Battery

D

DAV8

Member
Hi All, Has anyone experienced the following, I have recently fitted a new battery to my 1971 V8 (the old battery was 13 years old) since fitting the new battery, a varta blue dynamic giving 60 amp/h, I have noticed that the amp needle is "pulsing" (into the plus zone) accompanied by a rythmic "wrrr" from the alternator, i.e. with each wrrr the needle would pulse, so I had the alternator checked out with no problems found also checked the 4TR unit again no problems, so out of curiosity I put the old battery on the car and the pulsing and wrrr had gone!! very strange I thought, so, am I okay to carry on with the new battery or could it be faulty.
Thanks in advance
DAV8
Dave
 
Hi Dave,

The alternator by the sound of it is charging the new battery, hence the reason the ammeter is moving into the positive side. Once fully charged, the ammeter will again sit in the null position.

Ron.
 
Hi Ron, Many thanks for your reply, is that normal for the alternator (and the system) to charge a new battery, I have cecked the battery with a multimeter and it reads about 12.8 volts, I have to admit that I have never experienced that before, this is the forth battery the car has ever had (at the end of next week I will have owned the car for 40 years!) So I will presume I am okay to carry on without causing any damage to the wiring system etc. Thanks again
Best Regards
Dave
 
Does sound a bit odd to me and I am at a loss to think why you should be getting noise from the alternator.
As to why your charging system should be required to charge a new battery is also a bit of a mystery as new batteries are normally supplied reasonably charged.
How long did it take the battery to charge with driving the car? were it mine I would be tempted on seeing the symptoms yours exhibited to charge the battery fully before use......this still does not explain why the alternator charge circuit was giving you a pulsing output, I can only think of 2 explanations for that 1: Charging current is so high that the regulator is unable to cope and likely to die! 2: faulty regulator or alternator.

Graeme
 
Hi Graeme, Yes, it does seem odd, I have not had the chance to give the car a good run since I bought the battery (holiday and bad weather getting in the way!) I did replace the 4TR unit about a year ago, unfortunately the Lucas item is no longer available so I bought a replacement from Holdens, the reason I replaced this is because the ignition light came on and stayed with the ammeter well into the minus zone so something had to be done. I will put the battery on charge and see what happens, as I said, I have had the alternator and 4TR checked out without any faults. I'll keep you posted.
Best Regards
Dave
 
Hi All, Today I have fully charged the new battery and I get a reading on the multimeter of 13.2 V, this does seem to fall fairly quickly to around 12.9/12.8 V (about 15 mins) so, back on the car and no change, still doing the same strange things, so again put the old battery on the car and no problems (engine up to temp) ammeter and alternator etc as I would expect. I have now rang the company from where I bought the battery a month ago (South Yorks Battery Services) explained the situation to them and they say it is possible that the battery could be faulty but whatever they will ensure all is okay, so that is my next move.
Best Regards, Dave
DAV8
 
DAV8 said:
Hi All, Today I have fully charged the new battery and I get a reading on the multimeter of 13.2 V, this does seem to fall fairly quickly to around 12.9/12.8 V (about 15 mins) so, back on the car and no change, still doing the same strange things, so again put the old battery on the car and no problems (engine up to temp) ammeter and alternator etc as I would expect. I have now rang the company from where I bought the battery a month ago (South Yorks Battery Services) explained the situation to them and they say it is possible that the battery could be faulty but whatever they will ensure all is okay, so that is my next move.
Best Regards, Dave
DAV8
Click to expand...

Take it back and get it exchanged :) I would take it back with the car so they can see whats happening if needed, and then try a new one when you are there, to ensure the new one works.

Richard
 
Hi All, As Richard suggest's, I have returned the battery to South Yorks Battery Services with the car and they checked the battery also tried a new one at the same time and found no problem with the batteries but I still have the same problem, I had a chat with the chap at Chapmans Auto electrics and he asure's me that I cannot cause any damage to the electrical systems on the car, so for now it is a "scratching the head time".
Dave
DAV8
 
Potentially it could be in the wiring to the battery, bad earths and dodgy connectors.
 
Hi All, Gave the car a good run last Wednesday, about 190 miles and I have not had any problems, the ammeter would occasionally "pulse or jump" but quite often it would be stable. I checked the battery when I returned home and I got a reading of 13 volts (on my multimeter) re-checked the following day and I had a reading of 12.8 volts so I think I will put this one to bed now, if in the near future I have any problems I will report them on the Forum, hope this will help anybody else
Best Regards, Dave
DAV8
 
Next time you get notice of impending pulsing have a voltmeter connected across the battery with the engine running and watch the v-readings. That might help with the diagnosis. By the way: An ANALOG voltmeter is better suited to observe rapid fluctuations.

Vin
 
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