The alternator is a decisive Element of your vehicle's electrical charging transaction.
Provided your vehivle's engine seems to be losing force or your interior lights are dim or your windscreen wipers chore particular intermittently, you might hold a defective alternator. The alternator powers your vehicle's battery with electricity and keeps all the additional electrical components running, such as headlights, air conditioning, windscreen wipers and the radio. Whether the battery ablaze on your machine's dashboard illuminates and stays lit, it resources the battery is not life charged. However before you interchange your battery, discharge a no sweat analysis to behold provided your alternator is functioning at complete energy.
Instructions
1. Borrow a voltmeter or acquire one from an Car parts store to confirmation your alternator's electrical output. Voltmeters are relatively cheap to get and are available in digital and analog versions.
2. Open your van. Whether your battery is dead from faculty extract, handle a battery booster or jumper cables to hopping inception your motorcar. Still whether the alternator is failing, your vehicle Testament dawning and flow for a short period of time.
3. Connect the voltmeter probes to the battery posts. Attach the red probe from the voltmeter to the positive (red) post on the car battery and the black probe from the voltmeter to the negative (black) post on the battery. Set the voltmeter to the direct current (DC) scale.
4. Your alternator must generate a higher voltage than your car battery's rated voltage -- usually 12 volts -- to sufficiently supply the battery and all the extra electrical components. A reading lower than 12 volts points to an undercharging alternator, while a reading over 15 suggests your alternator is overcharging, indicated by, For instance, a seeping battery or both headlights failing at the same time.6. Turn on and operate at full speed all car accessories that draw electricity, such as headlights, windshield wipers, radio, rear defoggers and air conditioning.
Run the engine at a fast idle, For instance, around 2500 rpm. Turn off all electricity draining accessories, such as headlights, windshield wipers, radio, rear defoggers and air conditioning.5. Check the battery voltage on the voltmeter, looking for a reading between 13.6 and 14.3 volts.
Maintain the engine speed at a fast idle for a couple of minutes and verify that the voltmeter reading remains around 14 volts. If the reading is lower than 13 volts, the alternator is likely not working at full capacity.
7. Race the vehicle's engine and listen for a squealing noise, which could indicate that the drive belt on the alternator is faulty. The drive belt rotates the alternator, converting the mechanical power from the engine to electrical power to charge the battery and other electrical components. If the belt is worn (appears shiny), cracked or loose, this can cause the alternator to undercharge.
