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alternator and spot lights problem

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 11:15 am
by flyinwall
firstly i have an 80 series cruiser with a 1HZ diesel and i have been told that my alternator is on its way out and that diagnosis was arrived at because the dash light are flashing on and off all the time and i have just put some Hella Ralley 4000 spot light on and they keep blowing 30 amp fuses after about 30 seconds of being turned on could this be all related to the alternator being on its way out

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 9:26 pm
by 4runner_boy
it doesnt sound like it would be.

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 2:28 am
by scarman
it could be a regulator

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 2:06 pm
by -Scott-
It could definitely be a voltage regulation problem - but what's causing it?

Could be a problem in the alternator (worn brushes, worn commutator, diode fault?), a dud regulator or a problem with the voltage sense wire (which tells the regulator the battery voltage.)

As a first step, you need to monitor your battery voltage while driving. Any idea what it is?

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 5:11 pm
by flyinwall
well i found out the two are not related as i turned the spotties on with out the motor running and they still blew within 30 seconds

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 6:02 pm
by -Scott-
30A fuse blowing in 30 seconds is probably 400W plus of load. What's the total load connected to the fuse?

Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 9:41 am
by flyinwall
there is only 2 hella ralley 4000 lights with 100watt bulbs in connected to that fuse

Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 9:11 pm
by brissle
doubt it ,if it was blowing your driving light fuse of 30 amp you think it would blow all the smaller ones first.Alternator probably just running out of brushes by the sounds of it,but get the whole thing reco'd

Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 10:40 pm
by flyinwall
brissle
flyinwall wrote:well i found out the two are not related as i turned the spotties on with out the motor running and they still blew within 30 seconds

Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 12:21 am
by rumpig89
if you have the car turned off and turn the test the battery the spotties are off for voltage... wat do you get? now keep the meter there and turn the spotties on... does the reading drop at all... wats it read for them 30 seconds?? at the battery? at the lights??

what im gettin at is voltage drop. what size cable you got running to the spotties?

and the alternator...sometimes a dodgy earth on the alternator can cause funny voltages also

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 12:03 am
by flyinwall
ok got the lights figured out it was simply i had them wired up backwards (oops my bad) thanks for all the replies

Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 1:55 pm
by suggy126
Hey Flyinwall, if you're down sunshine coast way sometime i'm based at Warana and i can have a quick look to see if the alt's playing up or not, take no more than 5 min and no abligations, if it's not performing up to scratch i'll let you know and you can take it from there.