Not Enough Volts?
08-24-2009, 10:07 PM
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Not Enough Volts? For the past couple weeks, my car's voltage would drop into the 9-11 volt area, and I've been trying to figure out why it's doing that.
I replaced the Alternator with a remanufactured 102 amp, replaced my battery with an Optima Yellowtop, and swapped out the full +/- Battery Cables with better used ones (All connections are great, and grounds are tight and clean).
After all of this, on a cold startup, I get about 14-15 volts, which is awesome. Then I drive around for 10-15 minutes and the volts drop to about 12-13.
What do I have to do to maintain 14 volts all the time? At 11-13 volts my Dash lights are Dim and it makes my slow window motor even slower.
Thanks
I replaced the Alternator with a remanufactured 102 amp, replaced my battery with an Optima Yellowtop, and swapped out the full +/- Battery Cables with better used ones (All connections are great, and grounds are tight and clean).
After all of this, on a cold startup, I get about 14-15 volts, which is awesome. Then I drive around for 10-15 minutes and the volts drop to about 12-13.
What do I have to do to maintain 14 volts all the time? At 11-13 volts my Dash lights are Dim and it makes my slow window motor even slower.
Thanks
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08-26-2009, 01:42 PM
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Running the fans full time when warm, will bring down
the underhood temp. I've observed my voltage dropping
with warmup and it seemed to be better once I set my
fans up.
You ought to measure at the battery (across the posts)
and alternator stud to case, as well as some IGN fuse to
body sheet metal, and compare them - this may show
I*R drops in the power harness (such as crusty ground
connections etc.) if you see significant point-of-source,
point-of-storage, point-of-load differences.
the underhood temp. I've observed my voltage dropping
with warmup and it seemed to be better once I set my
fans up.
You ought to measure at the battery (across the posts)
and alternator stud to case, as well as some IGN fuse to
body sheet metal, and compare them - this may show
I*R drops in the power harness (such as crusty ground
connections etc.) if you see significant point-of-source,
point-of-storage, point-of-load differences.
08-26-2009, 10:46 PM
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Damn!
Well, for the past couple days, the car has been averaging 13-14 volts all the time, which is awesome.
As for my Dim lights, Do they sell LED Bulb Kit's for our Dash?
Well, for the past couple days, the car has been averaging 13-14 volts all the time, which is awesome.
As for my Dim lights, Do they sell LED Bulb Kit's for our Dash?
