Battery not charging -electrical doctor please

Pretty much anything 716 or 718 technical that is not driveline or engine related.
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Ulysses
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu May 16, 2013 3:47 pm

Battery not charging -electrical doctor please

Post by Ulysses »

We aren't getting any charge back to the battery in our 718. Can anyone help us please. I have set up links to photos below

Starting with the alternator:
- Output alternator a red (> 6qmm) cable, together with a blue and a gray-yellow cable (0.75qmm each). With a red fabric cover.

http://www.directupload.net/file/d/4888 ... 5a_jpg.htm

This red cable seems to go to the battery. The two other cables go, in my opinion, into the vehicle interior, behind the passenger seat. There I cannot locate them inside however but the collection of cables is definitely going inside.

Then a cable goes out and makes a loop back into the alternator. Goes out and back, without any component in between. Please look at the red textile-coated cable in this link.

http://www.directupload.net/file/d/4888 ... z8_jpg.htm

Then it goes into an Aluminium box underfloor by the engine on the drivers side : This box is actaully just a junction box where cables ran out to a large converter unit (which we have now removed. This included.

Three red cables, three black cables and a brown cable. These cables all go into the Alumunium box.

After opening the aluminum box, the following was in it:

http://www.directupload.net/file/d/4888 ... 83_jpg.htm

- red and black cables were simply looped through
- the brown cable as well, but with a resistor in between

This includeded three red, three black and the brown cable that went into this converter box, which is no longer present, they now go "into nothing".

I wonder where the voltage regulator and converter from AC to DC might be. I guess the three red cables are the three coils of the LiMa and thus AC. So the voltage converter / regulator probably sit externally. I've never seen the one of a Pinzgauers, know something from my old off-road motorcycles. On the "distribution plate" behind the passenger seat (vehicle is a right-hand drive) it looks like this:

(Sorry, picture wrong picture recorded)
http://www.directupload.net/file/d/4888 ... 2f_jpg.htm

Here I could imagine that it is the "Aluminium box" right above (in the picture left below) is. What has been installed by us later is only the "Digital BEP" and the reversible 60A fuse (Do not worry, no 60A go through, it is only to disconnect). Everything else was already there.

State of affairs now, the battery is no longer charged. The battery has 11.8V and it makes no difference whether the engine is running, even at increased speed, or not. The speedometer does not go anymore. Here, the owner is nothing more sure, if he perhaps already worked more ncht.

From the converter box also ran a cable forward, behind the speedometer, to a relay (cable color red), two times two cables to two control lights iin the dash and one to the negative.
Is this red cable possibly the cable that has charged the battery ? So would the converter / controller normally be contained in this box ? Inside the large box there is a red cable connected to the Mainswitch. I can not say whether there has always been something going on here.

last note : we had a charging issue once before, where we just turned on the vehicle but the charging light never went out. The following day we jump started the vehicle and went for a drive - the light went out and the battery charged. We haven't been able to reproduce this again.


Has anyone any idea what is happening here?

I've tried to find circuit diagrams for the Pinzgauers .... but none of them seem to apply.

Many thanks
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Jimm391730
United States of America
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Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2004 10:58 pm
Location: Idyllwild, CA

Re: Battery not charging -electrical doctor please

Post by Jimm391730 »

I've never worked on or seen the wiring for a 718, but there are some things you can check:

1. The heavy, red wire at the alternator should go directly to the battery (or mostly directly). The alternator has diodes built in to do the rectification from AC to DC. If the heavy, red wire terminal on the alternator does not have 13-14V on it with respect to the chassis, it is not charging or working. If the voltage is much higher than this (may be as high as 60-100 volts!) then there is no good connection to the battery. Of course you need to make this test with the engine running and the alternator turning.
2. Some alternators have voltage regulators built into them; some have an external regulator (Pinz gassers [710/712s] have an external regulator). If either regulator goes bad, no output either. (Well, if the regulator goes bad by putting out full power from the alternator then sometimes the alternator gets damaged and has no output then, either).

Without knowing exactly what type of alternator is in your 718, the easiest thing to do is to take it out and have it tested at an auto shop or store. This will tell if the alternator itself is bad. If it tests good then you may have an external regulator which may be bad or the wiring has disconnected it.
Jim M.
712W and 710M
Ulysses
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu May 16, 2013 3:47 pm

Re: Battery not charging -electrical doctor please

Post by Ulysses »

Thanks for your input. Indeed the fault was in the alternator. Had it serviced and now back up and running.
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