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Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff from house stuff Works dot com where

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Speaker 1: smart Happens. Hi. I'm Marshall Brain with today's question, what

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Speaker 1: is the battery light on your car's dashboard actually mean?

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Speaker 1: Almost every car on the road today contains a rechargeable

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Speaker 1: twelve volt battery. This battery powers everything electrical, the ignition system,

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Speaker 1: the engine's computer, the radio, the headlights, so the battery

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Speaker 1: is vital to the car's operation. Like all batteries, a

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Speaker 1: car's twelve volt battery would eventually go dead if it

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Speaker 1: were not recharged, so your car has a built in

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Speaker 1: recharging system. Most cars have an alternator along with a

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Speaker 1: voltage regulator that keeps the battery charged and also provides

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Speaker 1: electricity to the vehicle when the engine is running. A

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Speaker 1: typical alternator can put out between five hundred and a

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Speaker 1: thousand watts when necessary. Because your car is so depend

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Speaker 1: ended on the battery, all cars have a battery light

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Speaker 1: on the dashboard that's designed to warn you if that

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Speaker 1: recharging system fails. A simple circuit looks at the voltage

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Speaker 1: that the alternator is producing and turns the battery light

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Speaker 1: on if it's too low. The battery light indicates a

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Speaker 1: battery charging problem if the battery light comes on and

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Speaker 1: stays on while you're driving. The most common cause is

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Speaker 1: a broken alternator belt. Total failure of the alternator is

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Speaker 1: another possibility. The reason why your car can operate normally

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Speaker 1: even though the battery light is lit is because your

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Speaker 1: car can run off the energy stored in the battery

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Speaker 1: for a little while. Your car will run fine until

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Speaker 1: the battery goes dead. At that point, nothing in your

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Speaker 1: car will work. When the battery light is on. You

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Speaker 1: can still drive your car to the garage. You'll not

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Speaker 1: damage anything, but you want to get to the garage

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Speaker 1: before the battery fails and your car dies. Be sure

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