Sport New Owner. Many Questions

a healthy, fully charged wet battery should be 12.7-8v
AGM will hold a surface charge a bit longer than a wet/sealed battery, but that should go after an overnight rest

Datatek said:

There will be no voltage reading with the meter set to VAC as that is Volts AC

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dam it, many thks, engine should be running , I wrote with the engine off, , have changed it, many thks

kermit_rr said:

there will be very low AC ripple,(in the 2-300mv range) much more than this indicates a problem

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hands up I should have written with the engine running to do the test across the battery terminals set to Vac

from the things I’ve read and I know u guys are extremely knowledgeable that if there’s an issue with the rectifier in the alternator it should read no higher than 0.5 Vac , hope I’ve got that right

Mad McNiff said:

Yes thats what I thought.
I’ll try a second meter and see what comes out.

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plus 1 to checking with another multimeter , may I also ask u haven’t got a spare battery fitted in the other battery tray have u plse , thks

Do you know what I haven't checked!!!!

But I will do

gstuart said:

hands up I should have written with the engine running to do the test across the battery terminals set to Vac

from the things I’ve read and I know u guys are extremely knowledgeable that if there’s an issue with the rectifier in the alternator it should read no higher than 0.5 Vac , hope I’ve got that right

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Not all DVM's will show the ripple from a dead diode.

Datatek said:

Not all DVM's will show the ripple from a dead diode.

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indeed and understand where ur coming from, know ur extremely knowledgeable when it comes to electronics

Remember u saying that an oscilloscope would be required for many tests on the alternator

as a side note have got one of these and still not gone into all of its capabilities, of course understand it won’t do what an oscilloscope will , handy where it will display onto my iPad

https://www.curienllc.com/data-intelligence

gstuart said:

indeed and understand where ur coming from, know ur extremely knowledgeable when it comes to electronics

Remember u saying that an oscilloscope would be required for many tests on the alternator

as a side note have got one of these and still not gone into all of its capabilities, of course understand it won’t do what an oscilloscope will , handy where it will display onto my iPad

https://www.curienllc.com/data-intelligence

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Looks like an interesting bit of kit. How good it is at wave forms will depend on things like the sample rate

Datatek said:

Looks like an interesting bit of kit. How good it is at wave forms will depend on things like the sample rate

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must confess haven’t used it to its full capacity , did see this video a little while ago, will make a lot more sense to ur good self, assume something like a pico would be required then to get good sample rates , is that where u can slow it down in order to see it in more detail plse , thks

Plus also found a test light extremely useful , particularly when doing a simple ohms continuity test , passed on the multimeter but not with the test light where i found a bad earth, was really a massive time saver when I’ve been tracking down electrical errors on the D3

gstuart said:

must confess haven’t used it to its full capacity , did see this video a little while ago, will make a lot more sense to ur good self, assume something like a pico would be required then to get good sample rates , is that where u can slow it down in order to see it in more detail plse , thks

Plus also found a test light extremely useful , particularly when doing a simple ohms continuity test , passed on the multimeter but not with the test light where i found a bad earth, was really a massive time saver when I’ve been tracking down electrical errors on the D3

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Looks quite useful but it is limited as the guy says. It really is quite slow, my scope is ether 100Mhz or 150Mhz I can't remember which, I had one of each, and there is no sample speed limitation as it displays continuously in real time. It's old tech now but cost £1K when new. Amazed it still works after all these years.

Datatek said:

Looks quite useful but it is limited as the guy says. It really is quite slow, my scope is ether 100Mhz or 150Mhz I can't remember which, I had one of each, and there is no sample speed limitation as it displays continuously in real time. It's old tech now but cost £1K when new. Amazed it still works after all these years.

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Many thks as always

At the end of the day know I won’t ever understand the deep complexity of electronics as most of it goes over my head but hopefully over time can learn alot more about canbus etc , along with having the correct tools for said requirements to diagnose

know it will be a very steep learning curve but really do enjoy learning new things , from what I’ve read the pico seem to have the most user friendly software

from owning my D3 nearly 7 x years feel that I’ve learnt a lot about many different systems , adding the 25+ years of fault finding / installation of heating systems and associated wiring feel that’s it’s put me in good stead in the thought process of not jumping in with both feet and to start with the basics and going through things step by step ensuring things have been done correctly

fingers crossed over time I’ll be able to learn more and more how to use oscilloscope software correctly and in doing so allow me to save a fortune from not having to ask the services of garages

As always I’m so grateful and can’t thk u enough for sharing ur extensive knowledge , honestly it’s so appreciated

gstuart said:

Many thks as always

At the end of the day know I won’t ever understand the deep complexity of electronics as most of it goes over my head but hopefully over time can learn alot more about canbus etc , along with having the correct tools for said requirements to diagnose

know it will be a very steep learning curve but really do enjoy learning new things , from what I’ve read the pico seem to have the most user friendly software

from owning my D3 nearly 7 x years feel that I’ve learnt a lot about many different systems , adding the 25+ years of fault finding / installation of heating systems and associated wiring feel that’s it’s put me in good stead in the thought process of not jumping in with both feet and to start with the basics and going through things step by step ensuring things have been done correctly

fingers crossed over time I’ll be able to learn more and more how to use oscilloscope software correctly and in doing so allow me to save a fortune from not having to ask the services of garages

As always I’m so grateful and can’t thk u enough for sharing ur extensive knowledge , honestly it’s so appreciated

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I'm sure you are not doing your skills justice, to me you know a lot more than you seem to think you do.
I'm grateful to many folks on here for the depth of mechanical knowledge shared.

Datatek said:

I'm sure you are not doing your skills justice, to me you know a lot more than you seem to think you do.
I'm grateful to many folks on here for the depth of mechanical knowledge shared.

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I do try, lol, but honestly that’s extremely kind of u and means a huge amount coming from ur good self

thank u so much

All thanks for the info.
Just an update
I've ordered a new key and waiting to pick it up and this may solve the locking issue.
I've not had time to sort the lights or the mirror.out yet as.busy trying to get my van back on the road .
It's.now developed anissue with the nearside rear window. It goes down but can't get it back up. I swapped the switches and still nothing. Any advice welcome.
Have I bought a lemon?