Not bike related... Merc alternator?

[MaybeGuy]

Anyone know their way around a car layout?
I bought a new yuasa battery for the car in november, and the last few weeks have seen it unable to hold charge. I can charge it, shows full in 2 mins, and will start the car, then overnight all the electricity falls out.

First thought was the alternator, but it still seems to charge the battery? Does it double as a reg/rect or something and potentially fry batteries?

Car in question is my 2001 c180
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Blue_SV650S wrote: it was a sh1te wheelie, but it proves that he can get it up in 3rd and can do angles. In summery, mattsprattuk is a gobby little sh1tebag, dopehead tw4t, but sadly for all of us, he probably isn't THAT full of sh1te!!
Kickstart wrote: Hi I tend to agree with Matt. All the best Keith

[P.]

Forget the alternator at the moment.

Swap the battery on another car for a day and see what happens?
If the other car dies, shit battery.
If your car dies, take a look at the charging system?

Or just charge it and leave overnight.

If battery withers to nothing, its a shit battery.

Completely wild stab in the dark, you aren't doing a paddy special and leaving something on

[Ichy]

All of the cars I've worked on have had the rectifer built into the alternator.

Do you have a multimeter that you can measure current with? My inlaws Merc used to drain the battery. Turns out there was a short in the radio causing continuous current drain.

As Paddy said you need to rule out the battery first. No need for another car, just disconnect it over night and see if there is any charge left in the morning.

Doesn't make a lot of sense that from appearing dead you can charge it in two minutes.
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[P.]

[MaybeGuy]

The battery simply won't hold a charge. I can get it to start the car a couple of times before it dies from ''fully charged'' now. I wasn't very specific in the OP, but it's very dead.

The problem is the battery is less than 3 months old, and yuasa (reputable supposedly?).

I can safely say the battery is nackered. However, it must have been caused by something, hence why my first port of call would be reg/rect on a bike, but it would seem the alternator does it all. Correct?
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Blue_SV650S wrote: it was a sh1te wheelie, but it proves that he can get it up in 3rd and can do angles. In summery, mattsprattuk is a gobby little sh1tebag, dopehead tw4t, but sadly for all of us, he probably isn't THAT full of sh1te!!
Kickstart wrote: Hi I tend to agree with Matt. All the best Keith

[Ichy]

Yep. Didn't realise you could but the regulator seperately.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNCnJm92lnY

Have you checked the voltage while the car is running?
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[RIDINGforKICK...]

Start the car

Put your multimeter on volts, you want 14.2 at the battery terminals.

If you get that the Alternator is OK.

On the battery, did you put the acid in yourself?

Did you put the battery on charge for 24 hours when you first got it?

You want 12.8 volts on a stable battery, when it gets to 12.4 volts the battery is flat.

if you get a reading below 12 volts (most likely 10.5 volts) a cell is dead.

[Taught2BCauti...]

I would recommend buying a Bosch battery from GSF - they offer a 3 year warranty, plus additional roadside assistance if the battery fails.

Mercs are prone to having things that will go faulty and drain a good battery overnight - like sticking window motors, sticking fuel filler flap solenoids, and a fault in the Comand system that causes the CD motor and cooling fan to run continuously, faulty seat control module, plus many more.

Disconnect the cable from the battery earth terminal and connect a 12volt bulb (or an ammeter) in series between the cable and the battery. If the bulb lights (or ammeter gives a reading) when everything should be off, remove fuses one by one to see which circuit is responsible for the drain.

Here is a good vid on the subject... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtJMHSY7hso

[MaybeGuy]

Cheers guize.
Loads for me to be looking into for now. I'll steal a tester from one of the sparkys at work and have a fiddle.

I fucking hate electrics.
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Blue_SV650S wrote: it was a sh1te wheelie, but it proves that he can get it up in 3rd and can do angles. In summery, mattsprattuk is a gobby little sh1tebag, dopehead tw4t, but sadly for all of us, he probably isn't THAT full of sh1te!!
Kickstart wrote: Hi I tend to agree with Matt. All the best Keith

[RIDINGforKICK...]

Hi mattsprattuk

I've just been thinking about this, and I'm wondering what battery charger voltage you are using?

You know that to properly charge a battery, you should use around .5 to 1 amp, for between 12 and 24 hours don't you.

A lot of chargers don't give you this option!

These "blast" chargers are aimed at "boosting" the batteries charge quickly, so that you can start you car. The ampage will drop back as the battery is charged, but you will never really get a properly charged battery from one of these (cheap) chargers.

You need one where you can set the amps manually.

Or an half amp brick will do it.

[MaybeGuy]

it's currently on a slow charge of around 1amp according to the charger. It cost about £50 at trade price, so I'd hope it's a half decent one.

For some reason this is the only time it hasn't shown as full after a few minutes, and it's been going for a couple of hours :S

Right, so homework for me... test light of some description... whip out the brushes in the alternator to see if they're worn (i've got a feeling it's this... the car's done about 110k and it's more than likely the original alternator).
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Blue_SV650S wrote: it was a sh1te wheelie, but it proves that he can get it up in 3rd and can do angles. In summery, mattsprattuk is a gobby little sh1tebag, dopehead tw4t, but sadly for all of us, he probably isn't THAT full of sh1te!!
Kickstart wrote: Hi I tend to agree with Matt. All the best Keith

[sickpup]

[RIDINGforKICK...]

[herulach]

[RIDINGforKICK...]

What on earth are you talking about?

When you charge a battery you will be raising the voltage from somewhere around 12 volts to something around 13 volts.

If a battery ever gets to the condition where it has NO volts, it is scrap and will NEVER be recoverable.

The Amps (cranking power) of the battery is related to the battery's OUTPUT capabilities at full charge, and so don't really enter into the charging rate.

[RIDINGforKICK...]

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

OT
I remember when CHR15 called me a sausage...Still receiving counselling for it.
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[RIDINGforKICK...]

[RIDINGforKICK...]

[AndyB1989]

pulse chargers ftw actively fix fucked batteries !

[RIDINGforKICK...]

[The Artist]

...

[Ichy]

Just to stir it up a bit.

A battery should be charged at 1/10 of its 10 hour rating so a 100ah battery should be charged at 1amp.



But.



That is not 100% correct.


This is only true for maintenance. For normal charging of a battery discharged to 40-75%, which is the recommended maximum discharge for optimum battery life, you should bulk charge at about 1/5 of its capacity until it reaches about 85% of its charge. For between 85-95% it drops to about 1/10th and then for the last bit aim for about 1/20th.

It's all about the heat. Nobody wants bad thermal cycling do they?


Yeah, your all right! High fives all round!
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[MaybeGuy]

Get your bitch on. Sparkies... Attaaaacckkk
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Blue_SV650S wrote: it was a sh1te wheelie, but it proves that he can get it up in 3rd and can do angles. In summery, mattsprattuk is a gobby little sh1tebag, dopehead tw4t, but sadly for all of us, he probably isn't THAT full of sh1te!!
Kickstart wrote: Hi I tend to agree with Matt. All the best Keith

[P.]

Well AFAIK, if you charge a battery enough to start the car, the alternator will do its usual recharging shit anyway. I have totally flattened the battery on my GSXR, jumped from a car and it recharged it fully.

So surely under Ridingforkicks rule... it should be dead?