red "ign" light faintly lit

[sunnystag]

Since purchasing my stag at the end of Jan, have managed to get it back on the road and MOT'd. With all new disks pads, shoes, rear shoe adjusters, front and rear seat belts, coolent hoses, oil change, fixed rear light connections..... pretty much inline with being stood for 18months

I' ve also sourced some alloys, which i have yet to pick up when i go south.

What a great car. Even managed a couple of runs with the roof down.

The list of things to do grows by the day of course!!

Looking for some advice. I have a brand new battery, but the dash ignition light is faintly lit. I can only see this at night. in the day you can not tell.

My car is a very early one and i understand the charge wiring circuit is not the best. The battery is clearly getting charged.

Is this normal? and do i leave well alone.

Do i re-wire the charge circuit as the early wiring is at fault?

or do i buy a new alternator as its about to let go?

[nib]

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Hi sunnystag

Is your volt meter reading 13 to 15 volts whilst driving down the main road?This is the reading for a good charging system.

There is a box attached to the r/hturret that is like a relay and these sometimes go.

You can check it by putting a crocodile clip around the terminals and joining them together and seeing if that knocks your light out.Basically when these boxes go they dont join so the circuit breaks.

Remember your light may stay on under low revs so you need to blip the throttle.

Mark

[Russell]

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Absolutely LOVE your car mate

[boiler0_3]

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Hello Sunnystag.

I've got an early model and the same thing happens. The light comes on very dimly evenat high revs. It is not noticible in daylight and sometimes it doesn't light at all. Its been happening for about a year now but I may not have noticed before that.

I checked with an ammeter that the battery was taking current with the lights, wipers and blower on and it was so I've stopped worrying about it. The volt meter always reads above13volts with the engine running.

[sunnystag]

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thanks for the advice - and complement

will do the test on the black box tommorrow. - so if the light is knocked out when i joint the terminals then the box is at fault.

If no change then the black box is ok , but also i may be okay and not need to replace alternator

[Russell]

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Just noticed this with my car tonight as well, mainly at idle, but the battery is taking a charge and it was between 13-15 on the volt meter when driving so im not unduly worried.

[nib]

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Give the car a rev Russell if it knocks the light out, its fine,especially if its reading between 13 to 15 volts once youve done this.

Mark

[Russell]

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nib wrote:

Give the car a rev Russell if it knocks the light out, its fine,especially if its reading between 13 to 15 volts once youve done this.

Mark

Wrong light mate, just me being dim - see other thread!! LOL

[grandpascot]

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Hi Sunnystag

Is "North Scotland" anywhere near Inverness? Have I found a mate near me at last?

Mike

[Russell]

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If your ever down my way both, pop in!

[sunnystag]

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okay it's taken some time, but finally got back to my ign light. Its so faint you can only see it at night.

My relay thingy on the right turrent has one green and brown wire connected to the termial rearmost. and that is the only connected wire. Then there is a black wire and a separatea brown wire not connected. Can anyone confirm i should put the black to the terminal with "-" above it and the brown to the "+" marked termial? have notdone this yet incase i break something.



Picture should appear below.

i get a fine 13 volts when running.





Thanks for all the comments, north scotland means Orkney in my case

[Guest]

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Hiya, cracking car, lovely colour! Without any lights on, the volt meter should show almost 15 volts, 14.3 I think, 13 volts is too low. You really do need to put a meter across the regulator (black box) to check it. Good luck mate. Martin.

[Guest]

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Me again, I've just looked at your pic again, and it does not show the alternator regulator, that lives on the front of the suspension turret and is larger. I'm not sure what you're looking at but I don't believe it's part of the charging curcuit. Martin.

[redstag]

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Your picture does show the regulator. The larger box on the wing turret is the relay.

Are you sure you have the original type alternator? Hard to see but it doesn't look the same as mine.

Maybe your alternator has been changed to a newer type with an internal regulator hence the disconnected wiring.

No idea why the ignition light glows though.



Pete

[sunnystag]

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Ahhhhhh talk about missing the obvious !! That is clearly not a lucas unit, i'll have to move the PAS pump and have a better look and try to see how its been wired.

Talk about missing whats right infront of your eyes....

If the lower black box in the first photo is the regulator, then i will tape off its wires assuming the alternator has its built in.

So what is the relay on the turret for then? photo below.

Is that to do with the alternator or someting else? Head lights?

thanks