Battery not charging

[keith mc]

Hi everyone,
I have a 1990 2.5 diesel transit and every night the battery loses its charge.I have had the battery checked and it is ok,Ihave also had the alternator checked and that is giving out 14.9v at the alternator terminals but by the time it gets to the battery theres only 13v.It drives fine all day but like i say the battery drains overnight.

Thanks to you all,Keith Mc

[Luke]

There might be a drain on the battery!

Try disconnecting it overnight then if its ok in the morning thats where your problem will be!!

If so what you need is a multimeter with an ammeter reading on it you can get them for £5 connect it in-line on the + battery terminal it should give a reading in amps should be 0A mabe 0.2A if you have a clock running or radio etc
If its readind 2A for example go round pulling fuses/relays to find out whats causing the drain!!

If you need a more detailed explanation let us know!!!

[Luke]

P.S. Welcome to the forum Keith!!

[keith mc]

Thanks Luke,
I have tried disconnecting the battery leads over night,but it still hasnt got enough power to start it.I am wondering if theres a fault in the cable from the alternator to the battery.

[Luke]

Who checked your battery?

Mabe there's a fault in the wiring but thats uncommon! you could try running another wire from the altenator to the + battery terminal as a temparary measure just to see!!

With a di they take loads more starting from cold! so a battery that wont start a cold engine can easly start one thats been run 1 hour before!!

[MrMPuk]

Sounds very much like the battery has had it to me, if you dissconnected it over night and still wouldn't start it then that will be the problem.

[trannytech]

have had s few di trannys with high resistance in battery/altenator wires .causing the same problems. easiest way to check is a volt drop test .connect a volt meter on each end of the + wire should be no higherthan0.5 volts .then do the same for the - lead should be no more than0.7 volts .and do the same with your altenator lead .if the readings are higher thats where the problem will be

[keith mc]

I would like to thank everyone who took time to give me advice regarding my battery not charging.The problem has now been resolved,it was a fault in the wiring.Itook it to an auto electrition who sorted it out in minutes.thanks all the same,keith.

[FredTransit]

I am gald you got this sorted out, nothing is more annoying than to park up one night having no problems, jump in the next moring and nothing. We had this, and found it to be the alternator. As it was an itermittant fault, ot confused the lot of us. As the alternator spins, it stops in different places. One spot had developed a fault, although it was charging fine when checked.