Flickering Lights
 

2003 With FM2 and Hydra 2.7. Had the Hydra in for a couple of months now but have barely driven the car or tinkered due to dealing with Hurricane Matthew damage. I have noticed a flickering of my lights, all of them, instruments, head and tail lights. When hooked up to the laptop the voltage ranges between 13.4 and 14.3, randomly. When the engine is off there is no flickering.

I have checked my grounds and, since I seem to have been missing one that is supposed to be on the back of the head, added a substantial ground there. No change. Hydra has an additional ground added as per suggestion from FM. Battery is good, connections are tight and car starts easily, even after sitting for a while.

Checked alternator connection and it appears and feels tight. No flicker on stock ECU. The car runs fine and the voltage level doesn't seem to have any effect on the performance or driveability. Doesn't seem like it would be ECU related, but I never noticed it with the factory ECU.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Paul

Under Alternator Control Settings, is your P-Term set to 200 and the I-Term set to 0?

What is your Alternator Control Voltage Target table values?

I think so, I'll check and make sure. I was sure it was a ground until I went thru them, so I hadn't been focusing on the software. By the way Ken, your suggestion on the A/C idle control helped. No more oscillation!

Paul

Had a similar issue but it did affect drivability. FM suggestions pointed to changing an alternator setting. That helped but didn't fix mine. After I replaced alternator (new) and changed the settings back, everything is back to normal.

Thanks FM2, I'm going to tackle this problem in the next few days. Hope I don't have to swap out the alternator. Looks like a PITA to get to. Do you recall which setting you changed?

Paul

FM recommends reducing alternator voltage p term in increments of 10 until voltage stabilizes. Their 2.7 tuning guide suggests this is a sign of a "tired" alternator.

If if you haven't already, double check the alternator voltage target. Check at the battery while the car is running and compare to ECU reading. I had to adjust mine slightly which also helped. I would check this before fussing with the p term.

Thanks for the responses from Ken and FM2. Ken, yes the p term I was set to 200 and the I term to 0. Following FM2's advice I lowered the p term to 180 and the flickering (voltage instability) has lessened. I guess I'll try going a little lower.

The alternator voltage target is currently set at 13.6. FM2 , when you say to check the voltage at the battery while it's charging (engine running) if the voltage is different than the target, you adjust the target to meet the battery voltage?

Thanks,
Paul

Thanks for the feedback on the P-term setting. I have not experienced the flickering lights yet and have always used 200. I'll keep your experience in mind if i every need it.

The voltage measured at the battery will always read different than the Alternator Voltage Set point in the Hydra. You adjust the Hydra setting to achieve the desired battery voltage. For example, my car is set for a charge voltage at the battery of 14.4V. A setting of 13.7V in the Hydra gives me this value. Put the same value in all cells in the Hydra table. At this time it does not alter the charge voltage depending on temperature. It would be nice if this feature would work. Batteries need less voltage to properly charge at temperatures higher then 25°C. If we could reduce the charge voltage at higher temperatures, our batteries may last a little longer. Although being in the trunk instead of under the hood goes a long way to lengthen battery life.