tookwik

Ok, out of the blue today I went to go crank my car and it was giving me all the signals that my batter had straight died. But as soon as I pull the key out the ignition my alarm begins to go off, it actually started off faint then grew louder. When it finally got to its normal loudness it just started bouncing off of the first note, all the while I was trying to unlock it with the remote (that didn't work). I ended up taking my other car and jump starting it and all was well... untill I started driving it.
It was night time and I was pulling out of my complex, i had to use the brakes of course, and when I did my interior lights flickered bad, the radio went on then off, and my lights (HID's ) turned off. So I turned them back on and eventually it stopped, well actually got to the point where the lights no longer turned off but every thing still flickered.

My question is, do you think that this is the alternator? I've never had this issue before but have had previous cranking issues, like the alternator was slow to charge the battery. Could it be since its getting warm again? I really have to figure this out so ANY help would be GREATLY appreciate. Thanks in advance.

Also, are there any alternators that put out more amps, not voltage, than others? Because I do have a pretty large system in my car which may draw pretty heavily on the battery sometimes.

chris7777777

How old is your battery, test the voltage on it first. If it is normal (like 12.6 v ) then it's probably the alternator.

tookwik

Where is the reading come from on the Apexi PFC? When I'm driving it puts out a pretty even 14.5v, is that at the battery or alternator?

JONSKI

Go to an auto parts store and ask them to test your alternator. It's free and takes all of 2 minutes.

Snook

iTrader: (12)

I think it's your battery 14.5 is high for the alt to be putting out maybe a little too much

NCMontegott

iTrader: (5)

no 14.5 is just fine that is enough current to charge the battery and to run all of the electronics in the car. you might want to see if your power regulator (if it has one) is functioning right. a lack of alternator current would cause the battery to die after about an half hour to hour of use then you would have a dead batt :/ be sure to check your connections at the alternartor and the batt.

tookwik

Well now I'm pretty sure it has to do with the alternator. The current issue is the battery though... it was pretty much dead. I took it to Batteries Plus where they checked it for me and it had very little charge remaining in it and was not accepting the charge at all. But OVERALL the alternator is not supplying enough current/amps to keep the supply in the battery charged so its like a continuing process where the battery eventually wheres down. They're giving me a free battery while in the meantime I'm ordering a new and higher output alternator. That should take care of it.

AntiVenom7

sucks, bro, but glad you got it taken care of. Damned FDs