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Hey all, I'm just looking for some ideas of how much, and what kind of damage will a charging system voltage at 15.5v do after a good amount of time. I don't know how long it had the over voltage condition, it may have been some time, years, months, etc. I don't know if it ever went over 15.5, I guess there's a chance of that, of course customers don't always tell the whole story. And I don't really want to get into all the issues it has now because we'll be here all night, but just some general thoughts where an issue like this could lead to. Thanks much.
Personally I haven't seen those voltage levels cause problems except for accelerated battery wear. In my experience I've seen charging voltage issues cause problems exceeding 17-18 volts....computers in cars don't like high voltage, and even higher voltage levels will cause permanent damage.
Hey all, I'm just looking for some ideas of how much, and what kind of damage will a charging system voltage at 15.5v do after a good amount of time.
What charging system/car specifically are you referring to? Any computer controls involved?
In general life span of components like bulbs may/will be shorted, battery possibly gasses out extremly due to overcharging, exposed to higher than normal temperature will affect adversely is life.....
An expert is someone who knows each time more on each time less, until he finally knows absolutely everything about absolutely nothing.
I've heard some charging systems bump the voltage up that high during cold temperatures as part of its normal operation. It might not be the best level to be at that level during the warm weather, but I doubt it'd be catastrophic to anything.
I'm honestly not sure if it hit higher voltages, it may have, it was the alternator causing it, not the ecm regulating problem. But it's reading strange data now and completely different codes after the alternator change. Bmw too, so finding service data is not the easiest.
