Alternator light on until revs come up...

[Joe Elliott <jelliott@domain.elided>]

   I'm a few days behind in the digest so forgive me if someone's already
said what I'm about to, but I keep seeing all these posts about low current
until you rev the engine.  Such as:

<< when I first start the car the battery light stays on and =
 the=20
 voltmeter reads around 9.  This immediately resolves by revving the car=20
 once.  Does this mean anything?"

 My answer...... well, maybe it does, but nobody yet has worked out just =
 what it means..!!!  More seriously, though, the answer is "They all do =
 that" (or a great many of them do, anyway).  >>

  Anyway, you need a new alternator voltage regulator (or maybe you don't,
if you don't mind revving the engine--mine was in such condition that I was
revving to 4000RPM to get the light off!!).  What's happening is that the
worn-out voltage regulator is too dumb to realize that the engine is up to
speed and is not switching from battery to alternator power.  The light's
on whenever there's a draw on the battery.  I guess it's not a bad thing as
long as you get that light off before you drive too far running all your
auxilaries off the battery.

Disclaimer:I really don't know anything about electronics and I just made
that up.

Joe "half an airdam is real stylish" Elliott
Oxford, Ohio, USA
'82 GTV6

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