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Charging issue after battery relocation ????

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Old 11-08-2011, 05:47 PM
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Default Charging issue after battery relocation ????

So i followed a wiring diagram that was provided off of here however I'm having a charging issue. To start with I just purchased a brand new ALT because my last one was squealing all though tested good, the new one is squealing as well even worse when I turn on my head light so I'm picking up another tomorrow to see if that takes care of it that issue. Both test good though! On to the main concern, the diagram will clearly show you how I ran my wiring, did I do something wrong? I can start the car and run just fine however it seems like its just running off the battery because when I stop some where and then go to start it again it has a lack of power and the Volts are down and the bitch barely wants to crank. It's weird cause I can turn the Kill Switch to off and the car completely turns off like it should do so I'm stumped. As you can see I have the ALT and the battery power wire on the positive side and then the 0 gauge ran to the front which is connected by a bolt that splits off to the fusable links, EWP and starter. Any help would help

Brand new yellow top with 1000 cold cranking amps and new alt, something is going wrong here.... Oh a tad bit more info I forgot to mention. When I went to disconnect the power wire on the back of the ALT with the kill switch off the ALT sparked when i touched the wrench to it so how come it kills it when I'm running but like there is constant power there when I go to remove the power wire. Thanks for the help in advance!
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Old 11-08-2011, 05:54 PM
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i have mine going from the positive on the alternator to the starter main power then from the starter to my switch then the battery. are you getting 12v out of the alternator (car running) test on that port on the alternator. if not. there is a 12v exciter wire that need 12v on the alternator (little wire) and if you do it the alternator
Old 11-14-2011, 06:55 PM
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Not sure I'm following you on what your saying.. Doesn't the ALT only have a POS connection? As for a exciter wire, not sure what that is unless your talking about the pug and play connector?and do what at the ALT, test it? I havent had a chance to bust out the multimeter, been really busy at work. Can you clear up what your stating here!

V/r
Steve
Old 11-14-2011, 06:59 PM
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the plug and play should have a 12v switch on it when the cars running and if it does have 12v. test the big wire for 12v running if it dont the alternator is bad and does the car run other than that after relocating it.
Old 11-14-2011, 09:10 PM
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Well ****, not sure how I'm gonna test the one wire connector considering it's down where my A/C compressor used to be. Passenger side header is right behind it. I can test the power wire no problem in the back of the car. Yes the car ran fine before relocating. I think the long draw of wire may be causing a charging issue or something. Im at the point of taking a chargerwith me every where I go, lol! I guess that would suck to need in the staging lanes!
Old 11-15-2011, 09:03 AM
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So you have 12 volts going directly to the water pump all the time? Meaning that as long as the kill switch is on the water pump is running? That's what your diagram shows and I'm not sure why anyone would want to do that. If that is what you have done then the water pump is drawing the battery down.

Another issue I see is the 2ga wire on the grounds. I would use the same size as the power wire. It does no good to be able to feed the amount of current a 0ga is capable of if you limit the circuit completion by using 2ga on the ground side. This is like running water through a 3" pipe into a bucket then draining it with a 1" pipe.... the bucket will overflow because of the smaller flow capacity of the outlet.

Your charging wire was sparking because it is connected directly to the battery. The kill switch does not disconnect the alternator from the battery. If you had the alternator on the opposite side of the switch the car would not shut off.
Old 11-15-2011, 03:21 PM
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ya the alternator has to be on the battery side of the main switch (the off) and the other side goes to the rest of the car (on).

you need to have a relay on the water pump. you can have it on ether side neg or positive on the pump. usually i go all positive. and does the car start right now. without the alternator working.

the only ground wire i would change would be the battery one. the starter one is grounded threw the block. as long as you got good engine ground straps iwould take the starter ground off. and all the other 2ga wires are pos for the ecu and alternator which is good

Last edited by tt383lt1; 11-15-2011 at 03:31 PM.
Old 11-15-2011, 06:16 PM
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Sorry guys, I left out the fact that my EWP pump has a relay and only comes on when my ignition is Powered on. Ok I'll swap out the ground on the battery for sure however I dont think that's it. If that was the case i would always be overcharged then with the scenario described, lol!

I understand that the sparking is caused because my alt and battery are on the same side. it always has power to the alt. I had the alt on the other side and the car didn't shut off. I dont think it would matter if I had the battery and ALT on the on or off switch, except then my off would be on because that side would have power and then my ON would be off! Not sure, hell I can try it but it would switch the role of the switch correct?

