here's the deal. I was making a hold down for my battery and the box (trunk mounted). When i put the battery back in I hooked up the cables by which side of the box they were on like an idiot! I hooked it up backwards, blew fusible link. I replaced the fusible link and my battery keeps draining. I had about 2 amps at the negative with everything off. I unhooked the plug to the voltage regualtor and it went down to the normal .02. I hooked it up to a different alternator that I know the regulator is good in, and it did the same thing, 1.5-2 amps. Here's the thing, if i jiggle the plug it will go back to .02 amps but the alternator won't charge, basically like the plug isn't even hooked up. Is the plug bad or what?
here's the deal. I was making a hold down for my battery and the box (trunk mounted). When i put the battery back in I hooked up the cables by which side of the box they were on like an idiot! I hooked it up backwards, blew fusible link. I replaced the fusible link and my battery keeps draining. I had about 2 amps at the negative with everything off. I unhooked the plug to the voltage regualtor and it went down to the normal .02. I hooked it up to a different alternator that I know the regulator is good in, and it did the same thing, 1.5-2 amps. Here's the thing, if i jiggle the plug it will go back to .02 amps but the alternator won't charge, basically like the plug isn't even hooked up. Is the plug bad or what?
I'm a bit confused here, but I'll try to wing it..
What car are we dealing with?
First, is this an internal or external regulator?
I think what you are saying is it is internal..And if so, you have reverse Biased the Regulator diodes with a mass of current (probably higher than the diode's PIV..) and damaged it..
Now it's drawing current in the forward bias direction under no load (leakage just sitting)
The 0.2 is NORMAL ..and a good thing..1.5 amps will net you a dead battery just sitting overnight..(as you probably found out..)
If your second alternator is drawing 2 amps , in addition to passably having a regulator on the way out..has an intermittent plug..Stay with the first..
You can test the alternator at the autoparts superstore for free, for a more definitive answer, but I would say the regulator is damaged..
For about $10 bucks you can buy an regulator pack and install it yourself, If , Otherwise the alternator has been good and reliable before..or you Can buy a "cheepie " rebuilt for about $30 and install it..but the fail rates are high on those , like 1 in 3 or 5...out of the box...it's up to you...
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Doc imp:
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