so my battery has been discharging recently,

i was thinking it's the radio, but when i turn it off, the gauge still reads below the middle.

i replaced the alternator a year ago, along with the voltage regulator...


any ideas?

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70 Plymouth Valiant 4dr

Wait til it gets dark, then pull fuses out of the fusebox one by one. When you find the one that crackles and sparks when you remove it, you've found your phantom battery drainer (or else you've found the dome light...)

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

pull the fuses with the car off right? just making sure

when i'm driving at night, and put the turn signals on, the radio clips out

i have an aftermarket radio, cd player and amp and the whole shabang

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70 Plymouth Valiant 4dr

How is your amp hooked up? I have line that goes directly from the amp to the battery and even includes it's own fuse. With the headlights on bright, A/C wide open, and the two 10's in the trunk thumping, the stock alternator has a very hard time keeping up at idle. Going down the road it does nicely however. What kind of Alternator are you using, I'm still using the stock one that came on my car.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

have it hooked the same as you...

i was thinking of getting a capacitor

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70 Plymouth Valiant 4dr

What size battery do you have. I had to change my battery when I first put the system in my car because it would kill itself at idle due to the excessive load. Have you checked the wiring at your alternator? The problem might be there.

I don't know much about electrical stuff, just enough to be dangerous .
I should know more considering that my dad is an electrician.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

There are a couple of things you should consider;

To find a parasitic load (draw), disconnect the negative battery terminal and put a multimeter set on DC Amps in series between the disconnected cable end and the battery terminal. If you have an amperage draw anywhere near 1/2 an amp or more, that's enough to drain your battery. With the multimeter still connected, start pulling fuses from the various circuits, when the amperage draw goes away, you've isolated the circuit the draw is in. From there the fun of looking for bare wires or loose grounds in that circuit begins. If there is no amperage draw from this test, it's not a wiring problem. Be sure your dome light is not on before you start.

The other issue may be that the alternator is not big enough for your needs. This would cause the battery to try and compensate for the additional draw. This overuse of the battery will speed up the chemical reaction of the acid and plates and cause the battery to discharge because of sulfating. In this case, you need a new battery and a higher amperage alternator. Try one in the 90 - 100 amp range.

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70 Valiant Super Six