Citroen dispatch Peugeot expert 2.0 HDI 2008 battery light problem & resolution replace alternator

[mmwain]

For the edification of anyone with the same problem...
Citroen Dispatch 2.0 HDI 2008 battery light came on. Got home but lights very dim and lots of warnings coming up on the secondary display. There wasn't enough in the battery to restart the engine at this point. Charged battery and it all recovered. Found P0183 Fuel temp sensor A Circuit High fault code and cleared it. Drove van and same happened so charged it again and got into FD this time. With engine off battery voltage slightly below optimum but not unusually so for a used battery. Load test with lights, fan, etc couldn't get it below 10.5V so concluded battery OK. With engine running voltage dropped to lower than with it running, same when measured from starter motor to alternator case. Replaced alternator (£24 delivered used from EBAY with identical pt no!) and now have 14.2V that stays steady with RPM/load changes so tickety-boo.
Changing the alternator is a bit fiddly but only took me a couple of hours - see That is for a 406 but spot on for the Dispatch with Valeo alternator as well. There are a few more hoses etc in the way but no need to disconnect any. He says to disconnect the battery before starting but it's not really necessary, just take care not to short your ratchet onto anything metal when removing the +ve cable, then bag and tie it away after undoing it. The lower inboard mounting is a 5mm hex socket bolt that just needs to be loosened, as per the video, but on the Dispatch a torch is really handy as then you can actually see it to engage the tool into it if looking from a slightly more central position. When actually removing the alternator from the engine bay, pass it along towards the other side of the engine bay where it lifts out much easier once a single very thin tube is pulled out of 2 clips on top of the radiator. Not getting P0183 any more either - not sure how or if this is related, but I did reseat the electrical connectors on top of the fuel filter. The 2 alternators tested slightly different resistance between the +ve and case (around 100Kohm) and when I ripped the old one apart the brush was fully worn and had also worn the contact ring on the armature away quite badly, looked like something abrasive had got in there.
It may help someone to know that from the light coming on I managed 30 motorway miles with the lights on but otherwise minimising electrics use. From a fully charged battery it would certainly go a lot further as I did the same distance on the 2nd run with no problems at all, the battery light didn't even come on! It would appear that doesn't come on until the battery voltage has decreased to some pretty low level, so I assume you wouldn't get an immediate light if the aux drive belt broke either.