Alternator Question, Anyone Else's Alternator Ticking With Blinkers, Wipers, Etc.? (1 Viewer)

Alternator Question, Anyone Else's Voltmeter Ticking With Blinkers, Wipers, Etc.?

When I work my blinkers or wipers or hazards, I notice that my voltage meter, rpms, and even my ampmeter on my turbo timer ticks in time up and down slightly with the blinker, wiper, hazards etc. This is especially evident at a stop light when I'm within the turn lane and have the blinker on but otherwise have the throttle at idle. Does anyone else notice this??? If yes, is it normal? If no, does this indicate my brushes in my alternator are close to crapped out? Thanks, yes I searched, I appreciate any advice about alternator function. Thanks.

Sorry, after no responses, I reread my thread and realized that it was worded wrong; its not that my alternator ticks, its that the voltmeter on the dash ticks up and down and the rpms tick up and down when for example I have the blinkers or wipers on and I'm at a stop, and at an idle. Sorry for the confusion, still I'd like to know if anyone else experiences this and if not, should I start looking at replacing my alternator brushes. Its hard to believe that the voltmeter gauge would be sensitive when the temp gauge is so insensitive but like I wrote, my rpms also slightly tick some up and down with the same things so either these gauges are only accurately showing what draw is on the alternator, OR, the alternator is having a hard time producing stable voltage and this might mean some sort of problem??? Any thoughts? Thanks as always.

I willhave to look at my truck later, that said. I think you have more of a problem if the rpm meter is droping in RPM when the draw is happening. How much of a rpm drop do you have? How much of a tick on the Amp meter do you have? if slight then I would not worry much, but if lots then you may need to worry. Most 80 alternator will last well over 200k miles on the brushes. As for the turbo timer talk to ben He may know about it, it just may be more senstive. later robbie

this happens in my '91 a bit -- new alt, new + and - lines and still does it a bit --

-- gives it character --

e

Mine definately doesn't show any symptoms like that. And when it comes to that timer on one of these rigs I would be very sensitive. Just my 02.

robbie said:

How much of a rpm drop do you have? How much of a tick on the Amp meter do you have? if slight then I would not worry much, but if lots then you may need to worry. Most 80 alternator will last well over 200k miles on the brushes. As for the turbo timer talk to ben He may know about it, it just may be more senstive. later robbie

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Hi Robbie, thanks for the response. This ticking thing is minor, I'm talking like a lightly visible up and down ticking of the needle of the voltmeter and the needle of the rpms and an oscillation of between .3 and .5 amps on the ampmeter on the turbo timer. The ticking is in perfect time with the blinker or the wiper or whatever cycles on and off, on and off. If I had pick a precise number I would say that the tick on the rmps amounts to about 25 to 50 rpms up and down. And, if I had to pick a precise number I would say that the tick on the voltmeter amounts to about 1.5 volts.

For reffug, thanks also for the response, the turbo timer itself works perfectly. It has some functions on it that I am not absolutely aware about but one of these terrific functions is an ampmeter. When I select this function at a stoplight for example, I can see the oscillation of the amperage, like i wrote, just about .3 to .5 amps. Really minor really but I'm wondering about it.

For Eric, thanks man for that, that makes me think that this is normal and that as always I am over-anal-izing things but still, if this indicates anything amiss with the alternator, I'd want to get right on it, pull the thing and replace the brushes.

For anyone else, the strange thing about this is I can have the stereo system on full blast with big variations in heavy amp output like base notes and I do not see the same ticking, I would think the stereo and amp ( 60watts x 4 channels ) would pull much more current than a blinker or a wiper??? Perhaps the nature of the stereo is more of a constant draw by the time the current bleeds from capacitors on heavy notes and by the time the current is rebuilt to the capacitors on lighter notes??? I have no idea, if its not a vacuum tube amp and preamp, I have no idea how it works!!!

Thanks guys for your help, any other advice is appreciated as always.

