Alternator and battery question

[john.thompson068]

I have the original style alternator for a 66 Satellite. When the car is idling, the ignition and lights are running off of the alternator right?


I have almost four year old Die Hard Platinum battery. It has been sitting hooked up to the car in storage for the last two years in Florida. I have recently been able to get the car to where I am and have since been working on it.


After idling the car for a while in the garage. I shut it off. I returned later to idle it some more and the starter was going to slow to start the motor and then just quit. I take the battery to Sears and they test the battery for 45 minutes only to tell me that the battery is just fine. I think they used one of those quick chargers because when I got my battery back it was hot and the guy said it was all good and charged up. I told him no its not all good and left (the battery is still under the four year warranty). Now the battery is hooked up to a 1.5 amp trickle charger just to see what happens. When I took it to Sears it only had 11v. When I got it back it was at 13v. I think the battery is dieing and plan on buying a Napa 75 or a Duralast from Auto Zone for approximately $100.


So would idling the car in the garage for 30 minutes with an original style alternator cause the battery to drain out?

 

[70rr-brian]

Depends on what kind of load you had on it. Ignition? Lights? Stereo? An alternator at idle may not be putting out enough amps to power what you need so the battery will be tapped for power when this happens.

That's assuming your alt is 100% healthy.

 

[1badgtx]

Even at low rpms the battery is charging,,If the battery is dieing a slow death it will not keep charge...It,s your battery man...
Petty Blue 67 gTx

 

[john.thompson068]

The only load aside from the ignition would have been from my tach and the lights for my three guages.

So, the alternator will still charge even at idle, and upgrading to a newer alternator will only increase the output from the alternator at idle and at cruising speed which will help when powering accessories such as electric fans, A/C, and stereo?

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

have you upgraded your voltage regulator to a solid state one or is it a original.
to tell casr up your car and turn on headlights in your gasrage if at idle your headlights dim and get bright when you give it gas you have an original regulator. that could be your problem.
and your battery is not xcharging when idling. its when you are driving it under load. when idling its just barely maintaining.

 

[john.thompson068]

I have an electronic voltage regulator that came with the electronic ignition conversion kit. I don't remember if the lights do that or not but will check it out once I get a battery hooked back up.

 

[Ron 73]

John it does sound like the battery, But you said it was in storage for a couple years so it wouldn't hurt to check all your connections for any corrosion or rust, If that is a battery that you can get to the cells on it id use a hydrometer to check each individual cell to see if there's weak ones..Or possibly one cell shorted. Good luck.

 

[YY1]

Will the car run with the battery disconnected?

 

[shag766]

Will the car run with the battery disconnected?

x2, at idle or revd up ?

 

[john.thompson068]

I didn't see if the car would run without the battery hooked up, but I did see that my lights do not get any brighter when revving it up so I must have the good regulator which allows for charging at idle. This is good because I just bought a new battery for it today. Now if only I could get the ignition to not die on me like I have posted about in my other thread.