Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Taxi_Driver]

My battery (9 months old) very rarely shows green, even after a long run.

Charging is spot on though.

Not having the green dot on doesnt mean the battery is knackered.....ive seen this before....i charged a GO battery for 48hrs a few weeks ago......charger said it fully charged after 12 hours approx.....tho after 48 hours the green dot still hadnt come on.....i think iirc its only if the dot goes white....its completely knackered!

Try taking it back Tunnie....there will be a date code on the battery....GO batteries have 3 years warranty and if you bought it 6 months ago......the date code wont be more than 3 years ago.....vx dealer prolly will test it.....if its ok then....yes you might have a excessive drain on it...or a prob with the alternator.....but i think you will find battery is prolly knackered due to little use of the omega

[tunnie]

yeah cheers guys, its fine on the daily run its just being left does it. I rekon the alternator is not giving it enough charge.

When I came back from home to Uni, i left it for a week and it started fine. Went to slough and back (around 20 miles) a week later it was dead.

Took it for a hours motorway run yesterday, will see how it starts tomorrow. If it starts ok then i suspect the alternator is charging it but not enough, but now its probably done the battery in!

[x25xe]

The green dot on the both batteries fitted to my cars is not showing.  Using the "magic eye" as an indicator, it is when it turns yellow that the battery is knackered (or so they say).

It will take a surprising amount of running around for the battery to become fully charged again using the charge for the alternator.  In my Cavalier the green dot was black and it turned over very slowly and just about started.  This was at the beginning of the year and I was going to Birmingham twice a week.  The point of all this is that it took 2 weeks of this for the green dot to return.

I agree with what others have said - alternator output could well be low, but if the battery is discharged you are going to need a lot of long runs to fully charge it - even more so if the alternator output is low.

Check out the alternator and rectify this (if needed) and then charge the battery on the bench.

Hope this helps.

[VXL V6]

I wouldn't take too much notice of the indicator on the battery, it's a chemical reaction that causes the green too show.
Mine often shows black after a run, if you tap the battery you can see the green start to show.

There's a note in TIS about this, I think it's to do with the heat in the engine compartment.

The tests people have listed above are the important ones, basically, charge test on full load, no load and battery base voltage.

Be very careful if the alternator is providing too higher charge, this was common on Vectra's and if not rectified quickly it will fry various wiring looms and components.
The tell tale sign is that it blows the alternator lamp on the dashboard first, so unless you notice it doesn't light up when you turn the key you assume that it's charging because it isn't lit.

[bigall]

Got replacement alternator from factors  Delphi 100A  £65+VAT

Fitted it and went on a run 10 miles

Engine off  across battery   = 12.2v bit low  

engine running idle speed  = 14.2v  charging well

full load =14V  

AND the green dot is surfacing

ALSO called into my local autoelec and had the original battery, now sitting in the boot, load checked - outcome "good battery mate" Well got a spare one now

[tunnie]

Got replacement alternator from factors  Delphi 100A  £65+VAT

Fitted it and went on a run 10 miles

Engine off  across battery   = 12.2v bit low  

engine running idle speed  = 14.2v  charging well

full load =14V  

AND the green dot is surfacing

ALSO called into my local autoelec and had the original battery, now sitting in the boot, load checked - outcome "good battery mate" Well got a spare one now

Cheers for that £65 is not bad, I can live with that. Got a funny feeling its the alternator and not giving enough charge. Started it today after a long run yesterday and it was but it was starting to go flat.

I'll keep running the car every 2 days until I can get home and replace the alternator (also when next loan payment comes in!)

[TheBoy]

Got replacement alternator from factors  Delphi 100A  £65+VAT

Fitted it and went on a run 10 miles

Engine off  across battery   = 12.2v bit low  

engine running idle speed  = 14.2v  charging well

full load =14V  

AND the green dot is surfacing

ALSO called into my local autoelec and had the original battery, now sitting in the boot, load checked - outcome "good battery mate" Well got a spare one now

Cheers for that £65 is not bad, I can live with that. Got a funny feeling its the alternator and not giving enough charge. Started it today after a long run yesterday and it was but it was starting to go flat.

I'll keep running the car every 2 days until I can get home and replace the alternator (also when next loan payment comes in!)

Personally, I'm not convinced there is anything wrong with your battery or alternator...

[TheBoy]

When you get back in a few weeks, drop it round, we'll have a play...

[Kevin Wood]

If you want to borrow a charger in the meanwhile drop me a pm and I'll meet you after work one evening. Will bring a multimeter too and we can check the alternator.

Cheers,

Kevin