Alternator question, battery is discharging quickly.

[FC Zach]

Originally Posted by RETed

As for your problem...
I traced the problem to the alternator sense field not dropping even after turning the ignition key off; for some reason when I dropped the +12V reference, this would drop the field and killed the excess current draw immediately.
I just chalked it up to a crap rebuild (these things were rebuilt by silverrotor by some shop).

Once I replaced with another unit, I NEVER had that problem anymore.

So it's quite possible you're in a similar situation.

It could be possible that you have a shorted diode in the rectifier, which would cause the alternator to keep draining voltage with the engine off too.
I've fought this problem with my MX83 alternator, because I think the 15VDC+ levels my battery charger was giving it when I had to jump it.
In this situation, every time you reconnected the alternator, the current draw would always be too high.

It's very easy to troubleshoot these things, as you need someone to measure current - most DMM's do this.


-Ted

I'm afraid I will still have some sort of issue even after making the proper connections. . . I drove for far too long without the 12v reference wire connected. I added new leads to the connector, now to make the connections once I find the easiest/best route to take.