Alternator fault, not charging battery warning

[SimpleRoamer]

I was pulling out of my driveway one day when a dash message said "Alternator fault, battery not charging". I stop the car and try to turn it on again, and the engine would crank once and stop. I checked the voltage the battery was at and it was reading 11.5.

I ended up getting the vehicle to the shop for them to look it over, and they called back the same day saying that the issue is not happening and that there is nothing wrong with the vehicle. I told them I would pick it up the next day, the following morning they called again saying with the tech tried to move the car to the lot the warning came on again, and that now it needs a new alternator.

They ended up replacing the alternator and I got my car back yesterday. Everything seemed fine, I did notice the car was idling slightly higher than usual (900 RPM), but nothing else seemed to change. Yesterday afternoon the error came back up on the dash and I was just able to get the car home before electronic systems started shutting down.

I'm getting the battery tested today, and really hoping that it is that.

Has anybody else experienced this? It's like the alternator charges sometimes, other times it doesn't. Possibly a loose connection somewhere? Any ideas would be helpful!

[Kriskrk]

Had similar problems and dads message popped up. It did also increase rpms.
After an hour of wait with car completely shut off, managed to start it up and got back home.
Replaced alternator few days after and seemed to solve it till battery started to play up.l, athought it was showing healty from test in 3 different garages.
Replaced battery and had no problems untill winter. Cold weather doesn't help the battery.
Have you still got factory battery?
Getting good AGM battery will solve it for sure.

My problem with battery was that I have set the dash cam parking recording mode to cut off the voltage too low and might have damaged the battery.
Charged it with smart charger and left it on "repair mode" and it did helped a lot.
Lower temperatures does show battery level lower than with higher temperatures in the morning but manage to charge it up during even short drive.
Also, as was't sure where the juice drop or drain overnight come from, I have installed two 24W solar panels in rear side boot windows, connected to charging regulator. Even when parked, it does charge it.

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[SimpleRoamer]

I'll go ahead and try replacing the battery. Will keep updated!

[SimpleRoamer]

Replaced battery, thought it was fixed as I was able to drive it around all day yesterday without an issues. It was reading a constant 14.7 volts while driving. Started and stopped multiple times, no issues.

Come out this morning, check volts before starting. It was sitting around 12, started it and it dropped to 11.5, and slowly (span of 20 minutes) started dropping to 11 volts. At 11 volts, the car displayed the warning message on the alternator not working.

Any other ideas on what could be causing this?

[Kriskrk]

Did you got new battery coded in?
Might be the case that, cpu doesn't know the capacity of a new battery and it keep on charging it. It can learn itself the minimum and maximum of the battery but it does take time, been told.

Another idea is that, you might have a really big power draw somewhere.
When new battery was fitted it was ok as batteries do come pretty much charged and it did sucked out more juice out of it.
With above thought of cpu not knowing the capacity of new battery, it might confuse the cpu even more.

With all above as assumption, strange thing is that, the alternator did not charge the battery and allowed to drop to dangarous level of 11volts.
Check all connections and terminals on the battery. Did you tighten the clamps on the battery properly? When alternator was replaced, was the belt tensioner still ok?

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[SimpleRoamer]

I coded my original battery in, never coded in the second one for the day I tested it.

The car has been in the shop for a few days now. I called today for an update and they are not sure what is wrong with it. I have a feeling they are going to try to tell me to replace the alternator again (they quoted $1100 for it).

I've looked on other forums. Could this be a possible issue with a fuse, relay, or grounding issue?

[sivletho]

They should of just replaced the voltage regulator


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[Kriskrk]

I had initially replaced voltage regulator but it was insuficcient. Had the same spec as of it as factory and still problems.
Whole alternator replacement did the job

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[B.Ruck]

Sorry for digging up old post but I’m having a similar issue. What was the final result? Was it another alternator or something else?