One of the most important components in a car is an alternator. In general, an alternator is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. The use of an alternator in a car is to power the car electric system when the engine is running. Among the components that require the electric power in a car are headlights, radio, air conditioner and much more. The electrical power is also used to recharge the car battery.
When you turn the start engine key or push the start engine button, electrical current will be drawn from the battery to start the engine. Once the engine has started, the alternator will then operates and recharges the battery to replace the electric current withdrawn from the battery that was used to start the engine in the first place.
There are few indications such as battery, alternator, alt or charge red warning light will appear if there is something wrong with the charging system. This is because the system is unable to recharge the battery. In order for the charging system to work properly, the alternator, belt, wiring, fuses, connections and regulator must work properly. If one of the components in the system gets faulty, the charging system will not work and the battery might get discharged.
When the alternator is defective, the battery still has a certain amount of reserve power to keep the engine running for about half an hour. This means that from the moment the red warning light flashes, you still have about half an hour to reach your destination safely before the engine dies out. To keep your engine running, shut off all unnecessary accessories such as radio, air conditioner or heater and also do not use the power window.
It is also not recommended to pull off the road and shut off your engine because you might not be able to restart the engine once you shut it off even though the battery might have enough electrical power stored. If you know that there is an auto workshop nearby which is within half an hour drive, then you just need to keep on driving until your reach the workshop.
If the workshop is too far, then you can drive your car to the nearest gas station to recharge the battery. Once the battery is fully recharged, drive another half an hour until you reach the auto workshop provided you do not use all the unnecessary accessories and you also do not keep on restarting the car.
Once you are at the workshop, make sure the mechanic check the alternator, belt, wiring, fuses, connections and regulator. Ensure also that the mechanic recharged the battery.
Other culprit that can cause the charging system to fail and gives alternator warning light alarm is a broken belt. This is because on some cars, the belt that drives the water pump also drives the alternator. If your car shows temperature warning light, you need to pull off the road immediately to prevent the engine from overheating. Twisted, missing or slipping belt can also cause the same problem. Make sure the mechanic replace the belt with a new one because the existing belt has either broken or already worn out.
