Battery not charging up

[hooddub]

Hey all, having some trouble with my battery/alternator..

Since I swapped in the new VR6 I have been having some issues with my battery charging.

I have since replaced my battery, the old one dropped a cell and would not hold a charge. It was pretty overdue for replacement anyways. I then load tested the battery while running and it wasn't breaking 12v, it still was (much more) slowly losing power.

Seeing as this seemed like an alternator I have also since replaced my alternator. Same problem, the battery is not going higher than 12v and is slowly losing charge.

All I can think of is that the ground is in the wrong spot or something of that nature but electrical really isn't my strong suit..

If anyone has any ideas that would be awesome.. Pretty close to just sending it to TuneDub and getting George to solve it for me. This is literally the only thing left preventing me from driving this car.

[stefan]

Re: Battery not charging up

Strange. You can test the positive/negative right at the alternator to eliminate cable issues. If you are not getting voltage there, I'd be a little suspicious of your new alternator.

[MechEngg]

Re: Battery not charging up

First thing i would do is check continuity between all your main power wires:
- Alternator positive output all the way to the battery terminal. You said you fried your voltage regulator i think in another thread, check the fuse that is also in that power cable and make sure your connections are good both to the battery and alternator
- Ground from alternator to the block. Check to make sure your alternator lead grounding terminals have pulled in and are making a good contact with the block bracket and none of it is painted if you chose to go that route while the engine was out
- Ground from block to chassis. Check to make sure it is of adequate size and metal to metal connections on both sides, again not sure where you grounded it
- Ground from chassis to the battery. Again metal to metal contact and make sure your lead posts on the battery are brushed, clean and tight.

After you check that all of those are actually there and in good shape you can start to diagnose further from taking voltage difference readings to see where the problem lies

[hooddub]

Re: Battery not charging up

This is what I needed. Thanks Sean. I must have missed something when I was putting it all back together. I'll double check all my grounds.

[danosaur]

Re: Battery not charging up

If you throw an amp clamp on the main power wire to the alternator/generator, turn on as many loads as possible within the car then hop out and rev it to 1500 and see what your output is you should be able to verify if the new alt is good or not. I'd also check the voltage drop between the battery pos and the alt pos to see if theres any excessive resistance in the cable. Usually other circuits would be affected as well when dealing with bad grounds.. have you noticed any related systems operating incorrectly or intermittently?

[hooddub]

Re: Battery not charging up

Found the problem, rookie mistake/general lack of how alternators work.. power cable was connected to the wrong point (I thought it was a ground)
...facepalm

Now I am having another issue, the new alternator is whining and getting rather hot.. I checked all my connections and they are all tight and in the right spot this time.

Any reason my alternator might be heating up?

[stefan]

Re: Battery not charging up

Found the problem, rookie mistake/general lack of how alternators work.. power cable was connected to the wrong point (I thought it was a ground)
...facepalm

Now I am having another issue, the new alternator is whining and getting rather hot.. I checked all my connections and they are all tight and in the right spot this time.

Any reason my alternator might be heating up?

Good you figured one part out. I would think whining would be on the mechanical side, like belt or bearings. Bearings should be good in a new alternator though. Is the belt too tight/to loose? That's all I got..

[MechEngg]

Re: Battery not charging up

Lol ooops
So did you have your battery shorted out to ground? Or where did your battery hook up to on the alternator?
A whining new alternator surely isn't good, they can certainly heat up a considerable amount when your car is running, but a whining usually signifies shot bearings or too tight a belt

[hooddub]

Re: Battery not charging up

Good you figured one part out. I would think whining would be on the mechanical side, like belt or bearings. Bearings should be good in a new alternator though. Is the belt too tight/to loose? That's all I got..

I confirmed it to be a poorly rebuilt alternator! Thanks for the suggestions Stefan.

Lol ooops
So did you have your battery shorted out to ground? Or where did your battery hook up to on the alternator?
A whining new alternator surely isn't good, they can certainly heat up a considerable amount when your car is running, but a whining usually signifies shot bearings or too tight a belt

The battery positive cable that the alternator needs to be connected to is the one that goes directly to the starter. I hooked up the alternator power to a ground point because I am dumb and then realized it should be alternator - starter - battery because Jason informed me that alternators ground themselves which I had no clue about (it's my first time dicking around with alternators can you tell?)
As for the alternator getting hot, it was like STUPID hot in a matter of 30 seconds.. like couldn't even touch it. And it was howling pretty loud.
Swapped my old one back out and it actually was fine.. haha and it got pleasantly warm after like 5 minutes of running.
All sorted, old alternator back on, charging properly and all is well!

[MechEngg]

Re: Battery not charging up

The battery positive cable that the alternator needs to be connected to is the one that goes directly to the starter. I hooked up the alternator power to a ground point because I am dumb and then realized it should be alternator - starter - battery because Jason informed me that alternators ground themselves which I had no clue about (it's my first time dicking around with alternators can you tell?)
As for the alternator getting hot, it was like STUPID hot in a matter of 30 seconds.. like couldn't even touch it. And it was howling pretty loud.
All sorted, old alternator back on, charging properly and all is well!

Well you were shorting out the entire alternator, of course it is going to get stupidly hot. Imagine running a cable from the positive side of a battery to the negative side and holding it there for a while, that is what you were doing. Im actually surprised the voltage regulator didn't completely melt on you, that is actually quite a dangerous thing to do. Guarantee you cooked the bearings on the alternator with the heat if you have been driving the car at all

I'm glad your car is finally working like it should

[hooddub]

Re: Battery not charging up

Well you were shorting out the entire alternator, of course it is going to get stupidly hot. Imagine running a cable from the positive side of a battery to the negative side and holding it there for a while, that is what you were doing. Im actually surprised the voltage regulator didn't completely melt on you, that is actually quite a dangerous thing to do. Guarantee you cooked the bearings on the alternator with the heat if you have been driving the car at all

I'm glad your car is finally working like it should

No no, sorry for the confusion! When I had the alternator power wire in the wrong spot it didn't do anything! And the battery-starter power line was always in the right spot, but when I finally figured out where everything went and it was all in the right spot, that's when the new (remanufactured) bosch alternator started getting hot and whining!
I think it was just faulty.