ramermanz28

All right community. I have the Camaro running again after nine years of sitting in the garage. I am having issues getting the battery to charge. All the stock main harnesses have been replaced by using FAST harnesses. See signature for modifications to car. I noticed the car was not charging by looking at battery voltage on my laptop while I was logging data. Battery voltage dropped to 10 volts and the car started running like crap. After having the alternator tested the results came back all good. What I am thinking is that during this time I had not yet hooked up the wire that goes to the dash to monitor battery voltage. Is this also the wire that "excites" the alternator? I removed the battery connection on the back of the alternator to check to see if voltage is coming off the battery post on the alternator and there is ZERO volts, but the red wire that connects to the gauge in the dash was not connected. Is this the issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Rob.

Injuneer

The thin red wire to power up the regulator comes from the "gages" fuse, via the instrument cluster:

http://shbox.com/1/starter_charging_95.jpg

ramermanz28

Thank you Injuneer. I had always just "assumed" that wire only fed the instrument cluster to determine battery voltage. I had no idea it actually excited the alternator. How does the cars in dash battery voltage gauge actually determine battery voltage then? I also learned that since this alternator has been sitting for 9 years that when I had the alternator checked it actually re-excited the alternator. I didn't know a self exciting alternator would require that. They lose their magnetism that excites the alternator after long storage. Thanks again Injuneer!

ramermanz28

Well if the neighbors weren't awake they are now. Everything is working! You guys are the absolute best! Thank you, have a great day. Rob.