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Need electrical guru

midenginemikemidenginemike#3482 Grabber Blue 72 393 stroker CHI heads
My 72 came with a recently installed GM 100 amp alternator upgrade. This was done by Wilkinson. It charges fine but it drains the battery when its not running. Ive confirmed this with my volt meter at the negative cable and post. The alt. tests good. Tried another one and it also drains current. If I hook up a stock alt to the batt. terminal and then ground it, It does NOT drain current. What gives here ??
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marlinjackmarlinjackThe Machinist #5723 AMARGOSA MACHINE 'Running on Empty- Middle of Nowhere'
Mike, my guess is, your new alternator has the 'Built-In' Voltage Regulator (ON all the time) and the Old alt. was controlled by the External Regulator, which I believe comes ON with the key switch(I'am guessing here). That answers the mystery as to Why we get a small 'spark' when we reconnect the battery post, AND everything on the Car is turned OFF. My solution was a Battery cut-off switch, disconnecting the Grounding cable, Mounted right at the 'Pedal Box' in the front trunk. It's Also great theft protection. The only problem I have with it is; everytime I disconnect, I lose the memory of the Pre-Set channels, on my Electronic Radio. But there is a cure for this: run a 'Special' ground wire, just for the Radio, through a 2-3 anp fuse. If you try to start the engine the fuse blows. Will the drain continue through the fuse? Probably so! So this would defeat the original purpose of the cut-off. Your Multimeter for checking current draw is the smartest way of Testing! It takes all the guess work out of the equation...
zr1panterazr1panteraForum Sponsor - SACC Restorations
I had an Alt on my boat that had an internal regulator. It had a large charge wire and a smaller field wire. the field wire should be connected to a source that gets switched off when the ignition switch is turned off. If the field wire is connected to an unswitch source then the battery will drain. How many wires does your new Alt. have?
huskerhuskerMember
quote:
Originally posted by MARLIN JACK:
Mike, my guess is, your new alternator has the 'Built-In' Voltage Regulator (ON all the time) and the Old alt. was controlled by the External Regulator, which I believe comes ON with the key switch(I'am guessing here). That answers the mystery as to Why we get a small 'spark' when we reconnect the battery post, AND everything on the Car is turned OFF. My solution was a Battery cut-off switch, disconnecting the Grounding cable, Mounted right at the 'Pedal Box' in the front trunk. It's Also great theft protection. The only problem I have with it is; everytime I disconnect, I lose the memory of the Pre-Set channels, on my Electronic Radio. But there is a cure for this: run a 'Special' ground wire, just for the Radio, through a 2-3 anp fuse. If you try to start the engine the fuse blows. Will the drain continue through the fuse? Probably so! So this would defeat the original purpose of the cut-off. Your Multimeter for checking current draw is the smartest way of Testing! It takes all the guess work out of the equation...


Installing the fuse won't solve the issue since most battery drains are small amperage. However, they do make "bypasses" specifically designed for this application. Eastwood (and probably everyone who carries the cut off switch)has a devuce called a Computer Memory Saver. It allows a trickle current when the switch is disconnected and is bypassed during normal operations.
L lastpushbutton (Guest)
Do you still have the original external regulater installed.? My car was dead one morning and I traced it back to the reg. I replaced it with solid state from Napa. 14.8 volts at speed. The original have points that can stick............However if I was running a single wire internal alt. I would find a way to get rid of the external reg.
midenginemikemidenginemike#3482 Grabber Blue 72 393 stroker CHI heads
Husker, Yes Wilkinson did the install. I called them a couple weeks ago about some brake work they did....I wont be calling them back ! Anyway...the small wire fron the internal reg is hooked to the Blue wire marked I that was originally pluged into the external reg. Hope that makes sense to you. Tonight I put a re-man 60 amp on with a new external reg. Charges good, Dash warning light works, and NO battery drain !
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