#Car battery indicator color wiki full

The battery itself is a very old battery - we've had the car since 2013 now and we've never replaced the battery in it, prior to that it had one previous owner since 2005, they kept all the receipts and looking through them we can't see any reference to it ever having a new battery either, also it is a GM battery which as it's a Vauxhall does seem to be the original manufacturer battery - but surely batteries can't last 15 years can they? I'm guessing that this battery tester is testing the battery in a different way and is showing the defect up more than the magic eye or battery tester would. I know some faulty batteries tend to fail when they get cold, but can they also fail when they get warm? And I don't quite understand why my battery tester in the 12v socket is showing the battery is bad at times and drains to red very quickly and yet the Magic Eye shows the battery as fine, and testing the battery on top also shows the battery as fine. Of course without knowing exactly what level these red yellow and green lights turn on at it could mean anything.

I also noticed that when it was failing the headlights also started to dim a bit too when turning the wheel, and the battery tester was actually showing the battery level falling into yellow whilst the alternator was going slightly into the red (overcharging). The other week I got stuck in traffic at night, and the power steering started failing when it started heating up. The second time the power steering fails is if I'm in heavy traffic, the temperature gauge on the car engine starts increasing slightly, and once it hits about the quarter mark then the power steering starts to fail. When the engine is running if it's just ticking over the lights on the alternator side are quite bright, the yellow and green one are very bright, but on the battery side the green one is only just about glowing, if I accelerate then the green light gets brighter briefly - I presume that's because the alternator is then putting more juice into the battery. The main thing is I don't exactly know what voltage RED/YELLOW or GREEN refer to but I'm guessing that YELLOW or RED isn't good.

Also looking at the 12v socket battery tester, initially it shows the battery is at YELLOW and then very quickly drops into RED - once the engine is running it shoots straight back up to GREEN.

#Car battery indicator color wiki full

With the power steering we've noticed it only seems to fail at two points - firstly if we leave the car switched on for about 5 minutes with just the accessories on (radio/electric windows/12v sockets/etc) and nothing else (engine not running) and then start it we initially don't have any power steering until we've given the engine a few full revs. We have been told that as it's a Vauxhall it does have electric power steering and any problems with power within the car would first be noticed by the power steering as the car shuts the power steering off first to give it more power for other things. However there is a few things we've noticed the main thing being the power steering repeatedly failing. We thought that well the battery has also probably bit the dust too, however looking at the top of the battery the 'magic eye' on the battery (it's a General Motors battery not a moorcroft battery) was showing green, we also had someone put a battery tester on it and they said it was fine. Also the battery light was switching between yellow and red. Last year the alternator failed on the car, when the alternator failed we noticed that the alternator light was barely going into the green.

However there are a number of things I've noticed.įirstly I have a 12V socket battery/alternator checker. It is weird though because a lot of people keep telling me it can't be the battery because my vehicle starts fine everytime. I know this is an old post but this explanation on here might explain my battery problems a lot.įor about 6 months now I've had a number of strange electrical problems with my car, and of all the problems it seems to all point towards one thing - a battery beginning to fail. Thanks for this - this might explain my battery problems a lot.