[fifecoop]

Strangely enough I came on here to post with the exact same fault and saw this at the top of the home page.

After my 2012 207 1.4 petrol had sat for a around 3 weeks through the recent cold snap, I was pleased when it started on the first turn and I used it for a local trip. After about 2 miles it threw up this battery charge/electrical supply fault, and a minute later the steering went heavy, headlights dimmed and it said STOP on the dash.

I stopped and switched off, and after a short wait surprisingly it started again ok with no faults, so I went to drive home with the same thing happening after a mile or so.

The next day I got my multimeter out and tested 11.2V at the battery with the engine off, so first thing was to put it on charge for the day. After a charge I got 12.5V at the battery, and 14.4V with the engine running. This didn't change when lights and heater etc were on full, so I thought at least the alternator seemed ok.

The next day I went to drive it but it threw up the battery charge fault after a minute. Tester out again and just 11.2V at the battery with engine both off and running Not sure what to check next - is there a quick way to find out if the alternator or battery is at fault? Everything checked out fine yesterday but overnight something has clearly happened.

Thanks in advance for any advice, which will hopefully help out the original poster too!

 

[fifecoop]

These results point to a problem with the battery and possibly the alternator.

An alternator can go out by either overcharging the battery killing cells in the battery, or it can stop charging the battery. You may have both issues present, in that the battery is now problematic, and the alternator was the initial cause. Voltage regulator cooked the battery and sounds like may have stopped working altogether.

Thanks for the reply. The issue I seem to have is that I recorded 2 different results from one day to the next when checking voltages. All seemed correct yesterday (12.5V with engine off, 14.4V running) then today 11.2V both running and not running.

It seems unlikely the alternator would stop working overnight. Is it possible the battery is faulty so the alternator stopped charging it, as if it was full? (I don't know how this all works with a charge controller etc)