only 13V at idle without system playing, could it be new timing belt?

[Carnivorous18 10+ year member]

I think he meant taking the stock wiring but I could be wrong. Weird though that leaving a stock wiring on would do that

 

[thegreatestpenn 5,000+ posts]

well it will increas if you take off the alt to batt wire, you are taking a huge load off the alt, the battery, or did you mean you took off the STOCK alt to batt wire and left on the 1/0 alt to batt wire?

.

well let me explain better, I have one of those terminals with 2 8ga., 1 4ga., and 1 1/0ga. inputs. when all are being used as usual the voltage at idle is low, 12.1V or so.

When I leave the car on, but remove the big 3 alt to batt wire from the terminal, the big 3 wire by itself reads what the alt reads: 14.xxV but the battery terminal and all the other connections still read 12.1V.

When I remove the power wire for the system from the terminal along with the big 3's alt to batt, those 2 wires together read what the alt reads, yet the last 2 wires (all from the stock power wiring only at this point) on the terminal at the batt still read 12.1V

 

[jart27 10+ year member]

sounds to me that a battery is not holding a charge. you disconnected the alt while car was runnin and it kept runnin then alt is still working

 

[schackel 10+ year member]

its the alternator, when I went to bw3, my first voltage was 13.5V by the time I got there it was down to 12.12V. alternator number 3 coming up :/

by mine dood!

 

[jdmferio13 10+ year member]

does the model civic have the eld.if so thats your problem.Its a device honda installs in the cars o help fuel economy.what it does is when it doesnt sense a load it will shut the alt off basically run it at 12.3.but in your case ho alt and big battery then stock should be between 12.3-13.1.what i would do is try running a load when running the stereo and tell me if it does it.I have the same problem so I just run the lights when im playing my shit.

 

[thegreatestpenn 5,000+ posts]

does the model civic have the eld.if so thats your problem.Its a device honda installs in the cars o help fuel economy.what it does is when it doesnt sense a load it will shut the alt off basically run it at 12.3.but in your case ho alt and big battery then stock should be between 12.3-13.1.what i would do is try running a load when running the stereo and tell me if it does it.I have the same problem so I just run the lights when im playing my shit.

its not the eld, that just makes the car switch while running anywhere from 12V-14.4V, but at idle my car would always sit at 14.4-15V.

I'm thinking its the batt. Today I let it sit on the battery charger until it was fully charged and it fell to 12.4V after a few hours. Its not holding charge like it should (my kinetik batt in the back is sitting at 12.8V isolated from the front batt now). I'm thinking time for another kinetik hc1400!!!

 

[Carnivorous18 10+ year member]

its not the eld, that just makes the car switch while running anywhere from 12V-14.4V, but at idle my car would always sit at 14.4-15V.
I'm thinking its the batt. Today I let it sit on the battery charger until it was fully charged and it fell to 12.4V after a few hours. Its not holding charge like it should (my kinetik batt in the back is sitting at 12.8V isolated from the front batt now). I'm thinking time for another kinetik hc1400!!!

Yep if it dropped that quick sounds like the batt. Replace it do eet!

 

[power-fanatic07 5,000+ posts]

I think HO alts are more than often a complete waste of time. Theres always problems with them, and most of the time they're just regular alternators over-rated. I do know that they have good, legit ones, but I'd be too nervous about getting screwed to ever buy one.
I just stuck a junkyard alternator on my a/c compressor bracket, and know for-shure that I am getting 105 amps just to my subs, and the highs are on the stock 90amp. A 200 amp system for about $50 (new belt, $20 alternator, bolts), not bad.

HO alts are over rated? I'm running 4kw+ on my over-rated HO alt and a single d3100, 4 runs of 1/0. Can you bang full tilt and stay above 13v? I will be laughing when you are sweating balls cause you have no a/c and I'll be chillin with my over-rated that puts out more than both of yours together //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[Carnivorous18 10+ year member]

HO alts are over rated? I'm running 4kw+ on my over-rated HO alt and a single d3100, 4 runs of 1/0. Can you bang full tilt and stay above 13v? I will be laughing when you are sweating balls cause you have no a/c and I'll be chillin with my over-rated that puts out more than both of yours together //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

Makes me wonder if I ran a second run of 1/0 gauge to my amp if that would help at all..

 

[thegreatestpenn 5,000+ posts]

[update]

Well I just got a free battery out the deal since my stock batt died. Still looks like I'm having problems though, I just can't figure it out :/. I'm charging my rear batt at the moment (it was a little low for some reason). hopefully these problems didn't kill my kinetik as well. What could cause my voltage at the batt to drop but yet my alt is still at 14.4V??? Bad solenoid or something?

 

[ahole-ic]

I'm thinking that you have a bad ground. Disconnect your power wire for your rear batt and amp. Check voltages. Then check your alt to chassis and batt to chassis grounds. Once you clean off the paint/rust and get the connection good and tight, you will see your voltage increase at your batt.

 

[thegreatestpenn 5,000+ posts]

I've checked the grounds from the big 3, I suppose I can give the back ground a shot, even though the rear batt was resting at 12.8V 2 days ago (while the front batt was at 12.3V and they weren't connected to each other).

 

[ahole-ic]

I've checked the grounds from the big 3, I suppose I can give the back ground a shot, even though the rear batt was resting at 12.8V 2 days ago (while the front batt was at 12.3V and they weren't connected to each other).

No it won't be the back ground. It will either be a ground up front or the front batt. Those are your only possibilities. Don't waste your time anywhere else. If you checked them once, check them again because you missed something.

 

[audioatg 10+ year member]

Got any pics of wiring location. Take a couple of span shots of ground location power wires. All that jaze and post them up.

 

[thegreatestpenn 5,000+ posts]

the upgraded ground was bad. so i redid it but still have the same going on. I'm thinking something is pulling current, just don't know what would pull it down so much