Battery Light Flickering

[meangreenLXi]

I get the battery warning light flashing when I accelerate quickly. The light comes on and flickers. I have a digital capacitor on the stereo and it shows the voltage of the battery. One day I had to punch it to get outta the way of another driver doing a u-turn on a city street. As the van turned around in the middle of the road facing and going the way i'm coming. I'm doing 35 already and they are doing about 10mph after the complete K-turn around technique for a u turn. Side by side with the Van another car is parked up ahead about 50yards in the same lane i'm in. I punch it to quickly get around this van and into the clear. Well the battery light flickers as i go from 35 to 65 in as long as it takes me to get there (i'd like to think 2 or 3 sec's)but the battery light is flashing like crazy, the capacitor is beeping like crazy, I look in the back and it's reading like 11v or so, i got a quick glance at it not a good look, so that's unclear because i'm doing 60 or so looking back into my backseat. I get further down the street and stop and the capacitor beeps again and i look at the cap and it's reading 17v, i saw that clearly. Does this sound like a bad alt or regulator? Alt and battery were put in the car in Feb. the alt is remanufactured w/ lifetime warranty.

[jayp6969]

regulator might be gone so u might need a new alternator

[k-roy]

ditto

[meangreenLXi]

damn, I was debating between getting the alt changed or some alpine 12" subs. I'd rather have the worry of the battery light off my mind if the alt has to be changed. .

[meangreenLXi]

so the regulator is in the alt? I got the alt from autozone, they said my battery was bad. I got the battery from a different autozone in the burbs and they said the voltage regulator was bad. Pepboys tried to talk me into killing my battery and getting them to put in the alt and upgrade my battery to one of those marina batteries that you can mount upside down if you want. I did want that battery if it's a dry cell. I hear they are better for stereo systems. I got the capacitor to help relieve the drainage off the battery while playing the car stereo

[jayp6969]

yes the regulator is apart of the battery if u boost ur battery or send to much voltage 2 it, it can be blown..id try another battery then if that dont work its the alternator

[Mac]

If you have a meter you can check your alternator and regulator yourself. Just put meter across the battery and run the engine. You should read at least 13.75 volts. Then start turning things on. As you turn stuff on the voltage might drop a little but come back to above 13 volts. If the voltage just drops and doesn't return the regulator is bad.

Also check the condition and tension of the alternator belt and the connections. Check both connections on battery and the other end of ground is tight and clean. And the connections on the alternator.

[meangreenLXi]

cool, it'll be friday before I'll get a chance to do all of that, but i will keep you posted. I was thinking of getting the job fixed but worried that even if I did get everything fixed and gunned it and that damn light came back on what a waste of money.