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Losing charge while stopped

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300hpbound

15+ Year Contributor
91
0
Mar 20, 2008
Westminster, Colorado
There's plenty of articles on batteries and alternators but none quite as specific as mine. I sat at a stoplight for about 2-3 minutes (yes crappy light) all the while I noticed my interior lights were pretty dim. As soon as I stepped on the gas, the lights more than doubled in brightness. After that I watched them as I sat at lights thereafter and could literally watch them become dimmer, and again as soon as I stepped on the gas they would become very bright.

The thing is, I replaced my alternator literally 1 month ago and my battery is only about two years old and is an Optima red top. Do I need to check my grounds? What could possibly by draining my car within minutes?

While this happened my stereo was on, but no where near loud or pushing, and my lights were on as it was 6:30 in the morning. Is there something suckin down electricity in either of these? :confused:
 
Just because you replaced your alternator a month ago doesn't mean it can't be bad already. It sounds like it's the alternator to me.:| You need to check the voltage at the battery with the engine running at idle. If you're not seeing at least 13.5 volts you're alternator is not putting out enough juice. I would be looking for 13.5-14.8 volts on a good charging system. Anything less than 13.5 volts points toward the alternator.
 
There have been some people saying that they noticed significant gains by adding thicker ground wires and a thicker power wire from the alternator to the battery, I guess the stock wiring is pretty wimpy.
 
I'll check the voltage.

Otherwise, I'll be more than happy to toss on some thicker ground wires. I think I may look into doing the Saturn alternator upgrade this time around if it is the alternator. Thanks fellas
 
If you're going to do a saturn upgrade might as well throw in some beefier power wire too
 
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