Maybe the noise comes from pain.
@barbara_deane1 - an excellent idea, Barbara. Why not open a separate thread dedicated to the subject? That way, the original poster won’t have his thread cluttered up with irrelevant information.
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yes perhaps you are right. He, like me could benefit from the info…others too
Could benefit from an alternator more. 
I know we drove home once with a faulty alternator… it was 3 hours of stress, as we couldn’t let the engine stop… OH fought to keep it ticking-over at traffic lights etc.
A friend followed us in case we needed to use his battery to restart … (as we did, just the once…). thankfully didn’t need lights/wipers… just indicators…
Phew, when our house was in sight, he hooted his horn, turned around and headed off… he’d got another 2 hours in the opposite direction to get himself home… a true hero… !!
no idea if one can do that with a modern… ???
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It depends. When the alternator failed on my Saab, I was treated to a veritable disco light display from all the warning lights but the car remained drivable while the battery lasted. However, depending on the nature of the failure it is possible that the battery or surrounding circuitry could also be rendered u/s in which case you’re not going anywhere…
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Also modern ECU’s, the cars brain do not like jump starts on some models it can lead to failure and more expense.
I had the alternator go on a CX in winter. It was OK driving to work on a (freezing) morning with the windows open to keep the screen clear, but coming home at night the headlights would get browner and browner, and I’d try to use side-lights only on the dual carriageway so there was reserve for the last few miles of unlit country roads. Had to recharge each night to get enough for the next days driving.
Managed to find an alternator in the local breaker the next weekend, and that solved it.
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ADAC may still sell memberships internationally. They used to, although no longer to the UK. Excludes your country of residence, but great people to deal with and excellent value
The OP was lucky it was only £170. I believe it can be a lot higher to get towed off a motorway in France. Especially if non-standard vehicle.
You can juat imagine how juicy these contracts are, to be appointed aa one of the few recovery operators allowed to recover off a motorway… with all thar you xan imagine about that ahem. Did someone say racket?
Prompted another memory of mine, but related to diesels.
About 60 odd years ago I loaded my artic in Rank’s Flour Mills in Gateshead (Now the Baltic Gallery I believe) and set off for home. The exit from the yard was a sharp right turn at the bottom of a steep slope. The batteries on my Dodge were mounted unprotected on the chassis at the back of the cab, and as I tuned and the front wheels rose on the gradient, the corner of the trailer smashed down on one of the batteries, completely destroying it.
Knowing that with a diesel the engine only needed the batteries for a re-start I kept it going all the way back to Nottingham. Even after it got dark, as long as I was rolling with the revs normal the lights stayed on but I had to keep them up at junctions and traffic lights to avoid ‘going dark’.
I don’t know if a modern diesel can be run without a battery, and I am not going to try and find out. 
Back to the ECU, if it registers a battery fault it would almost certainly put up the engine management light and say stop, probably a better idea not to until in a safe place. Electronic high pressure diesel pumps on common rail injection systems, electric power assisted stearing etc etc.
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The problem with running without a battery for modern cars is that the battery is the main voltage regulator - without it the alternator output voltage could rise high enough to damage the car’s electronics (though probably not in practice - automotive electronics have to be fairly robust).
The other problem with modern cars is that the battery charge management systems need to be told that the battery has been replaced - you can’t just chuck a new one in any more.
The battery on the Mazda started to fail a month or so back - the error messages from the car were not anything simple like “your battery is getting old” but consisted of odd complaints coming out of the start-stop system.
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and to be fair, its no different in the UK either. The UK contracts are a licence to print money…
So I got up this morning went searching for a new battery walked 2 km and it was closed but called into a garage next door and the kind gentleman put me.in his car with a start machine and took me back to my van and started the engine for me. It has been a charge as I connected the charger to the invertor that goes to the 750 watt solar panel. My reading was 12 v which drooped to 11.8 as driving to find store with battery which was 22 km away. Can I make it? I turned off all electrics and discovered the radio completely. Then unbelievable it started to rain. Thank the kord is was a 30 second burst and the sits cleared and the sun came out in my solar panel. Got to garage and turned of engine and the battery was flat as pancake, am not surprised as it only had a hours charge .manged to get a decent battery for 110 euros swapped them over and my volts went up to 12.5/6 of I set to another 50 km to get a decent battery charger… In the mean time I have the alternator a few taps. Not sure if it did any good but the battery light went out. Arrived at store got my new charger noted the volt on better at 12.4 v. Stoped at macdonads for 10 min and the meter was reading 12.6 when driving it can go up to 13 v. So must be charging good for the invertor that’s attached to battery as driving. So plan now is to head of to ferry find a camp site charge the old battery up to full. Thank you all for your kind help and advice hopefully I can get back and then sort the problem out…
I just want to thank you all for your help it is very much appreciated!. Just parked up an hour from ferry so really happy made it this far.
Merci beaucoup à tous
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That sounds as if you should be OK to make it home. with some good creative thinking. I’m very pleased for you
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@welshspencer fingers crossed all will be well from now on…
cheers
Probably too late now but good luck on your safe return!
Great to hear you have had some good luck. Safe journey 