Car Battery Ripple Test shows 0.480 V (480mv)

**Athrunzala** · January 27th, 2019 12:03 AM

My Montero 2012 shows in my battery tester gadget the ripple test of 0.480 V. Is this normal or is it a bad sign?

Sometimes when I am in the NLEX with speed of around 90-100, there is a noise, looks like coming from the aircon belt, but when I turn-off the aircon, the noise disappears immediately. I don't know if this is related to the high ripple that I get from the car battery tester.

Any helpful comments is highly appreciated!

**gls2001** · January 27th, 2019 12:33 AM

This is a ripple check on the Mirage, got 150mV(0.15V). You might want to have the diodes checked on your alternator.

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**Athrunzala** · January 27th, 2019 07:34 PM

Originally Posted by gls2001

This is a ripple check on the Mirage, got 150mV(0.15V). You might want to have the diodes checked on your alternator.

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gls2001 , pareho pala tayo ng battery tester, hmm I checked today, and it is now back to (0.31V) .
Is 310mV already in the normal range or not? I think some of the belts could be loosening...

**Athrunzala** · January 27th, 2019 08:45 PM

Hmm, now I used a Digital Multimeter and placed it in the AC symbol and choose option 200 (not the option 700). The DMM is now showing 30mv which is normal.

I watched a video in Youtube, and the person said that some people say over 50mv is the limit for normal ripple while other people say that the limit is now 100mv on newer cars.

I don't know but it looks like if my DHC car battery tester gadget is showing 0.30V it means 30mv and not 300mv....... Mukhang mali ang decimal placing niya

**yapoy86** · January 27th, 2019 08:45 PM

Originally Posted by Athrunzala

gls2001 , pareho pala tayo ng battery tester, hmm I checked today, and it is now back to (0.31V) .
Is 310mV already in the normal range or not? I think some of the belts could be loosening...

Naka overrunning pulley ba ang alternator ng monty?

**Athrunzala** · January 27th, 2019 08:50 PM

**Athrunzala** · January 27th, 2019 09:18 PM

Originally Posted by yapoy86

Naka overrunning pulley ba ang alternator ng monty?

sorry hindi kuna alam yan eh. Basta kung minsan kapag over 100 km/h na ako hindi naman siya nag-iingay

**kisshmet** · January 28th, 2019 12:07 AM

Originally Posted by Athrunzala

My Montero 2012 shows in my battery tester gadget the ripple test of 0.480 V. Is this normal or is it a bad sign?

Sometimes when I am in the NLEX with speed of around 90-100, there is a noise, looks like coming from the aircon belt, but when I turn-off the aircon, the noise disappears immediately. I don't know if this is related to the high ripple that I get from the car battery tester.

Any helpful comments is highly appreciated!

do you read your car alternators ripple while the car is stationary and while the aircon is on or off?

at stationary the rpm is just below 1000rpm which is way below the rpm at 90-100kph which is a tad below 2000rpm so that means your engine works harder during high speed so i believe that causes the noise you are complaining about

turning off the aircon at that speed disengage the compressor of the AC..so when you turn off the aircon then you lighten the load of the engine

0.48V is close to 1/2 a volt which is relatively small voltage over the total output voltage of 13.5V or higher from the alternator

the ripple voltage is typically small simply because its the average voltage measurement from the up (charging cycle of the capacitor) and down (discharging cycle of the capacitor) voltage cycle the cars electrical system generate converting AC to DC (rectifier circuit)

a halfwave rectifier normally has a higher ripple than a fullwave rectifier. its not just the diode you need to check when it comes to rectifier circuit, you also need to check the capacitor.

a poor capacitor or faulty one will normally display a high ripple voltage because its the job of the capacitor to refine the DC voltage that will charge the battery of your car

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**Athrunzala** · January 28th, 2019 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by kisshmet

do you read your car alternators ripple while the car is stationary and while the aircon is on or off?

at stationary the rpm is just below 1000rpm which is way below the rpm at 90-100kph which is a tad below 2000rpm so that means your engine works harder during high speed so i believe that causes the noise you are complaining about

turning off the aircon at that speed disengage the compressor of the AC..so when you turn off the aircon then you lighten the load of the engine

0.48V is close to 1/2 a volt which is relatively small voltage over the total output voltage of 13.5V or higher from the alternator

the ripple voltage is typically small simply because its the average voltage measurement from the up (charging cycle of the capacitor) and down (discharging cycle of the capacitor) voltage cycle the cars electrical system generate converting AC to DC (rectifier circuit)

a halfwave rectifier normally has a higher ripple than a fullwave rectifier. its not just the diode you need to check when it comes to rectifier circuit, you also need to check the capacitor.

a poor capacitor or faulty one will normally display a high ripple voltage because its the job of the capacitor to refine the DC voltage that will charge the battery of your car

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Do you think a 0.48V reading is just normal level? When you say AC Compressor does the letter AC refer to (AC Volt) or (AC as in Aircon)?