C240 2001 Auto Battery Charging Concerns

[dave@mdsys.co.uk]

Hi all, first post from me as a new member.

My C240 2001 has failed to start for the last few mornings. Obviously a jump start brings it to life, but I have noticed the following and would value anyones input.

Battery is only a year old.
When testing the altinator output I find that it's kicking out 13.2V and max 12 amps.

Obviously this isn't enough to cover the lights and wipers etc that we need to use everyday at the moment.

Anyone know what it should kick out?
Whether there is a tricky regulator that may be at fault?
Or is the altinator just buggered?

 

[television]

Hello and welcome to the forum, reading your post I would have said that the new battery is faulty with a parcial short circuit cell. If you measure the voltage in the morning before you start the car it should be in the order of 12.5 volts (charged the day before). The running voltage of the car is 13.8 volts, if the running voltage is low,as yours this would also point to the battery being at fault pulling down the running voltage.

Alternators are not designed for charging flat batteries as there is only 2,3-2.8 volts to do so.

I do hope that this helps