timbos99 Member 300 Member For: 15y 5m 16d Gender: Male Location: QLD Posted 01/02/09 01:38 AM Share Posted 01/02/09 01:38 AM Hey all, just had some issues with my battery. After short period of using power, the battery went dead. So went to a battery place to get them to put it on a good charge, they checked the charge rate which was low 13's they say it should low 14's and will not give the battery a proper charge and will result in the battery slowly dieing.... Next time I go in, I'll hit Ford up about this. Does anyone have a bit of input about this? does the above sound right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chich Damn You's A Sexy Chich Member 3,843 Member For: 16y 2m 4d Gender: Male Location: Your House Posted 01/02/09 01:43 AM Share Posted 01/02/09 01:43 AM Sounds right to me, I had a similar problem, with my old n/a ba, the alternator was not charging the battery enough, so I put a new one in, and problem solved, if its still under warranty I would take it back to ford and get them to sort it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smicky Go Pies!!! Donating Members 2,852 Member For: 16y 2m 3d Gender: Male Location: Vic Somewhere - Sometimes NSW Posted 01/02/09 03:34 AM Share Posted 01/02/09 03:34 AM (edited) timbos, mate there is some truth to what has been said...As a general guide, a car battery will produce 12 volts when the car is switched off.When a car is running the alternator will produce generally between 13.5 and 14v.Depending on what the car is requiring at the time "low 13's" may in fact be enough to recharge the battery. Depends on the load required by the electrical systems when running all the electrical gear at once. So providing that the electrical system is not drawing more then say 12 or 12.5v and the alternator is sending "low 13's (say 13.4v) the batter will be receiving charge. It just wont charge as quick as a like for like system which is producing 14v from the alternator.Keep in mind it depends how they tested this - with or with out lights, AC, stereo all switched on or off etc..The whole time your car is running (engine cranked) the alternator is actually powering your electrical system - not the battery. The battery will only come into play if the electrical system dips and requires more then what is being offered from the alternator.Therefore if your are offering the electrical system say 13.5 volts, and its using 13volts - the remaining .5volt will be sent to the battery - in turn charging it. So assuming your alternator is sending 13.5 down the line and the battery is not charging - there is something in the car which is draining the battery either when switched off, or when being driven (which is greater then that on offer from the alternator).Easy fix - drive you car more often and harder, turn your stereo of, use the window instead of your aircon and dont turn you or lights on at night! - just joking!Get the boys at Ford to check it out for you and see what they say.Hope this helps and was understandable! Edited 01/02/09 03:46 AM by smicky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbos99 Member 300 Member For: 15y 5m 16d Gender: Male Location: QLD Posted 01/02/09 04:57 AM Author Share Posted 01/02/09 04:57 AM Keep in mind it depends how they tested this - with or with out lights, AC, stereo all switched on or off etc..Easy fix - drive you car more often and harderWe checked with all the stuff on and then off and it made next to no difference...ok Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike XR6T iTs alL DaRDy........ Donating Members 780 Member For: 16y 7m 15d Gender: Male Location: Adelaide Posted 01/02/09 06:36 AM Share Posted 01/02/09 06:36 AM (edited) smicky u r on the right track but your getting volatge confused with amperage.amps is what u mean, and volatge is relitive. If the battery is dead flat the alt will increase its output(amperage) therefore the voltage will drop. as the batteries state of charge increases the amp output will decrease and there fore the voltage will come up.a BA alt is rated at 100amps( I think) and 14v so until the car and or flat battery is demanding more than 100 amps it should be able to output while remaining at 14volts.to be sure your alt is working correctly or incorrectly u MUST have a fully charged battery( and for that matter one that isnt faulty)I would be more inclined to say that timbos battery may be faulty and needs to be fully charged and tested out of the car prior to condeming the alt.a faulty battery will required a large effort from the alt and quiet offen this will make the charge voltage drop to 13-13.2 depending on battery condition.just something to think about:)im not being a smart arse u just wernt quiet right cheers Guys Edited 01/02/09 06:38 AM by Mike XR6T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbos99 Member 300 Member For: 15y 5m 16d Gender: Male Location: QLD Posted 01/02/09 09:11 AM Author Share Posted 01/02/09 09:11 AM to be sure your alt is working correctly or incorrectly u MUST have a fully charged battery( and for that matter one that isnt faulty)I would be more inclined to say that timbos battery may be faulty and needs to be fully charged and tested out of the car prior to condeming the alt.that's why I took it to the battery place. I knew after it went flat it would need a good charge, they also tested it, as I don't know much about batteries I'm not sure what they did. They said the battery came back fine... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike XR6T iTs alL DaRDy........ Donating Members 780 Member For: 16y 7m 15d Gender: Male Location: Adelaide Posted 01/02/09 09:14 AM Share Posted 01/02/09 09:14 AM ok well then the alt does sound suspectdude have u got a fg? is so warrenty?still suspect on the batt especially if fg!some places cant test batteries for sh*tbut I dont wanna mislead ya its hard todiagnose over the net hahahacya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smicky Go Pies!!! Donating Members 2,852 Member For: 16y 2m 3d Gender: Male Location: Vic Somewhere - Sometimes NSW Posted 01/02/09 09:40 AM Share Posted 01/02/09 09:40 AM smicky u r on the right track but your getting volatge confused with amperage.amps is what u mean, and volatge is relitive.Ha ha yes you are correct, not that I was getting confused, but that I also spoke about volts only - rather then amps and current as well...Was just trying to give a very very very basic guide to what was happening so as not to talk about to many 'like' things and get anyone else confused... as you explained it better then I would have!If anyone else wants to know what the hell we are both on about - http://www.bcae1.com/charging.htmthere is a cool little flash image there as well, which will demo what we are talking about! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RHR BOOST Moderating Team 5,698 Member For: 20y 7m 15d Gender: Male Location: Southern Highlands NSW Posted 01/02/09 09:47 AM Share Posted 01/02/09 09:47 AM Its warranty time my friend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azzman460 Azzman Member 223 Member For: 15y 8m 28d Gender: Male Location: Melbourne Posted 02/02/09 01:37 AM Share Posted 02/02/09 01:37 AM From BF's onward these cars used a system called "smart charge" which is different to conventional systems, I'm not sure how it works or what it does but it may cause different readings to conventional charging systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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