The vehicle is fitted with a low-maintenance (or unattended) 55 Ah battery (see below for details). It ensures the operation of the starter when starting the engine, as well as the operation of the car's security system during parking, the operation of the electric door lock (central lock) and other electrical equipment when the engine is not running.
Comment. The electrical equipment of the engine management system is considered in a separate section (see "Engine management system").
When the engine is running, power is supplied from the generator (see more details. "Generator"). Part of the energy generated by the generator is used to recharge the battery. If at the same time several powerful consumers of electrical energy are turned on at the same time (fog and headlights, heated rear window and heated seats, windshield wiper, electric heater fan), then the voltage in the network will be insufficient to charge the battery.
In the event of a generator failure, the vehicle's electrical equipment will operate from the battery. The operating time of the engine in this mode will depend on the degree of charge of the battery and on the number of electricity consumers turned on.
Most electrical consumers are supplied with power through the ignition switch (except for emergency, sound and light alarms, interior lighting, position light, brake signal, burglar alarm and electric door locks). Switches and switches of the main and additional electrical equipment are installed on the instrument panel lining, on the center console of the instrument panel and on the steering column. Part of the switches for additional equipment is installed on the overlay of the floor tunnel.
Power supply circuits for powerful electricity consumers (headlights, windshield wiper, heated rear window, engine cooling fan, fog lights) switched through a relay. Through the relay, the windshield and rear window wipers, the headlight wiper, the alarm and the direction indicators are also switched on.
All vehicle electrical circuits (except for the power circuits of the starter and generator) protected by fuses.
The rated operating current of the fuse is indicated on its body. In addition, the color of the fuse body corresponds to a certain current value:
- 5 A beige
- 7.5 A brown
- 10 A red
- 15 A blue
- 20 A yellow
- 25 A white
- 30 A green.
Fuses and relays are installed in the mounting block (see more details. "Fuse and relay mounting block").
The electrical wiring is assembled in bundles of copper wires with multi-colored insulation.
Most of the electrical connections of electrical equipment are made on detachable blocks.
To troubleshoot electrical equipment, you should have a tester - a combined electrical measuring instrument. There are several types of such devices: analog with a pointer indicator; digital with liquid crystal display; universal - having both a pointer indicator and a liquid crystal display. When repairing a car, it is more convenient to use a digital device (or, as it is also called, a multimeter). It is compact and shows accurate values at any position in space.
To check de-energized circuits, the multimeter is switched to ohmmeter mode. When measuring very low resistance (within a few ohms) it is necessary to introduce a correction - from the obtained value, subtract the internal resistance of the multimeter, the electrical resistance of its wires and probes (typically 0.6-0.8 ohm). To accurately determine this correction, you should switch the device to the mode of measuring small resistance values (up to 200 Ohm) and close the ends of its probes.
To check energized circuits, the multimeter is switched to voltmeter mode (with a measurement limit up to 20 V). The multimeter allows you to measure the current consumed by the electrical equipment of the car (up to 10 A).
If it is necessary to determine only the presence or absence of voltage in a section of the circuit without measuring the value, then it is more convenient to use a special 12 V light indicator or a test lamp that you can make yourself (from a car lamp with a power of not more than 4 W, soldering to it two wires with a length of at least 50 cm).