I've noticed a dimming of my headlights and the illumination of the speedo, especially at speed (over 60/65mph). Last night the in-car charger that has a built-in circuit that cuts power to whatever's plugged in, stopped powering the sat-nav for around 10 to 15 minutes. I started the car this afternoon and it felt like the battery was struggling to provide enough power to start it. I've whipped out the brushes of the Iskra alternator and they don't appear excessively worn. Alternator belt is tight. Any pointers for what else to check? Ta muchly.

Voltage regulator u.s.?

Thanks.

Get a voltage gauge/meter in the car. One that you can keep an eye on any time you're driving, great for intermittent faults when a multimeter on the battery might not show anything up.
They're stupidly cheap direct from the far east, so don't expect them to be accurate to the 0.1volts that the display reads, but they will tell you if it's charging or not. Also considering the price don't expect them to be the most long lived or reliable of things, so order several.
Many different suppliers, so I'll let you find the cheapest.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DIGITAL-LED-1 ... 43be28d97f

^^^^ They're amazing, I have one in every car and on the boat. Worth every penny.

After the installation of one of these beauties,
I finally decided to bin the old charger in favor of a modern electronic one.

Cheers guys. I won't stake my life on it quite yet, but it seems I may well have 'cured' the charging issue at the moment. Looks like the act of removing and reinstalling the alternator brushes has reseated them (possibly?), so making better contact. Of course, I could very well be talking bollocks. Currently on a road trip, so will update later. Wish me luck. Lol

Had no flickering, dimming lights last night, and the sat-nav remained on too.