Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: Tezzyd on 17 July 2010, 12:32:04
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Can anyone help me. I have an Omega 2.2 cdx and have recently upgraded the Alternator to 165amp and have 0 guage running to 4 Batts. When i start the car the voltage sits at 14.4v but after a while without booming the voltage drops to 13.6 and can fluctuate up to 14v and down again.
I have been told it's the car management system controling this. Is there anyway i can get round this as it doesn't seem to be any better than the standard 100amp alt that i replaced
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When you say 4 Batts, where are the other 3, what type of Batteries, rating etc, is it a mix and match?
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I have 2 x HZB12-80FA 80ah and a big yellow 105ah in the boot and a Agm ABX 70ah at the front
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The big yellow thing is a capacitor, isn't?, are they not wired with a resistive coil or cable or something to stop the vehicles electrics draining its charge?, sorry dont know much about them, but would imaging there going to play funnies with the vehicles charging if there rated at 100 amps.
:-/
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The big yellow is a Hawker Enersys 105ah Deep cycle battery their used for power storage backups or wind turbine. the 2 80ah batts are simular ideal for demanding music systems
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Is it a new alternator? or secondhand?
The charge/voltage regulator in the alternator is the only thing that regulates the voltage. The engine management doesn't have any control over voltage but it does monitor it.
I would recheck the installation, firstly the alternator and then poor connections or short circuits or ungrommeted cables through bulkheads.
Older Omegas have a habit of breaking the strands of the cables that connect the alternator to the battery which can cause mysterious voltage drops.
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The Alternator is brand new and i have done the big 3 which is 0 guage from alt to batt, batt to body ground and engine to body. there is another wire on the alt which may control or monitor the voltage/ampage of it and i have been told that on a ford focus you can put a potentiometer on it to adjust it. I was wondering if anyone has done this on an Omega
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Are these Batteries a fairly new install, if so they ideally would need to fully charged before being connected. Connecting batteries in parallel is ok (assuming there the same voltage) but they may take a while to level themselves out if only partially charged.
Ideally you would normally connect batteries of identical type, if the batteries you have connected are or have different charging rates or different charge voltages requirements this could lead to charging problems and could also lead to batteries dicharging themselves into each other when not being used or charged.
Im assuming your running some real heavy current drain in the form of Amps etc, think if it was me I would probably go with one additional Battery.
If you've connected each additional new battery negative to vehicle body might be worth checking any voltage drops between each battery to the main battery and alternator, or run a common negative rail between all the batteries.
I personally wouldn't recommend you start messing with the alternators feedback circuitry.
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i've had them installed a few weeks now and the 2 80ah's are earthed together to the body and the 105ah is earthed seperately so is the front one.
I have to have more than 1 battery as i need 350ah's to run the system so i might replace the big yellow with 2 more 80ah's and run a common earth through all 4, as you say i don't really want to mess about with the alternator. :y
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350 amps, that's a lot mate, the wirings needs to be nice and clean for that type of current floating around the car, just an idea but if you do keep the additional batteries as 'all the same type' can you not keep all the additional batteries in the same place?, if no and they need to be in different locations, although a bit overkill, think I might be tempted to run a Positive and Negative ring circuit feed.
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I Have 2 batts in spare wheel compartment and the other one is on the other side due to the possition of the sub box but i maybe able to put them together depending what effect this makes on the sound when i shift the box. it would be better that way otherwise i have to have 2 more 3ft cables between them to make the ring.
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Think I would be tempted to take both the positve and negative ring loop all the way back to the main front battery, that way your making the most of sharing the current demand of each battery and amp within each of the loops.
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Yeah that makes sence, cheers Zirk
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simplify the scenario and connect only one battery..
and check again..
And I dont think those alternators are designed to re-charge multiple batteries at a time, its internals can be cooked.. Last month I was in trouble with clit's alternator and ended up with a new one.. :(
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simplify the scenario and connect only one battery..
and check again..
And I dont think those alternators are designed to re-charge multiple batteries at a time, its internals can be cooked.. Last month I was in trouble with clit's alternator and ended up with a new one.. :(
Don't disagree with that Cem, already suggested only one second Battery, after all you can only get so much blood out of a stone, even then I would throw an isolation switch inline with the second battery just in case, 350 amps from a 160 amp alternater, is only going to work if the system is given ample rest bite to charge the whole system, even then you have to take into consideration winter weather conditions.
:-/
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Numpty here, dont know much about these things but :-
165 amps charging
350 amps required.
When I used to read about these I.C.E. setups years ago I am sure I often saw a second alternator for the auxillry batteries with brackets fabricated to add it,
V6Drift, black beauty and a couple of others have done some big kit conversions, maybe you might be able to pick thier brains - was wondering if this thread might have been better suited in the electrical section for that reason. (Just a thought)
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Just a thought
Was the 14.4v measured with a cold engine (and fast idle) & the 13.5v with a warm engine (and normal idle speed) ?
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I think we're confusing Amps and Amp-Hours here. One is a measure of current and the other a measure of capacity.
The alternator will probably current limit at or around 165 amps. In any case, the resistance of the cable to the rear of the car will probably limit the current it can deliver into the batteries so I suspect there's no problem there.
The third wire to the alternator is purely for the charge indicator light on the dash on an Omega. The alternator must have its' own internal regulator (I assume the replacement one does?) and the charge rate is not controlled by the ECU as it is on some cars.
I would second the suggestion to simplify the setup. Disconnect everything at the rear and leave the original battery at the front. See if that behaves itself first. I would also consider an arrangement to isolate the rear batteries. Either a manual switch or a caravan voltage sensing relay. I would also make sure a fuse is fitted both at the front and rear of this cable run. With that much current delivery available you do not want any mishaps.
Kevin
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Just a thought
Was the 14.4v measured with a cold engine (and fast idle) & the 13.5v with a warm engine (and normal idle speed) ?
I like your thinking there, Andy. :y