no charge and sediment light on dash

[waycar8]

Update on this, borrowed Adys spare and everything working ok, so I bought a second hand one and fitted it, and decided to open my old one up seeing as I was home early from work and had some sunshine and no rain, first thing I noticed was the five small nuts on the rear of the casing were very loose, anyway opened it up nowt out of place or broken put it back together and tightened the rear bolts up tight, wired it up to check as I know there were far too loose as they should be and hey presto a working alternator

I knew it was an earth issue so makes sense that the casing wasnt holding the wirng parts and spindle with the magnet bit in place was causing some strange fault

Hey well live and learn , least Ive got spare alternator now, big thanks to Ady for the loan of his alternator

[Doone]

That's a good result Wayne.

[missfixit70]

If only they were all that simple Worth bearing in mind for peeps to check in future though

[waycar8]

If only they were all that simple Worth bearing in mind for peeps to check in future though

In all honesty, dont think ive heard of anyone not haveing the charge light and sediment light NOT working but if they do then tighten the nuts at the back

[TonyBee]

Just to add my experience to this discussion.
My leisure battery was not charging but the alternator was putting out 14v.
No problems with the sediment light yet.
Further investigation showed this voltage was not constant (dropped to 12.5 and back to 14) when the alternator was under load.
I checked all the wiring and connections and all less than 0.2 Ohms
I then removed the alternator this morning and found the five 8mm nuts on the back of the unit were loose, not finger loose but not as tight as they should be.
I removed them all in turn, cleaned them up and replaced them. I then took it to a specialist shop in Plymouth where the testing machine said all was working fine.
I have yet to give it a full trial back in the bongo but it is something easily checked as it only take 5 minutes to get the alternator out.

Tony

[Northern Bongolow]

thanks for the info tonybee, this may be more common than first thought.

[g8dhe]

Ady I guess those 5 nuts we didn't initially remove when looking at the alternator, might actually be carrying the earth connection back to the chassis ? This would explain the problems above. A trifle surprised however, but it sounds the sort of thing that occurs

[waycar8]

Ady I guess those 5 nuts we didn't initially remove when looking at the alternator, might actually be carrying the earth connection back to the chassis ? This would explain the problems above. A trifle surprised however, but it sounds the sort of thing that occurs

not sure if it is directly linked to the earth but its made mine behave normally anyhow,

Further investigation showed this voltage was not constant (dropped to 12.5 and back to 14) when the alternator was under load.
I checked all the wiring and connections and all less than 0.2 Ohms
I then removed the alternator this morning and found the five 8mm nuts on the back of the unit were loose, not finger loose but not as tight as they should be.

Tony

Hi Tony, yes I had the same issue, was charging ok but then it dropped checked it at a different time and it was charging normally but I didn't have any charge or sediment light at all when the ignition key was turned to on even whilst running they wernt even on which you would get if it was a faulty alternator and I also had issues with the leisure battery not charging.

My nuts wasn't finger loose but once the socket was on they undid very very easy.

[TonyBee]

My nuts wasn't finger loose but once the socket was on they undid very very easy.

That is exactly what mine were like.
Cleaned up with contact cleaner and hopefully all working again.

Tony

[Northern Bongolow]

Ady I guess those 5 nuts we didn't initially remove when looking at the alternator, might actually be carrying the earth connection back to the chassis ? This would explain the problems above. A trifle surprised however, but it sounds the sort of thing that occurs

i cannot see it myself geoff. but when wayne and i swapped alternators we tried earthing the alternator body with a seperate earth strap dirrect to the battery, to see what would happen,it didnt appear to sort it so we swapped the unit over---sorted. we even tried just plugging the new unit in before mounting it and that didnt fix it if i remember right.
maybe wayne can remember better .

[waycar8]

i cannot see it myself geoff. but when wayne and i swapped alternators we tried earthing the alternator body with a seperate earth strap dirrect to the battery, to see what would happen,it didnt appear to sort it so we swapped the unit over---sorted. we even tried just plugging the new unit in before mounting it and that didnt fix it if i remember right.
maybe wayne can remember better .

We plugged yours in and it didnt work, UNTILL we earthed the body of the alternator to the chassis of the bongo Ady.

Mine just didnt make the lights on the dash come on with the key in the ignition.


So my theory is because its the end that produces the charge, and if the inner casing that hold the spindle in place that connected to the copper wires wasnt held back against the outer casing (by the nuts) the magnet woundnt be doing its job by producing a charge with magnet near the outer casing??, Not too sure how it produces its charge but it must need an earth to either help produce the charge or to stop the alternator being one big live charge?


Might be total C$&P but it now works anyhow!, be interesting to see if any one else tries this whos having alternator issues

[g8dhe]

I do agree, the nuts are hardly what I would expect to find carrying 90 Amps! And any form of connection relying on just a pressure connection is asking for problems, even if its only carrying the exciter field current. However I can't remember now seeing where the earth connection was made, and nothing obvious in the photo's we took at the time show it.

[jaylee]

Ady I guess those 5 nuts we didn't initially remove when looking at the alternator, might actually be carrying the earth connection back to the chassis ? This would explain the problems above. A trifle surprised however, but it sounds the sort of thing that occurs

not sure if it is directly linked to the earth but its made mine behave normally anyhow,

Further investigation showed this voltage was not constant (dropped to 12.5 and back to 14) when the alternator was under load.
I checked all the wiring and connections and all less than 0.2 Ohms
I then removed the alternator this morning and found the five 8mm nuts on the back of the unit were loose, not finger loose but not as tight as they should be.

Tony

Hi Tony, yes I had the same issue, was charging ok but then it dropped checked it at a different time and it was charging normally but I didn't have any charge or sediment light at all when the ignition key was turned to on even whilst running they wernt even on which you would get if it was a faulty alternator and I also had issues with the leisure battery not charging.

My nuts wasn't finger loose but once the socket was on they undid very very easy.

Now, i don't have a leisure battery set up... I haven't had the charge sediment light up (or the non light up thing) either.. I read somewhere the Mason gauge running high/false alarm can be an early indication of the alternator on its way out..?!! (Though there is no coolant issue or over heat what so ever.)

I've investigated this weird occurrence... http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... +detective

Checked the usual suspects again here too...! http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... =3&t=51493
The alternator seems to be still doing its job.

Though i still get a slight inconsistency now & again.. (Volt gauge in the cab fitted!)

So, establishing i don't have the same issue as waycar8.. & have nothing really to contribute to this thread other than....



Just read this thread & guess what? Sorted the five 8mm nuts out in situ after discovering exactly the same thing!

I may have finally cracked it!!

This thread may need to be made sticky? Check the five nuts...! I'll quit my jibba jabba now...

[waycar8]

Hope it cures your problem , might well be a cure to alot of alternator problems or just a odd bongo abnormality

Maybe after a certain amount of time with the vibration they do just work themselves loose, don't recall seeing any thread lock on so maybe a design flaw? who knows only time will tell Ive made into a sticky just in case and hopefully anyone else may be able to add to the thread or blow the theory out the water

[jaylee]

Hope it cures your problem , might well be a cure to alot of alternator problems or just a odd bongo abnormality

Maybe after a certain amount of time with the vibration they do just work themselves loose, don't recall seeing any thread lock on so maybe a design flaw? who knows only time will tell Ive made into a sticky just in case and hopefully anyone else may be able to add to the thread or blow the theory out the water

What i got is not really major a problem for me, as such...

I was however, wondering if it would do any harm running an earth to chassis off one of the five bolts.? (A bit like the old fuel gauge fix..!)

I was thinking of putting an extra nut on each thread to lock em in anyway?