> On the voltage stabilizer, all you've established with the scope is that
it
> hasn't entirely failed (which you know because the gauges still work
some).
> That doesn't mean that it's giving the right duty cycle. Install your
> spare, or buy a new one to use for comparison.
You should, however, be able to check the duty cycle with an oscilloscope.
If
I remember correctly the average output voltage should be 10V, and "normal"
battery voltage around 12.4V (without the engine running). So, the correct
duty cycle should be "on" for around 5/6ths of the time, "off" for 1/6th of
the time, which you should be able to tell from the horizontal time scale on
the 'scope (provided you adjust the scale so the waveform is steady on
screen)...
> Oh, and I don't think your bench charger is working right, although the
> problem might be that the battery has problems from never being properly
> charged.
> Another possibility might be an internal short in the battery. This
> sometimes happens when the crud in the bottom of the cells (plate material
> that has flaked off) builds up and shorts the bottom of the plates. But,
> usually that makes the hygrometer reading vary considerably from cell to
> cell.
> Yet another possibility is contaminated electrolyte (eg tap water, or the
> baking soda you used to clean the battery ...)
Or another possibility is that you've lost too much electrolyte - losing a
puddle of electrolyte is going to effect the charging capacity of any
lead-acid
battery. Unfortunately, it's not really the kind of stuff you can just
replace
- once you've lost your electrolyte you go and buy a new battery (and make
damn
sure the alternator isn't overcharging the battery so it doesn't boil out
again).
Frank Biedermann
69 TR6 PI
Adelaide
AUSTRALIA
/// triumphs@autox.team.net mailing list
/// To unsubscribe send a plain text message to majordomo@autox.team.net
/// with nothing in it but
///
/// unsubscribe triumphs
///
|