm gutted that I cant show off what a fantastic job they've done - I cant
recommend them highly enough

I know what you mean. Sometimes even getting a "Thank-You" makes it feel worth while too.

So what's the future? Will you be consolidating the Claire Fleet of cars?
Are you back at work yet?

NickT

[Guinney1971]

NickT Wrote:I know what you mean. Sometimes even getting a "Thank-You" makes it feel worth while too.

So what's the future? Will you be consolidating the Claire Fleet of cars?
Are you back at work yet?

NickT

Well, the "Claire and Phill Fleet" currently stands at 10 cars, although one
is in the process of being scrapped (the Cavalier Diplomat) and another is
Phill's sons car - he's got a job in the middle of London, so has no where to
keep a car and gets around by tube so doesnt need a car. So, one low mileage,
FSH, cheap as chips ( :wink: ) Corsa Diesel is up for sale

I've been back at work since mid Feb, but my shoulder is getting worse it
seems, not better I'm now having hydrotherapy twice a week, which is
helping a bit, but I'm currently unable to raise my arm to shoulder height
nor can I reach backwards - as you can imagine, this makes simple tasks
that most people take for granted, like getting dressed or brushing hair
very difficult, time consuming and very painful.

Plus also, theres the frustration that I cannot get on with jobs on the cars
or do stuff out in the garden - I've got a huge area that I want to turn into a
vegetable patch, plus the pond to finish off, and I cant do it

Anyway, I think we've gone a bit OT, but thanks again to Tony for the alternator
and NickT as ever for his top technical advice

[tc ozzie]

well you very welcome claire nice to meet ya both

the end off the day thats what clubs were for

its weird cause a few days after seeing you guys my cars gone belly up its well gone wrong but with lots of help from people on here ya cant go wrong and hopefully p j just up the road we might get through it yet


t t f n