how to upgrade alternator

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bill said:
sounds to me like your battery is running all the electrics in the car, rather than the alternator. Probably a wiring issue involving the charging system. Need to make sure that all of the grounds are where they should be and that all of the positive leads are properly connected. I would start by disconnecting any amps first, since they seem to be the culprit for this type of problem. If the volts go up, then your amp isnt wired up right and needs to be checked over. Also, make sure the battery is not in a state of discharge. It may have volts, but if it wont hold a charge, the alternator is working overtime to run the car and charge the battery. good luck!


Ahhhhh yes thats what it sounds like, ( battery is running all the electrics in the car, rather than the alternator ) so u think my amps for my system is draning my battery? ok so when i test with them off do i still use the EC82 adaptor? i will need to charge the battery again before i can do so, its dead...very good info. thanks
 
80ELCAMINOFLAKE said:
bill said:
sounds to me like your battery is running all the electrics in the car, rather than the alternator. Probably a wiring issue involving the charging system. Need to make sure that all of the grounds are where they should be and that all of the positive leads are properly connected. I would start by disconnecting any amps first, since they seem to be the culprit for this type of problem. If the volts go up, then your amp isnt wired up right and needs to be checked over. Also, make sure the battery is not in a state of discharge. It may have volts, but if it wont hold a charge, the alternator is working overtime to run the car and charge the battery. good luck!


Ahhhhh yes thats what it sounds like, ( battery is running all the electrics in the car, rather than the alternator ) so u think my amps for my system is draning my battery? ok so when i test with them off do i still use the EC82 adaptor? i will need to charge the battery again before i can do so, its dead...very good info. thanks
do you have a capacitor
if it was me i would run a separate battery one for the car one for audio with a capacitor
 
jking: nah no cap, i will look into one tho.?
 
Hey guys he's not using stock gauges, he has an aftermarket equus setup which requires no signal wire output. From MY understanding the factory setup has the signal wire which is the charge input wire that tells the alt to charge the battery. Without that important wire the alt has no idea it should be charging the battery. I had a similar issue 2 yrs ago with my camaro.
 
How it happened to me was like this, I went from the old factory gauges to a complete autometer setup. I was so proud of myself for getting this done, I leave my buddies house which is about 30 mins away and 20 mins into the ride home my audio starts to act funny on/off then finally off for good. I'm thinking damn my radio just went out then the lights get really dim and my volts are dropping. So at this point I'm like damn whats wrong with my car, I get close to home come to a stop and boom car is dead. I was running on the battery only the entire time. After a couple days of research I found out I didnt install the signal wire for the alt from the old factory gauges. Once I figured this out and located the signal wire I hooked it to the new gauge and bam its been running and charging correctly ever since.
 
The difference with Big Saint's setup is his new gauges don't have a dedicated signal output location on the back, so where would he put the charge/signal wire? Does anyone know? I'm sure someone else has used a similar style gauge and has had to alleviate this issue before.
 
84clonewars said:
How it happened to me was like this, I went from the old factory gauges to a complete autometer setup. I was so proud of myself for getting this done, I leave my buddies house which is about 30 mins away and 20 mins into the ride home my audio starts to act funny on/off then finally off for good. I'm thinking damn my radio just went out then the lights get really dim and my volts are dropping. So at this point I'm like damn whats wrong with my car, I get close to home come to a stop and boom car is dead. I was running on the battery only the entire time. After a couple days of research I found out I didnt install the signal wire for the alt from the old factory gauges. Once I figured this out and located the signal wire I hooked it to the new gauge and bam its been running and charging correctly ever since.
antoine, how did you determine which wire was the signal?
 
Bill I went out and bought the third gen f-body haynes manual and spent days on the web searching before I found the lonely brown charge/signal wire.
 
I will try to do a little vid so i can post to show u how i have my wire set up...might make it easier...tomorrow moring will do :wink: great info guys
 
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