- Check what the voltage is across the terminals of the battery. It should be around 12.6V
- If the voltage is low charge it up. When the battery is completely flat charge it with a trickle charger for about 22 hours then it should be fully charged
- Connect the battery to a battery test and turn up the amps to that of the starter to see if the battery can handle it. If the battery can't handle it then it needs to be replaced
Checking if the battery charges
- Find the voltage of the battery when the car is off
- Start the car and check the voltage again. It should be between 13.2 and 14.4V. If the voltage is lower than this it means there may be a fault with the alternator or the wiring. If the voltage stays the same (12.6V) then it means the alternator is not charging the battery
- Switch on a few applications such as the lights, radio,wipers etc. to check if the alternator can handle it and still charge the battery. (have a volt reading of 13.2 - 14.4V)
Checking for a current draw
- If the battery is fine then use an ammeter to see if any current is drawn from the battery while the car is switched off.
- make sure the car is switched off
- set the ammeter to amps and connect the wire to the right port
- remove the negative wire from the terminal
- connect the ammeter in series to the cars circuit (between the battery cable and the terminal)
- the reading should be close to zero. If not then something is drawing current from the battery
- to find out what it is remove the fuses individually and check the ammeter reading until the reading is zero when a fuse is removed
- check the diagram to find the application the fuse belongs to and find out why it is drawing current
No comments:
Post a Comment