Quote:
Originally Posted by California98Civic
Good luck with the further tests! Please report more on your findings. Nothing cooler than testing something and being willing to admit if the test has failed, if it has failed.
And I like the FE results you are suggesting (which confirm my similarly sketchy results). It would be nice to know if the alt really was off.
One observation: your design is simpler than the one I posted, and that cbaber linked above. But the only extra thing I did was unplug the charging light wire near the driver's side firewall grommet, right? That's reversible in 30 seconds.
I know brucepick has had difficulty with the method I describe in the linked post, but he is not sure yet what the source of the failure is. I haven't seen any others mentioning problems. Who are you referring to?
I have a voltmeter on my dash, and for what it's worth to anyone: in 7 months my alternator has not once begun charging unless I turned it on. If I drain the battery below 12.5 volts or if electrical load brings the voltage down below 12.5, it stays there, the alt does not turn on unless I flip the dash-mounted switch. Quite handy, really.
Thanks again,
james
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I was also referring to brucepick's problems.
When you said that it won't drop below 12.5 volts, do you mean that you physically don't let it drop below 12.5 volts because you use your dash mounted switch to turn it back on?
Or are you saying that with your kill switch the alternator is always off and just doesn't fall below 12.5volts? Because if the later is the case, it would make me think that the alternator is stuck in this 12.5 volt "low setting" that Gasoline Fumes says mine might be in.