The car will crank all day long as long as the car hasn't been running for a period of time to warm up. The battery is 1000 CCA so starts fine after cooled. I found this out at the drag strip. **** guys I just want to figure this out.
Old 11-15-2011, 07:54 PM
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no the battery ground size wont make it so the alternator dint work. and does everything else work ex the alternator? take the alternator wire off the kill switch in the back and see if you have 12v on the alternator wire.
if not
there 3 thing it could be

its ether the little wire on the alternator is not giving 12v or maybe not cliped in all the way

the alternaor is bad.

or the big wire going from the alternator to the battery is not connected on the alternator.
Old 11-17-2011, 07:37 PM
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Readings taken tonight at idle...
Car off:
Battery 12.4
Alt .9

Car off, key in acc:
Battery 12
Alt .5

Car Started:
Battery 14.2
At Taylor Switch: starts at 9.2 and decreased to 8.6
Alt sparked like it was fourth of July

Only reading taken at 1500 rpm was the battery which was 14.1 steady

Wasn't for sure how to test the plug and play connector on the alt for 12 volts because the headers are right there, tried and now I have a burnt thumb, lol!

Any thoughts???? Seems like the alt is not pushing enough back to charge the battery YES?????

Last edited by 94BlueZ28; 11-17-2011 at 07:43 PM.
Old 11-18-2011, 07:45 AM
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"At Taylor Switch: starts at 9.2 and decreased to 8.6".

Check for volt drop across the Taylor sw., and the cable ends...
The alt squeal could be the alt is full fielding, and causing the belt to slip.
The batt being at 14.2 w/ the engine running, vs 12.4 off, says the alt is doing the job. The rest of the system is running off the low volts at the Taylor sw. Why U R experiencing poor starting, and dead batt symptoms.

When you do the volt drop, do it on the + and the - sides of the system.

Your cables aren't the cheapo Chinese, clear covered crapo, are they???
Old 11-19-2011, 05:46 PM
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alt is full fielding, what does this mean? So the low volts side of the car is causing the charging issue?
As far as cable are you talking about the wire I'm running through out the car? I'm using welding cable with copper connections that where crimped on correctly. I pre ran the wire and then took it back out to have the ends crimped on by a guy i know at an electric company. He had the right crimping tool for the job and I wanted it dont correctly.
Old 11-20-2011, 07:28 AM
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Full fielding = alt is being commanded to go to full output.
Like I said, do a volt drop test.
Put the + lead on the VOM on the batt side of the Taylor, and the - side on the output side. You should see 0 VDC. [Means ALL of the power is "making the trip".] Of course if you only have 9.2 making it from the + side of the batt to the input side of the Taylor, that's the beginning of the problem.
If not, there's the mega volt drop you are describing. ["At Taylor Switch: starts at 9.2 and decreased to 8.6".]
Do all the checks w/ the engine running.
Sounds like the cable deal is OK...

Keep in mind a bad/poor ground side will CAUSE the same issues...
Old 11-20-2011, 09:45 AM
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Cool thanks Old Geezer. I'm gonna try to get to the test this afternnon. I'll post up what I find out.
Old 01-16-2012, 09:07 PM
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Well took a good break from the car and got back to it. So I did what was posted. I ran the Alt wire directly to the battery,+ side. Then from the battery to the switch. I then ran from the other side of the switch directly to the starter, off the starter to the rest of the + leads located up front. Needless to say I have yet to take it for a drive all though my ALT is now squealing like crazy again like the bearings are shot again until its warmed up. I let it run for about 30 minutes outside the house, killed it with the switch which is still functional and went to go fire it up and the volts where low and it barely wanted to start. Oh yeah I just swapped out the battery for another brand new yellow top with top mounts for ease. Back to the drawing board I guess.

One new peice of info I found, My stereo face plate lights up in the car if I flip the kill switch a few times. It goes off when you open the door. I know the stereo has a constant power however not sure if it should pop on when cycling the kill switch a few times and returning back to ON. I have my AEM wideband tapped into the radio power wire for a power source so it comes on as well..... Like I said they both go right out when I open the door. Any thoughts to this?????
Old 01-17-2012, 08:03 AM
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Do the VOLT DROP testing................
Old 01-17-2012, 08:12 PM
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Ok so did some testing tonight, come to find out car not started reads 12.4,starts up charges to 14.4 which is great all though the alt still squeals. After more testing we read that there is a perfect flow until we get to the starter which drops when starting from 12.4 down to 9.1 when starting which is taking alot to get it to turn over. Weird part is my buddy rebuilt it as a high torque about 8 months ago. Is this the problem it's taking so much to crank it over? It seems to be charging however it's a bitch to start even after starting or during at a point. Any thoughts?

Last edited by 94BlueZ28; 01-17-2012 at 08:34 PM.
Old 01-18-2012, 08:52 AM
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"drops when starting from 12.4 down to 9.1 when starting which is taking alot to get it to turn over. Weird part is my buddy rebuilt it as a high torque about 8 months ago".

Bingo! WAAAY too much volt drop!
Suggest you look into a new starter.
Old 01-18-2012, 12:28 PM
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Any suggestions on starters? Stocker from autozone or advanced auto? It's around 12:1 compression..... I still find it odd that it's a freshly rebuilt starter with high torque parts our whatever that makes it high torque.
Old 01-18-2012, 01:07 PM
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Stay away from autozone. If thats where your "new" alternator came from then I would get rid of that and replace it with something more reputable.


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