Technical Warning light(battery)

[redfairy]

Just set off in the car, and a warning light came on. The red battery one.

I don't even have a handbook for the car so have come here to ask what this can mean.

Have come home, am not going to drive it with light on after what happened last time.

Not happy

And while I'm here, anyone know why my back fog wont go on, and my left side back light is off too. Car up for MOT in a month...eeep!

 

[Ninja59]

Needs a new battery poss, although (more likely) could be the alternator

Fog light could be caused by bulb blown, crap connection or something
and left side back light probably blown or connection again

 

[redfairy]

Oh!

Thanks for replying

So if it's the alternator, can I ask roughly what kind of price I'm looking at and is it something I can get hold of easily enough. Am finding parts for my car harder and harder to get.

Still owe £70 for what was supposed to be a simple job, MOT due very soon, aswell as sodding tax

 

[toad101]

try looking around breakers first or ebay, should be no more than £30 there

 

[oseibonsu]

Would charging up the battery , using a battery charger hooked up to the mains, solve this problem ? Isn't the red light warning about the battery running low on charge. Surely recharging would be the cheapest solution?

 

[a1ant]

No it wont solve the problem. the red battery light means that there is a fault in the charging system, IE the alternator is not supply enough charge. They red battery light wont come on if you have a flat battery, its purely a fault in the charging system.

Hope that helps,
Alan

 

[Ralf S.]

Try an auto-electrician. They may be able to work out what the problem is. it could be a loose connection or worn brushes.. which would be fairly cheap to fix compared to buying a new alternator.

The rear light and foglamp could be connected. There is a single connector block into the rear light and that may just be loose/dirty.

Does that indicator work? And if there's a reversing light, does that come on? With the engine off but the ignition on, put the car in reverse and turn the indicator on.. then go and have a look. I'd expect all of them to not work if the connector is duff.

On the other hand, they could coincidentally have blown or loose bulbs.

Ralf S.

 

[oseibonsu]

My battery light keeps flickering on an off. It will remain off for a while, then at some point comes on again. Is that a warning that the alternator is not working properly?

 

[StevenRB45]

My old uno had a fault on the sensor in the alternator that lit the light up on the dash, the actual unit worked fine but the bit that lit the warning light up on the dash was broken so the battery light would be on but go off at higher revs and in the rain, only way to find out is take it to a sparky and get them to attach a multimeter to it to check everything is working as it should, also if you've had the car awhile and your an experienced driver e.t.c. i'll apologise in advance for asking this but you are attempting to switch the fogs on while you have your headlamps are on?

 

[a1ant]

to test your alternator..... start the engine.... put a multimeter across the two battery terminals (set to DC voltage) a reading of around 14.4v indicates that your altanator is working fine. Around 12V indicates your altanator is not working, around 16v plus or fluctuating = regulator broken.
If you get the 12v reading, try attaching the multimeter directly to the alternator terminals, if this then reads 14v or so, then it indicates a wireing fault between the altanotor and battery.

Hope that helps,
Alan