Flickering lights, power spikes, stuck key etc etc

[Harpo]

Hi guys

I just changed my battery two weeks ago and after that all hell broke loose.

All lights are flickering almost all of the time and if i turn the high-beams on i get a insane power spike or something.
Everything dies/restarts for a fraction of a second engine dies but continous to run if i am driving but dies when in idle.

Instrument cluster behaves as if i shut of the ignition or more like i had disconnected the battery, i get thumps in the speakers even if the radio is off.

I have looked at the battery connections and they seem to be good, i have been jerking the positive and negative wires really hard when the engine is running with no result.

One time when i hit the HB at idle in the driveway everything just died, key stuck in ignition everything dead EXEPT my acc outlets!?!?.

I then popped the hood and everything comes back again.

Yesterday it started to powerspike/die on me if i only put the foot on the brake.

The flickering is usually rather fast in frequency but could sometimes be as slow as once a second.

I changed my battery because its been bad for quite a long time and i also have problems with occasional draining problems in the past (i hope).


Sometimes it works just fine but that seems to be worse every week.

Im thinking maybe this is the alternator and /or the regulator that is causing this.


I have been searching both here and at the OS but not found anything like this, just flickering lights but not this spike/die thing.


Anyone have any ideas??

I should try to make a video later on.

//Janne

 

[The_Roadie]

Most of us would be guessing grounds at this point. Have you seen the definitive thread from the OS: http://forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.php?t=80661

 

[Harpo]

Thanks Bill
I would look in to that next.


I was out thinking i would do a video of it all and of course everything works like a charm.


I have this idea, could it be as this. When i start the car and the alternator is charging it is working alright, but when the battery comes up to "fully"charged and the regulator turns the charging down it has a hard time of deciding so to speak the charging level.
It appears to me that it could be the case here.IDK

Another question is, could a faulty regulator cause the almost total 12v powerloss.

It seems to be a bad connection somewhere hence the popping of the hood made it come back.

I will do a closer inspection of the battery terminals later today or tomorrow.
I am at a campsite with the whole family in the caravan at a big shopping place this weekend so i dont have many tools with me, i will get to the store and buy some later.


That reminds me, yesterday when i wiggled my positive wires with the ignition off i thought i heard a sparking/arcing noise, i then turned the ignition on and did it again but nothing happened and no arcing sound.

Anyone had there + wire at the terminal gone bad under the red plastic cover?.

 

[The_Roadie]

The wiring could certainly be flaky, or the terminal bad inside the battery. The voltage regulator is inside the alternator, and if it went bad,and the alternator stopped charging, the battery would just take over the load, and the voltage might drop from 14 to 12.7 at first. Certainly nothing like you're seeing.

 

[Harpo]

I going to take the plastic covers off the terminals to make sure that they are nice and tight, kind of hard to see.
I remember it felt different when i installed the new Tudor.

And i think i have shot my Bose cd player, radio works but cd player is dead (player error)not a sound from loading or spinning.

 

[Wooluf1952]

Sorry if I missed it or miss-read, but, the dieing at idle could be from a dirty t-body. Also, you mentioned it feeling different when you re-connected the battery. If you cross threaded the battery terminal bolt or the battery hole wasn't deep enough, it would seem tight, but be loose enough to cause connection problems.

 

[Mounce]

I'm not very well educated in random electrical glitches so I'm mainly asking someone like Roadie this...but...could it be that the battery is defective and has a bad connection inside the cells that could cause such spikes/drops in voltage? Could it also leak some funky frequencies through the cables that could cause the issues?

I would try swapping back to the old battery for a couple days (if you still have it) and see if it acts the same.

 

[Harpo]

I haven't had time to look into the problem yet but i got a video made yesterday.

At first everything is normal you can see me turn on the high beams, at about 1:30 min the flickering starts.
Its very hard to see in the video but it is really intense in real life.
It is really intense, usually when it is really bad it makes the HID:s go into start mode in a very fast rate, like 4-5 times a sec.

At 2:30 you can see what happens when i turn the high beams on with the flickering going on, that is one of the milder power drops, usually all the lights in the cluster acts like you just turned the ignition on. Here its just kills the gages for a very short time.

And yes my voltmeter isn't working, hasn't for some time.

What i also noticed is that this exclusively happens when dark outside for some insane reason, tried to make it happen during the day that same day and never got it to flicker. Probably just a coincidence but very strange.

I got a spotless TB in it so that is not a problem.
I will change the battery to the old one tomorrow and see if the problem disappears and also see if the terminals really is seated properly. I suspect that the threaded holes in the new battery is to shallow so the terminals wouldn't seat properly even if the bolts is tight.

When i droved home Sunday night i had Torque running with a voltmeter and it fluctuated between 11.2 and 14.7 volts the entire way home probably at a faster rate than the app could show.

http://youtu.be/VI2NAJpMSEM

 

[BlazingTrails]

It really sounds to me like you need to check the connections to the battery. It seems as though the Positive wire has a bad connection IMO That will wreak havoc on any electrical system.

 

[sawicksted]

If you pull the "new" battery, try to get it load tested. Most garages should have one and do it for free. I bought a new deep cell battery for my sail boat a few years back...over $200..... long story short....would take a charge but had no amps!!! DMM can't help you there - only a load test.

 

[Harpo]

Ok, problem solved.

I'm feel like a fool though. The problem was loose terminals at the battery.
When I changed out my old Deka battery for this Tudor I said it felt really odd when tightening the terminal bolts,I tighten the bolts as hard as I dared and they seemed really tight and secure. Then after a week problems started.
Today when I had time to look at it they were really loose.
I think I turned them both two turns or more. When I put the Deka battery in a couple of years ago it was no question about if the bolts were seated correctly. On this Tudor I must say that it almost was like you had to thread the terminals with the bolts,very strange.
You tend to be very careful when you tightening bolts in lead due to the risk of ruin the threads.

Ok,lesson learned at price of a cd -player unless I find a way to make that work again,got "player error".

Thanks for your help.

//Janne