I had the same problem, No Power Steering, No Heater, No demister, and the battery warning light was on. I was going to attempt the suggested shorting of the wires, but then I applied some logic. This morning was very cold and frosty, ice on the windscreen, and i think this may have caused the problem. I switched on the heater and demister to melt the ice, I think that this causes the battery to put extra demand on the alternator, and in such case, the diodes in the alternator are made to convert high amount of ac to dc, as the battery need more power. The doide is prone to weakness under these condition and can be damaged. So it dawned on me that the Power Steerng is supplied by a high current pump, but only when the alternator is functioning, probably also the heating as well. So I got a voltmeter off a friend, revved up the engine and found that no change to the battery voltage, so i convinced myself that the alternator is the problem. I got a second hand one coming tommorow from 247 carspares on line, cost 20 quid. I have only had my current alternator (brand new) for only 3 months, so I reckon the demand in cold weather has caused the diode to damage.
Guys, maybe you should not do things like i did, and gradually let the car heat up a bit before switching everything on. Hope I have helped.
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