gnrpatience

Hi All,

So i was getting the Check System Charging light, i took my alternator to fix it, they changed the plate and the alarm remained off for 6 months then it went back, so i decided just to change my alternator and battery at the same time, I get Optima Yellow Top and Alternator PA Performance 130AMP, the alarm is off now and the car its been ok no more issues after all, yesterday i used the blinking lights and noticed that the radio lights were dimming a little bit on every blink, then i turned on the interior lights and they were dimming too when blinking, i turned off blinking lights and it stopped.

Is this is ok or what can be the reason of this what should i check ?


Thanks!

Nuke

It's possible to have some minor dimming of your lights especially if the idle is a bit low and you had other loads on the alternator. If you raise the idle a bit to about 800-1000 RPM, I suspect the dimming goes away. It may just be that the PA Performance alternator's output is a little low at idle RPM's. If you have UDP's, then that could also result in a lower charging rate at idle.

Keep an eye on it. Considering how iffy our charging systems are (even with an aftermarket alternator), I'd get an inexpensive volt meter and check the battery voltage at rest after the car has been sitting overnite just to get a baseline on if any cells are going south. A healthy battery that has sat for 12 or morre hours should read about 12.4 - 12.6 volts. Albeit, that's not a great way of testing a battery, it does give you the chance in SOME instances to catch degradation early before it leaves you stranded.

Batteries are finicky. They can fail catastrophically in a second or have a slow, lingering death.

gnrpatience

Thanks for you reply Nuke!

I havent install my Tune yet, after this install i want to wait 1 or 2 weeks to see how it goes but noticed this. When we install the alternator and battery it was reading good volts and not fluctuating, it always was at 12.6 if i recall.

There are two kind of alternators one with the clutch pulley or 6 groove serpentine, to avoid any other point of failure i went with the 6 groove serpentine, the alternator does a small sound when its working which i think is normal but the type of alternator can be the reason of the dimming ?

Thanks!

Art161

Nuke, your comment is right on.

I read that some company is working on a system to give you advance warning if a battery is getting somewhat close to failing. We could sure use it. Whether this device will actually come to market or is somewhat of a pipe dream remains to be seen.