voltage problem (video!)

[robertoyoung08 10+ year member]

I have fully upgraded electrical (all in my signature). Everything was working ok for the past year or two and I had high voltage up to 15.1 (would settle down to around 14.7 volts). During loud play it would fluctuate down to 14-13 volts but was okay.

Randomly the past few days my voltage starts at 15 and settles down at low 14s. During loud play even with RPM high AND on the freeway at 80 mph voltage is dipping into the 12s even 11 volts. and eventually voltage starts settling in low 13s even 12s with no music. I cant understand why it started doing this.

Click to read more...

 

[jrdnhsnbrg 10+ year member]

Dying alternator or battery? Can't watch the video right now, in class

 

[bbeljefe]

Check and clean all power connections and then see where you're at.

 

[jrdnhsnbrg 10+ year member]

^^^That too, lol

 

[GVP 10+ year member]

Alternator

 

[robertoyoung08 10+ year member]

Little more info:

If I shut the car off and let everything rest for a while, voltage will be back up higher. Depending on time of rest could be back up to full 15 volts or just a little bit.

Thanks for the input guys. I will be checking connections today and will check voltage at battery and alternator. I feel like its the alternator but I really hope not since that was one expensive piece

 

[BrownVanMan 10+ year member]

maybe a voltage regulator issue. defintaely something with the alt. if a batt was going bad it would be a constant draw

 

[09civic 5,000+ posts]

Have you ever charged your batteries?

You can't just forget about AGM's.

 

[robertoyoung08 10+ year member]

maybe a voltage regulator issue. defintaely something with the alt. if a batt was going bad it would be a constant draw

what do you mean by constant draw?

I had a volt meter but it stopped working. just ordered a new one and should be here tomorrow- will be measuring voltage right at the alternator. I'm assuming if the alternator reads out low voltage then the its a problem with the alt and not anything else?

Have you ever charged your batteries?
You can't just forget about AGM's.

and honestly, no I haven't charged them in a while. I just recently put in a small xs in the back. prior I only had a kinetic in the front. could the addition of the battery in the back have anything to do with this or even maybe this have messed up the alternator?

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

are the batts wired together?

 

[robertoyoung08 10+ year member]

are the batts wired together?

Yes in parallel

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

try swap the batts over........ I had a problem with one of my batts dropping a cell....... when I used a dmm it would read 13.4 but soon as anything tried to draw any pwr from it i'd drop to like 10.6 or sumfin. took me ages to sort it out.... I always suggest having two of the same batts when your going to wire them together. one batt will always be better than the other and wont last as long.

 

[robertoyoung08 10+ year member]

try swap the batts over........ I had a problem with one of my batts dropping a cell....... when I used a dmm it would read 13.4 but soon as anything tried to draw any pwr from it i'd drop to like 10.6 or sumfin. took me ages to sort it out.... I always suggest having two of the same batts when your going to wire them together. one batt will always be better than the other and wont last as long.

yeah I always did read that it was recommended to have the exact batteries wired up. but also read from plenty of people that they ran different types of batteries together (as long as they were both the same type. AGM for example) with no problems. Since the battery I added is very small I figured it wouldn't be a big deal.

but you're right, it could be one of the batteries have gone bad after I added the extra in the back. ill have to use the dmm to check the exact voltage. the stinger volt meter I have in the dash is only wired to the back battery so hopefully the electrical is okay in the front. I also have a distro block in the back with a volt meter built in and it reads normal resting voltage when everything is off (about 12.8 volts). thanks for the input man. I really appreciate it.

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

when I tested my batts in the car, they seemed fine......... I ended up taking each orbital dry cell battery out and taking it to be bench tested at our local battery joint, one gave up but would still receive charge and hold it until it tried to draw too much from it.

 

---------- Post added at 03:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:46 AM ----------

 

so the batt bloke in the end said it's bugger'd without it actually being bugger'd...weird

 

[robertoyoung08 10+ year member]

when I tested my batts in the car, they seemed fine......... I ended up taking each orbital dry cell battery out and taking it to be bench tested at our local battery joint, one gave up but would still receive charge and hold it until it tried to draw too much from it. 

---------- Post added at 03:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:46 AM ----------

 

so the batt bloke in the end said it's bugger'd without it actually being bugger'd...weird

will update tomorrow after I check some voltages. REALLY hoping its not the alternator.