pulsating electrical system

Have a 1980Corvette..Start the car, and all the electrical devices flicker. Unplug the altenator and the system works fine. Had the Altenator rebuild but didnt stop the flickers...ARGE,,sure could use some help...Thanks

Reply to
jazzejoe
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A little bit of voltage fluctuation at the alternator can cause the regulator to produce some big charging current swings.

Check grounding:

- Negative battery cable for corrosion inside the insulation (arcs over and welds for start then corrodes apart). While you're there check the battery terminal -- I had a bad battery terminal on my C5 that caused these symptoms then it quit completely. Take a good look where the negative batt cable grounds to the frame.

- Bonding wire between frame and engine block or transmission.

- Headlamp wiring harness ground to forward frame.

For the '80, Clymer shows two ground paths for the alternator. One ground goes via a black wire to a connector in the forward wiring harness thence to the frame (at the same point where the headlamps, horns etc. are grounded.) Check the connector (it's paired). Then lift the ground lug to the frame and clean up any corrosion or rust.

Another diagram shows that ground path but also shows a ground from the alternator to the engine block then to the frame via the block or transmission bond wire. Might have been a mid-year change.

-- pj

Reply to
PJ

sounds like a short somewhere to me..

g'luck

Reply to
'Key

Sounds like good advice..Kind of figured it was a ground somewhere.. but other than the altenator,had no idea where to look..

Big Thanks PJ

Reply to
jazzejoe

After you do the usual ground checks, battery cable checks, and so on, take the alternator to a real alternator repair shop (not an AutoZone, Advanced Auto, Pep Boys, etc) who can check all three phases of the alternator.

If you have access to an oscilloscope, you can do it also. There are three phases to the output, 60 degrees apart, so that rectified you have 6 positive wave peaks in a full cycle. What often happens is that a single phase set of diodes will go bad and you lose a phase. The other two will still charge the battery but at a reduced level.

Also, check for condensers (capacitors) connected to the alternator positive line either near the alternator or away, like the fuse block/bulkhead connector or the starter solenoid, that may be bad. They would be there to filter the voltage peaks.

However, enough to see flickering sounds more like a diode pack is bad.

The chain stores with the quickie belt type alternator tester will NEVER find this.

If you have one of those chain brands, and have the lifetime warranty, tell them the diode pack is bad and you need a new one. They won't understand, and you will have to insist, but the alternative is to suffer dead batteries every few months and flickering lights.

Reply to
Tom in Missouri

I should add the two most common causes of alternator failure I have found are jump starting another car and over-tightening of the belt.

The belt does the obvious, it overloads the front bearing and either the bearing will go out and seize or it will overheat the alternator so the electronics inside fail.

Jump starting is not so obvious. What I have come across is that there are huge voltage and current spikes that occur just as the other car fires. What happens is initially running/charging puts a heavier load on the alternator. Then when cranking the engine, the load increases tremendously. At the time it fires and you release the key, the load requirements drop completely and suddenly all the extra current causes a huge voltage spike, plus the second car's charging system has also just added to the voltage. Yes, I know that voltage on parallel circuits will remain the same across, however, there is much more current. This increase in current causes a much larger voltage spike across internal components and blows out the regulator or one of the diode packs. The diode packs are rated by current, so if the current is too large, out goes the diodes.

Sometimes they short, so then instead of getting rectified DC, you continue to get AC, which means during a half cycle you are discharging the battery on one phase. this usually means that you end up with a dead battery in a month.

If the phase is blown out - no current in one phase - then you end up with a weak charging system that after a hard start (long cranking in winter, left lights on, etc.), the system may not recharge the battery completely in a short trip and then you have the "dead battery" and can't start, but in longer trips, you have no problem.

Reply to
Tom in Missouri

Tom and Key, Thanks so much for all the great help.. alway better to have more brains on the subject... (especially brains with knowledge about electrical probs) Thanks again for all the advise..and will sure let you all know how it all works out

joe

Reply to
jazzejoe

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