Scooby098

I have more than a few positive leads going directly to the battery. My question I saw the tech article on the auxuirly fuse box but I not sure If I want it wired with the power on all times just cause Im trying to rule out the source for having a dead yellow top optima battery in the morning.. Im checkin the Altimater tommorw, checked the battery today its good. would I put the lead on the starter?

apalmer1

There is a simple solution to this problem, simply run a relay to a keyed 12V power source, and have that attach to the aux. fusebox power.

Red3.slow

an aux fuse block is usually the best way to go with multiple accessories. But I'm not really sure what your talking about with the starter. I think a multi meter is in order.

apalmer1

yeah you lost me with the starter and the altimater? do you mean the alternator? in which case no you can check it by ensuring that your battery produces charging voltage (usually 13.5-14.5) or at the very least a higher voltage than when the car is not running.

Scooby098

yah sorry about that its the alternator. I do have a question about that but yah I was planning on going with the aux fuse box since theres a detailed write up on here with pictures.. I had a burnt Pigtail, and replaced it with a 10 gauge wire but Im gonna replace it with another pigtail tommorw just picked one up tonight. I got one wire going to the back of the alternator where does the other one go? And with the starter, I thought There was a postive lead on the back of it to attach a lead to that would work when the key is turned on, or when the truck is running. But I do have a few things, Winch, Lights, weber elec choke, and the stereo to wire up and check for big drains... also a cb but thats wired on the fuse box for power instead of going straight to the battery... hope I made it a bit clearer

apalmer1

Ok hold on, im a bit lost here. Your talking about replacing the wiring to the alternator, and not testing it correct? There should only be one wire coming off the hot lug on the alternator, and i beleive there is a 3 prong plug in the back off of the voltage regulator.

Im not sure why there is a jumper running from inside the case to that hot lug. If that wire is connected from teh hot lug to ground it would creat a dead short and fry that wire till there was nothing left so im assuming thats not what its doing?

Scooby098

Im getting it tested tommorw. by my local welding shop.. friends of my dads and they told me to bring it in. Where I bought my battery from. Its 2 Prong I belive Its a Gm alternator 80 Amp. The Red wire Is running to my postive top of my battery. Its a bit of a wire mess under my Hood. And im trying to sort through all it and clean it up.

apalmer1

Yeah if you just have a multimeter all you have to do is check and see if you are putting out voltage above charging. Though there is an age old trick to see if its doing anything at all and that is to take a screwdriver and lightly hold it next to the very back of the alternator where the bearing would be. If the screwdriver is magneticaly attracted to the alternator, even very gently then you know that it is at least producing a field. Im wondering if the spot that the wire comes from is actually the orriginal location of the GM hotlug from the rectifier bridge, and that they ran a wire from that location to that stud on the back to move it somewhere more convenient... not likely though since GM's usually run the lug off the very back like that one. id investigate that wire though thats for sure.

Scooby098

I ran that wire cause It was getting no charge at all found that out the hard way, up in the woods being stuck in the mudd. So I will try that tommorw with the screw driver.It dosnt looked Like it was moved does look like it belongs there but This is the first time Ive had a problem with the alternator I thought It was the battery till they showed me that It wasnt and was cooker there battery tester trying to break the battery. Thanks for the fast repleys and help btw
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...wireing006.jpg

apalmer1

Yeah if thats an older GM like that id assume its nothing too fancy. A couple things to be sure of, nothing attached to that hot lug should be able to touch anything else thats metle, so that crimp on the other wire running into the case should definately not be allowed to touch anything that would ground it out otherwise it will just melt. If that plug only had 2 wires its possible that one was a power and one was a ground and thats it, this isnt for sure though because usually alternators ground to the engine block by their mounting brackets. Any idea what GM that alternator actually came from? if you could tell me that or the model of the alternator i could tell you right off the bat what you need to hook up to where.

Also try hooking up that red wire to the battery instead of the hot lug. I think that if its been not working ever since the wire is hooked up there thats almost certainly the issue. That red wire in the plug goes into the voltage regulator, and then actually provides the amperage needed to energize the coils in that alternator and produce voltage at the terminal on the back. So basicaly if you have that hot wire from the plug hooked up to that lug and not to the battery it isnt going to get voltage because the alternator wont produce any voltage.

Sorry if some of the things i say are vague but its been a long day, i rewired and rebuilt my alternator and a few others today so im kinda in the mood he

Scooby098

really.. is there any markers on it that ...

