Long time no see
I'm looking at 20 miles .....
Alternator has given up on the tintop - it's a particularly awkward one to get at so I'm gonna pay someone to do it. I therefore need to
take it to a garage.
Question is how far can one drive on a fully charged battery before it gives up?
Car is a Saab 9-5 petrol by the way.
Hello Mark
Once drove a diesel Honda Civic 4 miles or so with it not charging at all, make sure you turn everything off though, radio heater etc etc. when I
stopped at the garage it started again without a problem to get it on the ramp so probably gone further
Mick
Hello Mark
Once drove a diesel Honda Civic 4 miles or so with it not charging at all, make sure you turn everything off though, radio heater etc etc. when I
stopped at the garage it started again without a problem to get it on the ramp so probably gone further
Mick
Hiya Mick,
Long time no see
I'm looking at 20 miles .....
A friend of mine drove his Volvo V70 AWD petrol to and from work for a week, 8 miles each way
purely on the battery.
Wow what happened then..........
Hello mate, are you not hill climbing anymore at Harewood ?, have you got a spare battery you could take just in case
That's encouraging Nige
Not hillclimbed for a while now .... I seem to spend most of my weekends on my bike nowadays
Coils average out at 3 amps, fuel pump draws 5 or 6 amps average on a petrol more on a diesel, injectors about 1 amp wipers 5 amps adds up to
about 15 amps to run the engine.
Apart from the lights the massive loads are heater blower, heated rear window and heated seats.
Remember also the chrage capacity of of a battery gets less with age even on a "good" battery so a 65ah battery might only have 15 ah you
can take out it before the voltage drops off and the battery suffers deep discharge damage.
Getting lazy in your old age 
or getting wise 
Hi Mark
Have you had a go with the van front yet ?
G
quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
Coils average out at 3 amps, fuel pump draws 5 or 6 amps average on a petrol more on a diesel, injectors about 1 amp wipers 5 amps adds up to about 15 amps to run the engine.
Apart from the lights the massive loads are heater blower, heated rear window and heated seats.
Remember also the chrage capacity of of a battery gets less with age even on a "good" battery so a 65ah battery might only have 15 ah you can take out it before the voltage drops off and the battery suffers deep discharge damage.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-24367601
Did 36 miles, at night, in my Peugeot Diesel when the fan belt snapped. 2.0 hdi. Was still going strong.
I ran a yankee 2.3 Ford Merkur for weeks with a duff alternator years ago, and with lights on, as it was dark, as no one in the uk could source one
according to the part numbers,
But I did carry a fully charged battery in the boot, and jump leads in the event it wouldn't start, I believe it did pretty well most times
steve
quote:
Originally posted by loggyboy
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-24367601
I did about 100 motorway miles in an older audi a6 with broken alternator belt with lights and everything else I could turn off turned off.
My alternator packed in just after I set out for IVA. Only about 5 miles to the test centre but it lasted all the way through IVA and the drive back home.
Fully charged battery with everything turned off 20 to 30 mile shouldn't be an issue .
quote:
Originally posted by mookaloid
Alternator has given up on the tintop - it's a particularly awkward one to get at so I'm gonna pay someone to do it. I therefore need to take it to a garage.
Question is how far can one drive on a fully charged battery before it gives up?
Car is a Saab 9-5 petrol by the way.
quote:
Originally posted by luke2152
quote:
Originally posted by mookaloid
Alternator has given up on the tintop - it's a particularly awkward one to get at so I'm gonna pay someone to do it. I therefore need to take it to a garage.
Question is how far can one drive on a fully charged battery before it gives up?
Car is a Saab 9-5 petrol by the way.
Have you looked at removing the alternator through the right wheel arch? I can't say if its doable for sure but I changed an alternator belt on 9-5 a while back through the wheel arch and it was very easy
I've been all the way up the Stelvio and down the Bormio without an alternator on a small battery. If that helps.
I did once about 60 miles from the time the Batt light went on until it stalled.
2011 Dodge Journey, 2.4 Petrol engine, Auto transmission.
I turned everything off, rolled the electric windows down (so we didnīt cook ourselves)
I reckon the alternator failure may have been a few minutes before that;
It depends completely upon the car and I don't know Saabs.
I once drove 125 miles with no alternator in a Rover 400 (416) petrol, but had a Focus 1.8 TDCI stop after less than 10 miles - that didn't even
bring the alternator light on, the first sign was loss of power steering, followed immediately by every light on the dash lighting up and the engine
losing all power.
I drove to my IVA 60 miles there and back. Then I did another 100 miles before my battery went flat. My alternator wasn't charging do to me
wiring a LED charge light into the system. LEDs don't draw enough power to start the charging process apparently.
So I did at least 160 miles in my V8 kit before conking out.
I managed 12 miles with my kit before a battery booster was needed to start it again, then did about 5 miles....then my booster ran out of juice too
Well I can report that it made 25 miles to the destination this morning taking about an hour in traffic. A few flashes of the battery warning light
but otherwise it coped
Might be worth making sure the battery is fully charged before driving? I once drove 150 miles in a classic Mini with a failed Dynamo but that was in the days when the only draw on the battery was the coil and fuel pump.
shouldn't the light have been on the whole time? I thought the light showed the battery wasn't charging rather than it being low.
quote:
Originally posted by morcus
shouldn't the light have been on the whole time? I thought the light showed the battery wasn't charging rather than it being low.
Just strap a small generator with a 12v output to the boot, job done
i used my van for months with no alternator belt (no power steering too, fun in a van!). I had a charger so charged it at work and on an evening. Went
Leeds to Halifax regularly. Just bumped it where possible to avoid using the battery (including down my drive on a morning).
Kit car managed 50 miles with headlights on, til it dawned on me why it was dying!
When the alt failed on my Toyota I got every dash light under the sun except the battery light