Charging problem, Car loses electrical power intermittantly (long)
02-14-2005, 08:28 PM
#1
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Charging problem, Car loses electrical power intermittantly (long)
Ok So i replaced my battery about a month ago (with an optima red top) and my Alternater about a week after that with one from autozone. And my car still dies occasionally.
What will happen is that i'll be playing my system (2600 watts) and i'll notice the first thing that happens is my deck will go off (and my system with it) and it'll flash on and off a few times like it wants to come on but cant. Then my lights will get dim, and as long as i'm rolling the car won't die but as soon as i stop, the car won't start again without a jump. Then i get a jump and the problem goes away.
Then a few days later it'll do it again. Occasionally my brake and battery light will come on when i'm driving (together) meaning my alternater isn't charging my battery, but if i keep driving it'll usually go back off in a few min. (and car will be fine). When it actually dies, the battery and brake light don't come on at all usually and ther is no warning besides dimming of lights and the airbag light will come on when the power is getting really low i've noticed.
So my question is (since alternator and battery are new) is there anything else in responsible for charging out cars? Is there a relay somewhere or something that i'm missing? The problem is intermittant, meaning it only happens every once in awhile, sometime with symptons only and sometimes with actual dying so its really hard to diagonis. Anyone have any ideas what it could be? This problems becoming a real pita.
Also i replaced the alternator after this problem started. I thought replacing the alt. would fix it but it appears it hasn't.
What will happen is that i'll be playing my system (2600 watts) and i'll notice the first thing that happens is my deck will go off (and my system with it) and it'll flash on and off a few times like it wants to come on but cant. Then my lights will get dim, and as long as i'm rolling the car won't die but as soon as i stop, the car won't start again without a jump. Then i get a jump and the problem goes away.
Then a few days later it'll do it again. Occasionally my brake and battery light will come on when i'm driving (together) meaning my alternater isn't charging my battery, but if i keep driving it'll usually go back off in a few min. (and car will be fine). When it actually dies, the battery and brake light don't come on at all usually and ther is no warning besides dimming of lights and the airbag light will come on when the power is getting really low i've noticed.
So my question is (since alternator and battery are new) is there anything else in responsible for charging out cars? Is there a relay somewhere or something that i'm missing? The problem is intermittant, meaning it only happens every once in awhile, sometime with symptons only and sometimes with actual dying so its really hard to diagonis. Anyone have any ideas what it could be? This problems becoming a real pita.
Also i replaced the alternator after this problem started. I thought replacing the alt. would fix it but it appears it hasn't.
02-15-2005, 05:24 AM
#3
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Replace the alternator drive belt. It could be glazed up and slipping, thus not spinning the alty enough and you loose power. Because of your large system, you put a high demand on your electrical system. It needs to be in perfect working order. Someone also mentioned caps to help with the load. Look into those as well.
02-15-2005, 09:19 AM
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its not the drive belt. the drive belt is new and is a belt from my crankshaft to my alternator with the ac pulley bypassed. Therefore my alternator pulley does spin faster than normal but this should generate more energy not less. I'll try some a cap but for some reason i think its more than that.
02-15-2005, 01:06 PM
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Actually i thought about it some more and it can't be my system at all. Yesterday when the car died my deck was off for a few hours and my system wasn't using any power at all i had even shut off my radar detector. So even if i drained my system before that it should have been charging the whole time my car was on if my alternator was working correctly, and since my car got me home, and let me shut it off, but would not start again (immediately after being shut off) i have to assume that my alternator was charging my system alittle while i was driving, enough to keep my car running. This either means that my alternator wasn't putting out enough power only a very little amount or my batter wasn't taking a charge very well, and i can rule the battery out because i took it upstairs after the car died, and charged it with a home charger i have and today, no issues (even been running my system alil). So i'm thinkin my new alternator is messed up or there is a short somewhere.
02-17-2005, 10:55 AM
#6
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Same Setup
Yeah, I had that problem a while ago. I got about 2840 watts, red top optima and my alternator was screwed. I dunked the car through a huge puddle when it rained real bad and fried my alternator. I got a new supposed heavy duty one put on and 4 farads of capacitors. My car isnt dying, but I get a nasty voltage drop at idle and the bass gets WEAK! I dunked the car again with the new alternator and the alternator shut off for a few seconds ( I know this cuz i had a nasty ground loop and could hear when the alternator was working). Check the voltage of your car when all accessaries are off then on you should have between 14.1 and 14.7, if not your alternator might be screwed or the belts not on tight enough. Good Luck.
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