Battery light coming on, but with a twist ?

[Vanquish]

i have a Skoda Felicia 1.3 which i recently bought and it has been stood still for a few months but goes fine accept for the fact that the battery is now constantly dead and the battery light comes on, bright at idle and fades off as revs increase. now i always fix my cars but im at uni and dont have any of my main tools including my multimeter and want to avoid buying another just for this one problem (a cheap-ass i know!!).

now this problem looks like the alternator BUT i did a 2 hour journey the other day and it was fine, followed by a journey where it started fine, drove parked in sainsburys then didnt do anything at when i turned the key accept show the ingition light, not even a solenoid click. having bump started it, it then struggled home as it was threatening to stall at idle so i had to keep the revs at 2000 +. now i was convinced it was the charging circuit earth as after starting it again it was fine but then all of sudden cut out, then refused to even turn over as before, and this sudden change between charging and not doesn't sound like the gradual death of an alternator.  BUT having cleaned all the earths, checked the battery fluids and the belt (bear in mind car has only done 40k and recently serviced, but not by me) it is still is flat as a pancake when i leave it. however when i jump start it off another car it takes at least 5 mins to charge, then if i stop the car and turn over it will be fine, as if the battery was fully charged, yet when i leave it over night the battery is so flat it cant even power an indicator light. i always thought that the battery light only indicated the charging circuit and not the battery, im starting to think their could be maybe two problems on the go here but the way it is so intermittent is confusing.

may have to pull my finger out and buy an alternator but it never hurts to ask yahoo first!! please no skoda jokes, they are bloody good cars (most of the time!)

[§uzette]

oh I would not

[g.dog]

yeah your right good car, sounds like the alternators control cucuit situated on the back of the unit basically you need a newalternatorr

[matrix]

get your battery tested first. most places will do it free, then look for an alternator problem.

[mobile auto repair (mr fi]

your alternator has 6 diodes in it  if 1 fails it will do as your describing

you will need a replcement sorry

[HANK STEELE]

check all Your connections before replacing anything

[jason C]

Sounds very much like the alternator is the problem, especially as you say the battery light is bright on idle and goes out on high revs.
However before you go out and by a new alternator do a couple of quick checks.
First and most importantly check all the connections between the battery and the alternator, very often corrosion builds up between the battery terminals causing poor charging. Remove the connections and clean them up.
Next you will need to check the output from the alternator, if you don't have a tester remove a bulb from the car. Wire the bulb to the battery terminals, then start the car. On idle the bulb should light up good and strong, if it does not but will light up when you rev the engine, then its time for a new alternator.
Don't buy a new alternator, go to Halfords and get a service exchange unit. It will save a pile of money.
Ja.

[bubbles]

sounds like the diodes in the alternator. these act as a one way electrical valve and stop the electrical flow discharging.from the battery if this is the case you will need to replace the alternator.in the meantime disconnect the live battery lead when parked if the battery is still going flat, change the battery also try disconnecting the battery lead when the car is running if the car stalls it will be your alternator