As with any elec motor, the start up draw is more than the amp draw to make the motor work continous. as for the sound system, How is it hooked into the system? Get the wiring diagram's and see how the other circuits are hooked into the system. At idle you may want to check your voltage at the battery and see if the load is not too great with all the electrics attached.
At idle most alternators are not cranking that much but off idle the start putting out the juice. You may have some thing else going on, so get the volt ohm meter out and check voltage at idle, voltage at 12-1500 rpms and see what the battery voltage is. then also turn all the electrical things you might have on and check voltage again at the two rpm points above. post these or call me and i can tell you what is up or if it is time to look at some thing. I will not be able to respond till tuesday as I am going camping. later robbie

robbie said:

At idle most alternators are not cranking that much but off idle the start putting out the juice. You may have some thing else going on, so get the volt ohm meter out and check voltage at idle, voltage at 12-1500 rpms and see what the battery voltage is. then also turn all the electrical things you might have on and check voltage again at the two rpm points above. post these or call me and i can tell you what is up or if it is time to look at some thing. I will not be able to respond till tuesday as I am going camping. later robbie

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Thanks Robbie, again, awesome advice, I will check these things and post my voltages. Have fun camping, and, thanks as always for your advice and assistance, I so much appreciate it.

Okay, I took some multimeter measurements and would like to post them for people to ponder and add any advice!

First set of measurements all without any extra accessories on:
Engine off, voltage across batt = 12.88 rock steady
Engine on, at idle = 14.38 rock steady
Engine on, at 1200 rpm = 14.40 steady as the wife was with the pedal!
Engine on, at 1600 rpm = 14.42 also, steady as the wife was with the pedal.


Second set of measurements all with low beams, high beams, heater blowers (f&r) on high, defroster on, all interior lights on, stereo powered on no music on though:
Engine at idle = 12.32 rock steady
Engine at 1200 rpm = 14.08 same as above as far as steady
Engine at 1600 rpm = 14.10 same as above as far as steady
For grins and giggles, engine at 2000, goosing to 2500, = no more than 14.10

Any thoughts are most appreciated. Thanks.

Looks like your alt cannot keep up with that high load and the battery is making up the difference at idle but the alt can at higher RPM's, I would think that would be normal, but I have never tried that extreme of a load,

My alt keeps up with most stuff I have done at idle (monitored by headlight output) including the blinker wiper etc except for the window motors, this is better than most other vehicles I have owned witch cannot keep up with the headlights and brake lights @ idle in drive (noticeable dimming of head lights at stop lights)

I have a Bosch rebuild alt (PO) it’s ok but the pulley sticks out further than the OEM alt, need to fix that some day

RavenTai said:

Looks like your alt cannot keep up with that high load and the battery is making up the difference at idle but the alt can at higher RPM's, I would think that would be normal, but I have never tried that extreme of a load.

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One thing I was wondering/worrying about is that the alternator (BTW, the FSM only refers to it as 'generator' apparently?) will not produce more than about 14.40 Volts even when reving the engine up to three thousand rpms. I'm not sure what stock settings should be but since the stock voltage gauge goes to 18, I'm thinking that the alternator might be mildly weak??? I have verified that the belts are not slipping, and I have verified that the 'generator' is not making any non normal noises. I guess I was thinking that the response from lots and lots of people when I posted this thread would be "ohh yea, mine does that too" but since the only one seems to be Eric who has a new alt and such, I'm more confused. Thanks for any advice, I appreciate it. Hope everyone had an awesome weekend.

A generator produces DC and an alternator produces AC, a modern automotive alternator produces 3 phase AC internally and rectifies it to DC (that is what the 6 big diodes inside do), not sure why Toyota used Generator as they have not been used in cars since the 60’s, but the two terms are often used interchangeably, possibly a translation thing?

Both the gas powered backup at your house and the one at the power plant are called "generators" even though they produce AC


I don’t have the specs in front of me but 14.4 pretty dam close to perfect, the “18” on the gage is for reference, if your system ever got to that voltage you would have major problems,

Generally you should have

12.* engine off
>10 starting
14.* engine running

You should never see above 15 or below 9

The “ideal” ranges are a lot tighter

RavenTai said:

I don’t have the specs in front of me but 14.4 pretty dam close to perfect, the “18” on the gage is for reference, if your system ever got to that voltage you would have major problems,

Generally you should have

12.* engine off
>10 starting
14.* engine running

You should never see above 15 or below 9

The “ideal” ranges are a lot tighter

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Thanks Raven, that eases my mind mostly! I'm surprised that the stock gauges get so sensitive! Anyway, as long as all is well, I wont worry about running out and replacing brushes right away! Thanks again.