OK the back is Delco Remy . Made in usa 15 r
were the pigtail goes. its got a 1 and a 2
and heres some stamped numbers on top
110028756a
4m18412vnec
hope that helps

apalmer1

Well my internet is having some serious issues tonight so i cant access ondemand5 or use any search engines at all so its not gona help too much right now It is a GM though, hence the delco. and its an 80amp so between that and those pics i can match it up to one of the ones i have lying in the shop tommorrow and hopefully see what the story is with it.
If you cant fix it after playing with where those wires go you could also tear it apart and try rebuilding it yourself. Alternators are one of the easiest electrical components to rebuild, 9 of 10 times the only components you need to replace to make it at least work are the brushes which cost 2-5$

Scooby098

K well ive got to lay a bathroom floor tommorw but ill get everything checked out and try that wire. so if I zip tie that new wire to the other alternator wire just so I dont have a birds nest and if there connected to the same spot?

apalmer1

not following exactly what your saying there, but jsut make sure that you have a wire going from that terminal to the batery, and that that wire isnt touching both of those plug terminals at once. you dont want the wire to bridge either of those terminals, and you dont want the wires to touch metal on metal anywhere because that could create a dead short. Just remember that orriginaly there was a plug attached there, and plugs have insulation in between the spots where each of the prongs go into, so you dont want to have the connectors going to each of those prongs touching.

Scooby098

update... went to the auto parts store.. had it checked out ide its at 14.5 amps and at peak its around 50. The guy said they dont get what there rated is this true or should I go ahead and replace the brushes? oh and appertly there hooked up right.. that least thats what the guy said so I Must have a pretty big battery drain... I mean for it too drain all of that yellow optima over night any ideas on on how to touble shoot?

apalmer1

Yeah alternators usually lie about their output a bit. Ive got a "120" amp and it produced 90amp peak on the machine 3 days ago on fresh brushes and a new rectifier and bearing.

its interesting that its working with that type of wiring, im assuming when they tested it they put the amp clamp on the negative lead to the battery correct? i would make sure your getting good charging volts aswell at the battery just to have a basis to go by.

Yes there are several methods of parasitic drain testing. these can be a big PITA sometimes, though it would have to be a pretty big drain to suck a yellowtop dry overnight. For parasitic drain tests you will need to get a cheap voltameter and a test light though. The only systems on that truck that should normaly drain the battery are the stereo memory, the ecu, and the clock and maybe some other very small things.

For a start, if its an absolutely huge drain you should be able to see it on the voltmeter when the car is off, the battery will be bellow normal fully charged voltage, which is 12.6V. You can also see if the battery voltage changed when it is or isnt connected to the vehicle. These will only work if its an absolutely huge drain though, like if you were to leave a bunch of lights or something of that equivalent on.

Next turn the car off and remove the key. turn on the lights and a few other things just for a few seconds to remove battery surface charge then let it sit for 20min or so. come back after that period with a test light and unplug the negative cable then hook up one end of the test light to the undone cable, and the other end to the battery terminal. see if it lights up. There are several much more reliable methods but ill talk about those a little later.

Scooby098

k yah He did the coil around the negitive lead, Tho that is a big differance from 80 to 50 I dont know what kind of condition it is in. The whole phrase if it not broke dont fix it. any Idea on where I can get some brushes? I rerouted most of the Aux leads on my battery. The choke, cigerate lighter, off road lamps, only thing on there is the stereo at the moment. and I can always just put that on the radio fuse in the truck if it comes to it. But I read somewhere, that you put the tester light between the negitive lead as a visual for when you pull fuses one by one when the truck is off to see where the drain is.

apalmer1

Thats correct, first you need to see if it lights up at all

You can buy brushes from most autoparts stores, or if worst comes to worst you may be able to get them from the stealership. Im not sure where you are located but if you have any Napa stores near you that is your best bet.

Another way to test parasitic drain is with a multimeter set to read amperes. wire that the same way you wired the test light but be sure that absolutely all major loads are off and that the vehicle is off. The multimeters are protected by an internal 10amp fuse and if the current flow from the battery exceeds that it will just fry the multimeter, in most cases a huge 3 dollar loss

Scooby098

yah I have a more than a few napa's lol but I usually go to knechts cause there cheaper. located in southernish oregon lol

apalmer1

Oh, where abouts in southernish Oregon? I live up in Bend/central oregon area. Napa is definately your best bet for brushes, we have a specialty auto electric store here in town that sells EVERYTHING inside alternators, but if you dont have a store like that http://store.alternatorparts.com/ sells rectifiers and voltage regulators and stators and slip rings and bearings and all that good stuff. I havent bought anything from them but their prices are the exact same as what i pay for stuff here in town.