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Is it the Battery or Alternator? 200 1978

hello again

Voltage gauge is dropping to 11/10.5 volts.
Alternator light is coming on faintly and intermittently only when I'm idling. Goes off completely when accelerating.
I charged the battery up to about 14 volts and this has dropped within a day or so to around 12, 11.5 when running.
Battery is at least two years old.
Could it be the battery that needs replacing, rather than the alternator?
Can I test the output of the alternator somehow. Or how do you test a battery?
Very cold here at the moment, batteries don't like the cold do they?
I don't want to start buggering about with the alternator/brushes etc until I'm sure it's not something else.

ps. if i do have to replace the alternator, i'd prefer to get one very cheap from the wreckers yard. is there any physical test i can do to find a half decent one? For instance, check the length of the brushes?

Cheers
Klaus Fluoride






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