My battery keeps draining!

[Justinjob]

I finished my internally regulated alternator conversion, but the problem comes with the volt gauge hookup. Without the gauge hooked up, the battery does not drain. It must be the way I hooked up the two wires that go to it under the hood. I spliced the 4a fused black wire to the battery junction box just like stock, and then I hooked up the 4a fused black/white wire to the ignition switched brown wire-which is also hooked up to the white wire on the alternator pigtail. Why would this drain my battery, and how should I rectify this problem?

[JimKshortstep4x4]

When you hooked the volt meter to the brown switched wire and the fused battery wire you created a voltage to the internal regulator. the regulator will than behave as if you have the switch on.

I would suggest connecting minus side of the volt meter to ground, leaving the positive side hooked to the battery. If you want the meter switched, you can hook the positive side to the switched ignition on the fuse panel, but you will want to fuse it at 4a as you have done on the other wiring.


Jim

[Justinjob]

What I want to do is just hook the gauge up the way it was stock. What I get from what you're telling me, is that the black wire goes to the junction box (I'm pretty sure that is the way it's supposed to go), and the black/white wire is supposed to be grounded. Is that true?

[JimKshortstep4x4]

I may have missed something in your original post. I assumed that you have an after market volt meter. If the voltage gauge is stock, than you will want to hook it up as stock. I am not sure if the aftermarket will work in the stock hookup as the stock gauge reads voltage caused by resistance in the wire. In the stock hookup, the two wires hook to the main feed on either side of the radiator, so the gauge will read the difference in voltage caused by the resistance in the wire.


Jim