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Re: Electrical problems, need help (long) (archive)
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Posted by Chris B. on December 17, 2000 at 03:42:53:

In Reply to: Electrical problems, need help posted by Jimmy03 on December 17, 2000 at 01:32:22:


ok heres the problem, the other day, i my battery died on me, so i charged it up and there was no reaction. so i took it to sears and got a free replacement because my battery was only 8 months old. so i hook up the new one and it all works fine. however about 2 days later i start having a problem where if i have about 3 electrical items on my radio looses power. i found this out by comming home with my lights on, hit my turn signal, and the brakes and the radio shuts off. so i thought maybe there was a short somewhere in there. but i tested a bunch of ways and it didt it for 3 any 3 electrical things. anyways, i go to move my car in the garage and its dead. so my dad and i both think that my amplifier had a short in the wire, so we disconnect it until we can get to best buy, and then we continued on to charge the battery again. it charged this time but from me traveling a short distance from my home to the gas station and back, it did it all again. this time with the amplifier detached. this is really bugging me and i have no car to drive now. does anyone know whats going on? please help

Thanx
Jimmy03
73 colorado
aka pumpkin

Jimmy, that the first thing you need to do is some basic troubleshooting to determine whether your charging system is working properly. If not, your battery will go dead quickly if you are driving the car. If you don't know the state of your charging system, you are totally wasting your time speculating about a bad amplifier or any other problem.

Put a voltmeter between the +B terminal on the back of your alternator and ground with your motor running. If you don't have a meter, borrow one, buy one ($15 @ Radio Shack) or get someone who has one to help you. You should see around +14.4V at your alternator. If you see 14.4V, then check at your battery terminals. If you see significantly less than 14.4V., you have a bad connection, either + or - between the battery, alternator and/or ground. If you see <+12.5V at your alternator, then your charging system is not working.

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