RE: [DML] How does the Alternator light work???

["John Hervey" <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Your pretty close. 
The power goes thru the 161 battery light bulb to excite the regulator 
( no Led's ) and the regulator has a ground for that and the light comes on.
Then when the alternator starts to turn there is a reverse 12 volts that
goes back to the bulb and null's the light to turn off. 
Think of a slinky toy that is going left and right as the hands move a
little. The light does almost the same by turning on and off. As long as
there is about 8 volts coming out of the alternator and going back to the
light it is off but if the alternator starts failing and not generating
enough volts the bulb comes back on. It's like in a state of limbo.
John Hervey
www.specialtauto.com


  

-----Original Message-----
From: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
daviddlasvegas
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 10:32 PM
To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [DML] How does the Alternator light work???

My curiosity has been peaked with all this electrical system trouble 
I've been having. I'm wondering if anyone can tell me exactly how the 
alternator tell tale light works.

Here's what I'm thinking: There is a positive wire from the battery 
that goes to the light. The negative wire from the light goes to the 
alternator. When you turn the key on, the alternator is not making its 
own power yet, so the juice goes thru the light and is grounded at the 
alternator. Thus the curcuit is complete and the light illuminates. 
Once the alternator is on and making power, it can't act as a negative 
and the circuit is undone and the light goes off. When the ignition is 
turned on at first it takes a few seconds for the alternator to start 
making power, so the light illuminates for a few seconds (while the 
manual says this is a bulb check it's really just electricity working 
the way it is suppose to).

So how close am I???



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