Battery Light On Dashboard??

[tictac]

Hi everyone, any chance you can give me some help and or guidance on my latest situation.

Driving along earlier today in my 1999 T reg Focus 1.6 zetec and all of a sudden the battery light lit up on the dashboard, and has been on since.

I have been out 3 or 4 times since and light still on, car runs fine when light on cant notice any difference.

It lights up red.

Any ideas??

Thankyou everyone in advance.

Regards TicTac

[johnH]

could be an early warning saying the battery or a cell in the battery is dying and the voltage has dropped. try a known working battery and see if that solves your problem.

[Dan62]

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[scudney]

Hi everyone, any chance you can give me some help and or guidance on my latest situation.

Driving along earlier today in my 1999 T reg Focus 1.6 zetec and all of a sudden the battery light lit up on the dashboard, and has been on since.

I have been out 3 or 4 times since and light still on, car runs fine when light on cant notice any difference.

It lights up red.

Any ideas??

Thankyou everyone in advance.

Regards TicTac

hi,could also be that your alternator is not charging your battery or snapped fan belt or like tic tac suggests battery on its way out,ideally best changing your battery every 4 years especially with winter upon us.

[tommy.h]

Hi Tictac

have to agree with DAN alternator faulty.

check across battery with test meter while engine running should be about 13.5 to 14.5 volts

tom

[tictac]

Thankyou all so much.

Let you know results

[johnH]

do the headlights keep their intesity and dont die off like a battery dieing in a torch...coz i reckon that is what happens if your alternator is faulty as your battery will not charge and will slowly die to a point where you can't do anything at all.

but with a good alternator and a bad (dying) battery, the electronics will work and not die off as the voltage and current is being produced by the alternator and will somewhat charge your battery so you can start it again the next day and the alternator will charge your battery once again to get that back...

if all that makes sense, try a different battery first, probs cheaper than buying a new alternator and fitting it, cheapest first and all that.

[Dan62]

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[artscot79]

the pcm update from ford changed the voltage from 14.4 volts to 14.9 volts so you should be reading between 13.5 to 14.9

The alternator has three internal windings wound 120 degrees between phases and requires nine diodes in 'bridge' configuration to rectify the output. The voltage is controlled by a solid state regulator that maintains the voltage at a predetermined setting approximately 13.5 to 15 volts. The output current is determined by the requirement seen at the time, for example, a battery that has just been subject to prolonged cranking will see a higher output from the alternator than if the battery was fully charged.

this explains it all http://askpete-hella.com/2010/12/13/external-alternator/