Either that, or a bad ground somewhere. It will cause the lights and needles to do strange things (such as flicker) Usually when an alternator is failing, the lack of voltage will trigger the battery light. Its unfornutate that these cars don't have volt meters from the factory to monitor. I do know that the average life span of a Nippendenso alternator in the Accords is about 10-12 years and 150,000 miles. Very seldom do they fail early, as do Delphi units.