Charge Light

Screamingholt · rice boy Joined: 24 Dec 2003 Posts: 15

Damnit.....I have a Mitsi Alternator fitted to my gemi off a series 2 RX-7.

The other day the charge light came on when I was half way to bunbry (in WA). I was able to get there nad back without a hitch. But when i got home and wacked the trusty Test Meter of Justice on the thing it reads initially as 12.5 Volts, and as the reves climb so to does the voltage. At most I was reading as much as 15.9 volts. So i tried finding the auto-electrician that fitted the thing, but unfortunatly he has shut up shop. So i Disconnected the regulator lest i cook my battery, coil etc. After running off the battery for the best bit of a week I finnally ran outta charge, so I resorted to reconnecting the Regulator. NOW the the charge light stays on, but its only putting 12.5-13.8volts out.

Oh and I have checked the main connector on the back of the alternator (the screw terminal) and it is getting power as it should.

If anyone has anyidea as to a cause solution, I would love to hear it, cause this is annoying as hell.

GEMN2O · rice boy Joined: 22 Dec 2003 Posts: 34

i will send u an alternator for $25 i am in townville, maybe a new one will help a gemmi one, what engine do u have?

Screamingholt · rice boy Joined: 24 Dec 2003 Posts: 15

Im running a 1800 SOHC isuzu, G180 i think.
The only thing is the system has been modified to suit the mitsi alternator, as it has a different plug setup on the back than the standard gemini alternator has.

The other thing is that the freight would be the killer with sending it over to here. Also one thing I forgot to mention before was that this alternator was only rebuilt less than a month ago

Josh · backyard mechanic Joined: 04 Oct 2001 Posts: 602

shit ay... I dunno what it could be but if u need a spare one till u get your new ones fixed i'm in mandurah...

Screamingholt · rice boy Joined: 24 Dec 2003 Posts: 15

wooo....thanks for the offer josh, i appreciate it dont worry.

Though i finnally got onto the local auto-sparkie, with any luck he can help me. More and more, it looks like a "loose wire" type issue. Like the alternator/regulator isnt properly sensing the output level. Will post if/when i get a solution. Lets hope noone else needs to know huh.

sime · tinkerer Joined: 27 Oct 2001 Posts: 352

have you checked the charging wire that goes between the voltage reg and the battery?

if you put ur multimeter on the alternator output the higher your revs climb the more the alternator should output. Your voltage reg shouldnt allow more than 14.4v (but sometimes does) output even tho most devices such as guages can take 16v before they start to blow up/burn out.

12.5v to 13.8v output sounds fine to me at idle my gem alternator dosnt even output that much untill you up the rpm to arround 2,000 then it will charge upto 13.8v to 14.4v.

it sounds to me like your regulator might be faulty or like you said loose wire somewhere probably just the wire for the charge light even?

post back and let us know when you work it out Smile

Screamingholt · rice boy Joined: 24 Dec 2003 Posts: 15

Yeah sime, In the end it turns out that the standard gemini regulator doesnt deal well with the Mitubishi alternator off the RX-7 (series 1).

However luckilly I have a talanted Auto-electrician who has helped out Smile

He has rigged me up a tempory regulator that *SHOULD* keep me good.

Im not sure but I think its revving harder now. Im gonna hook my Tacho back up sometime and check. prolly getting more even spark.

though at the end of the day the best solution to my power issues is gonna be to gut my cars existing power system and build a new one that only connects what I need up.

sime · tinkerer Joined: 27 Oct 2001 Posts: 352

Its good to hear you found a fix for the problem if you go even futher and do the re-wiring maybe you can write up a small guide and do a diagram or something to add to the workshop area of the website. Im sure lots of people would be interested in a detailed description on how to upgrade their alternator to a big beefy one Wink

MJ · newbie Joined: 03 Nov 2001 Posts: 8

I had this problem, I just simply got the orginal Alternator upgraded, By this i mean the Windings inside the alternator. It went from a standard unit to having a 100 Amp output. No wiring to change either!! as it still uses all the same connections as a standard unit. So a 100 Amp Alternator cost me $100 ( it was a few years ago now thou ), compared to the other methods such as different Alternators, regs ect... and a lot cheaper too.

Here is the name of the company where i got my alternator done.
TKF Auto Rewind & Wholesalers Pty Ltd.

Address:
Unit 2 45 Irvine Drv
Malaga, WA, 6090
Australia

Phone:
(0 Cool

9249 4261