On Sat, 04 Mar 2017 07:44:51 +0000, Robin wrote:

On 04/03/2017 00:43, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 3 Mar 2017 19:39:55 -0500, S Viemeister wrote:

It's ****ed Up Beyond All Recognition (IBM), ...

Thought FUBAR was military (army) in origin?

Are you perhaps thinking of SNAFU?

Thought that one was military (air force)...

Yes - both originally US Military slang

True enough but FUBAR one is the more commonly used one when discussing
computer kit and software, often turned into a verb or adverb by tagging
ED on the end as in, "This version of windows is well and truly
fubared!" (Vista and win10 references mostly).

A less epithetic alternative is the word "borked", derived from a typo
of "broked", a mistranslation of "broken" often used by people who's
first language is not English where it's quite possible the 'typo' was
deliberately applied to emphasise the point (it seems to have passed into
common usage by native English speaking people now).

Getting back on topic, the symptoms suggest either a buggered battery
or, seeing as the battery in question is only a few weeks old, a problem
of the car's electrics where something like a boot illumination lamp is
permanently lit and slowly draining the battery so that it doesn't get a
chance to be properly charged by the car alternator during typical daily
use. Once a lead acid battery is being operated in a permanent state of
deep discharge, it doesn't take very long before its capacity reduces to
that of an old shagged out battery.

A fairly simple way of checking whether or not the alternator is working
is to check the effect on tickover speed[1] when switching the headlights
on with the main beam flashing switch lever operated to maximise the
electrical loading (switching the screen heater on is optional but can be
handy to exaggerate the difference between tickover and higher engine
revs headlamp brightness). A working alternator will produce a noticeable
increase in headlamp brightness when the accelerator pedal is depressed
to increase the tickover to around 2000 rpm or so.

[1] This effect is most noticeable with petrol engined vehicles, less so
with diesels. The "Rev it up test" is maybe the better option with a
diesel engined vehicle.

--
Johnny B Good

Johnny B Good wrote :
A fairly simple way of checking whether or not the alternator is working
is to check the effect on tickover speed[1] when switching the headlights
on with the main beam flashing switch lever operated to maximise the
electrical loading (switching the screen heater on is optional but can be
handy to exaggerate the difference between tickover and higher engine
revs headlamp brightness).

That will not work on any modern petrol or diesel - the ECU will do its
very best to maintain its programmed tick-over speed. What might be
noticeable is a change in the tick-over engine note, as it comes under
more load.

All of my lighting is fed via a constant voltage supply, so reving the
engine up, makes no difference to their brightness.