Battery and Brake light

[HalfNakedWalrus]

On my instrument cluster my battery and brake light are both lit. Now I know that typically means a bad alternator, however, I've tested the alternator and it hits all the marks (12.7 off, 14.6 idle, 14.5 load). Ive also had the hand brake checked out by a subaru dealership, after an adjustment to make the hand brake engage the light is still lit. Is there something I'm missing? something I should check? has this been solved somewhere else? lmk! I just want the lights off!

[anarchy1024]

Checked the voltages at the alternator or the battery? Maybe the alternator is outputting the power but the car isn't receiving it? Broken/corroded cable, dirty connections, etc.

If the good voltages were measured on the battery side, it should mean everything between the alternator and battery is connected and working.

[HalfNakedWalrus]

On my instrument cluster my battery and brake light are both lit. Now I know that typically means a bad alternator, however, I've tested the alternator and it hits all the marks (12.7 off, 14.6 idle, 14.5 load). Ive also had the hand brake checked out by a subaru dealership, after an adjustment to make the hand brake engage the light is still lit. Is there something I'm missing? something I should check? has this been solved somewhere else? lmk! I just want the lights off!

All checked from the battery side, good to know though.

[anarchy1024]

Another possibility is the alternator is intermittently outputting the correct voltages, and other times it's not. When mine started to fail, it would sometimes output nothing, and other times output correctly. However, when that happened, the dashboard lights would also turn on/off according to the voltage (i.e. they weren't constantly on). The symptoms seem different to yours, so not sure what else to check. Could always try replacing it and seeing what happens, since it's not all that expensive, but I'm not really a fan of replacing parts without a confirmed (or at least highly-probable) diagnosis. Checked the connector with the thin wire on top to make sure it isn't dirty/corroded?

Perhaps try boosting from another car using jumper cables, since the Baja shouldn't be able to tell the difference between power coming from its own alternator or another car's (pretty sure everything is wired in parallel)?

[HalfNakedWalrus]

Another possibility is the alternator is intermittently outputting the correct voltages, and other times it's not. When mine started to fail, it would sometimes output nothing, and other times output correctly. However, when that happened, the dashboard lights would also turn on/off according to the voltage (i.e. they weren't constantly on). The symptoms seem different to yours, so not sure what else to check. Could always try replacing it and seeing what happens, since it's not all that expensive, but I'm not really a fan of replacing parts without a confirmed (or at least highly-probable) diagnosis. Checked the connector with the thin wire on top to make sure it isn't dirty/corroded?

Perhaps try boosting from another car using jumper cables, since the Baja shouldn't be able to tell the difference between power coming from its own alternator or another car's (pretty sure everything is wired in parallel)?

Same, I would hate to replace something thats got plenty of life still in it. Ill try those out tomorrow and report back!

[anarchy1024]

If you still have no luck figuring it out, I can look into the wiring diagrams and see if there's anything else to check out.

[HalfNakedWalrus]

So now im just confused. The battery is brand new, the multimeter test was promising, but upon testing with a FIXD OBD2 scanner for an unrelated issue I noticed the voltage was 13.6 while idling. So, either my multimeter is bad, or the computer is. I may just replace the alternator because most likely that is the true issue, and the previous multimeter reading could have been user error, or an error with a cheap multimeter lol.

[Thwipp]

the meter reading from where? the OBD port can have a different voltage reading because it is a different ground point.

[HalfNakedWalrus]

The multimeter reading was from the terminals on the battery

[HalfNakedWalrus]

Alternator has been replaced, battery light is off however the brake light remains...

[anarchy1024]

Immediate two things I think of are either the brake fluid is low, or the switch that detects if the parking brake is on is jammed/broken (assuming the parking brake isn't actually pulled up at all).

[HalfNakedWalrus]

Could be the brake fluid, though ive been procrastinating looking at that guess its time!