Did a search and did not find anything on this. It has probably come up in the past but here it goes anyways.

I just bought a 2000 accord with 104,000 on it. The car is great however when I drove it tonight for the first time I noticed that anytime I activated an electrical device, IE windows, turn signal...the headlights dimmed for just a second. Then operated fine during the cycle of the device.

Example:

went to turn left...activated left turn signal and lights dimmed momentarily upon activation then were fine during turning phase and off.

Did the same with power windows. Upon pressing button lights dimmed momentarily but during complete operation were fine.

Same with reverse. When I placed it in reverse to activate reverse lights lights dimmed momentarily but were fine while backing up.


Is this normal?

 

It's completely normal if the car is at idle. The alternator does not produce full power until ~1000 rpms. If your idle speed is a little lower than normal, the dimming would be exaggerated.

 

yeah i sit at stop lights and my headlights will dim while rolling up the windows. no biggy, you'll probably dim too in the summer when your a/c cycles on for that split second

 

This is while driving or at idle.

 

at idle. while driving the only time i see my headlights dim is when i crank my system but even then i barely see it and i have a 850 wrms system so you'll be fine.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jeepmanjeff &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This is while driving or at idle.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If it's happening all the time, then you should test to see how much power your alternator is pushing out. If you don't know how to check this yourself, AutoZone can do it for free. See how the alternator is first before we go any further...

 

That's normal. Mine does exactly the same thing, even while driving. I had my alternator tested by the dealer, and they said everything is fine.

 

if its just like a little dim and then bounces back its perfectly normal. Alternators on honda are pretty small, but they still do what they need to do. When you draw power really fast it just grabs it from the battery before the alternator can catch up.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 02 accord &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That's normal. Mine does exactly the same thing, even while driving. I had my alternator tested by the dealer, and they said everything is fine.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Mine never does it while driving, so I wasn't sure.