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Originally Posted by kwren
One of us is able to use a simple test to check an alternator with a DC voltmeter.
None of the people here care about how a diode works. If an alternator doesn’t charge the battery, the alternator has to be replaced. . I have a lot of education and years of experience including one electronics school that began with basics including how every part of an alternator is made, the composition of batteries, and eventually getting to electrical schematics that you couldn’t put on a a sheet of paper as big as a double page of a newspaper. Just one school was 8 hours a day for a full year. I would be void of logic if I couldn’t tell that the alternator was bad if all my red lights came on and I put a voltmeter on it and only got the 12 volts from the battery. When I drove it again and the red lights went off, checked it with the lights off and the output was 14 volts. When 14 volts are put into a 12-volt battery, it charges the battery, period. More logic! I do not need all my education and experience to find out why my alternator doesn’t work.I only need to know to set the meter for dc volts, put the red lead on the positive battery terminal and the black lead on the negative terminal. I don’t even care why the alternator doesn’t work. Why, because to replace the parts in our old alternator would cost at the least $2,000.00 at the Subaru dealer. Several of the parts cost more each than replacing the whole alternator! More logic, just pay the $200 and get a whole new alternator at the same Subaru dealer!
You might be amazed at how little electrical expertise these auto “mechanics” actually have!
KISS Keep It Simple, St----
Keith
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Keith,
I completely reject your confrontational and objectionable post. You boast “I have a lot of education, etc., etc.”, but it is apparent that this did not include appreciation and understanding of the written word.
As the ball is in my court, I feel free to return the volley and point out that I have designed and drawn schematics which would cover the whole of many newspapers and did in fact fill several filing cabinets. These original complex designs, were for hydro electric power stations, industrial complexes, hospitals etc. In anticipation of further comment, I add that the automatic starting and control of engine - alternator, mains failure equipment was involved, exactly meeting the criteria of this thread.
Please read what I have said again carefully and slowly. You may desire to “KISS”, but this problem is only simple to those who understand AC theory, i.e. something normally outside of the scope of auto electricians and I must now conclude also yours. This fact does not amaze me.
N.B. What is being discussed here is an exact fault, which can be confined to, and only becomes apparent, due the combined intermittent illumination of several trouble lights. Not a fault simply involving the DC output of an alternator.
The problem involves a test circuit linking all the test lamps together via blocking diodes, so that a voltage can be provided as a lamp test at start up. If this circuit receives a reverse voltage the lamps will illuminate under normal conditions, hence the fault condition being considered here. The fault will not be necessarily be indicated by the steady illumination of the battery/charge fault indication lamp or any of that which you propose as a test procedure.
Trevor.