[mtempsch]

If it was a bad strap, why would jumper cables from a second car work..?

Last
night me and my five year old daughter went to the grocery store. The
car started on the way to it but when we left the store, it wouldn´t
start. A gentlemen offered us jumping cables from his old Volvo and it
made my Peugeot 208 start immediately.

If both cables were attached to your battery terminals it
shouldn't make a difference, but if the negative was attached to a
grounded item on the engine block (as recommended) of your car, it would
bypass a poor ground strap.
The circuit would then be Jumper car
battery + -> positive jumper lead -> your battery + -> starter +
-> starter body -> engine block > negative jumper lead ->
jumper car battery -. The negative jumper lead 'replaces' the ground
strap between block and battery -..

I really did study physics in
school, and according to my brain (as poor as it probably is) the
alternator must be broke in some way. Can it measure up the volts but
not the ampere..?

If it holds the voltage, the current will
flow -- if it can't deliver the current, the voltage should drop.(not be capable to rise to the charging level)

 

[mtempsch]

Tnanks mtempsch, I´m not sure that I understood the things you wrote...a bit too technical for me, I guess...Bless you.

But at least I got this one; If it holds the voltage, the current will
flow -- if it can't deliver the current, the voltage should drop

So the alternator perhaps works after all..? Or...? The battery should not have to be replaced every year..?

Every year should be overkill unless something IS wrong.I'd say life expectancy should be 3-5 years if treated normally (not repeatedly deeply discharged, left at very low charge for periods etc)

With a 12.x V voltage on the battery at idle and 14,x with the car running, my expectancy would be that the alternator and voltage regulator are doing what they should.

Next time it refuses to start, try applying a jumper lead between the negative battery terminal and a bit of the engine block (without involving a jumper car). If that helps, look seriously at the ground strap, because the jumper would then be doing the job the strap SHOULD be doing.

To test battery to body connection, apply the jump led between battery negative and for instance one of the strut tower bolts (holding the top of the suspension leg.


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