The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Electrical problems on a 64

I have been doing some work on the 64 and now have a Charging issue. When running, the battery tester is reading 11.8V at idle. the alternator is new (Leece-Neville 60 Amp with voltage adjust)and is 1 wire(to positive on battery)and is internally regulated. A lead is coming off the same positive post on the alternator and leads into the cab on the ignition switch. The HEI, Accesories, Dash, and solenoid jumper go into the switch. I am using a 67-72 switch, and all connections are plugged into their labeled spades accordingly. The only other thing I have done is rebuild the headlight switch. Is there any way if the switch is built wrong, it will take a small draw off the battery? For the past week, the cranking has become slower and slower until yesterday when It stopped, not even a click. Now today it still does it. I have a new battery. Also the battery tester needle does not move when I whack the gas, it just stays at 11.8. Also the alternator has a negative post, does that need to be grounded to charge??? I was told that you need an ammeter to show the charging and that is the problem, but would like other advice.
Any help would be appreciated,
Vince

I believe the Leece-Neville units are insulated so they can be used on either polarity, so the negative terminal will need a ground wire the same size as the one you're using on the + terminal. You should definitely be at 13 volts or more to recharge the batery, going up to about 14.5 as the full-charge capacity of the battery is reached. A fully-charged battery will read about 12.6 volts at rest, with all current draw removed. Parasitic drain, with all circuits turned off, should be 1/10 amp or less.
Jerry

Parasitic drain?
Elaborate please, bear with me, I am not a pro with automotive wiring.

that means a clock/radio anything that needs battery power to keep running when the ignition is off.

A car advice column in the paper writen by 2 brothers say's that some late model cars will drain the bat down setting for 2 weeks.I can't imagine that. I let them set for months & go out & start them right up.

Old Click and Clack are "legends in their own minds"! They're all about yamdankee sarcasm, and short on real advice! They ALWAYS go for the smart-donkey remark, and seldom, if ever fully explain their answers.

"Parasitic drain" is any constant current draw from a battery from self-discharge across a moist, dirty battery top to the keep-alive circuits in the memory of an engine control computer, a radio with electronic memory for the selector buttons, etc. One of the BIG culprits is a self-leveling suspension system with a seep leak- - - - -the battery powered air compressor will keep running and trying to maintain the correct ride height. My wife's Explorer will kill the battery in about two days if she parks it in a nose-up attitude and the self-leveler tries to keep raising the rear end. I'm sure there's a seep leak somewhere in the air shock system.

On vehicles without all those electronics, the most common cause of chronic battery drain is an alternator diode that allows a slight, constant drain of battery current back through itself to ground anytime the alternator isn't charging.
Jerry

Hotrod, thanks for that. I found Out I had fried the alternator, and smoked my other one. Guess its time to go back to the stocker.
Anything on Light switch cleaning? I have to jam mine a couple times for it to work, also dash lights, they are very dim. LED?

By the time the contacts in the light switch get to that point, it's better to replace it, not tinker with it. There's a dimmer resistor that controls the dash light brightness by turning the knob through almost one full turn, and it also turns the dome light on and off. This resistor will also get replaced, as it's part of the light switch assembly. Don't forget about checking the dimmer switch, as the current to power the headlights also passes through that one on the way to the lights.
Jerry

Also, when my truck is running, the fuel gauge freaks out. It will be reading half, then jump all over really fast. What would be the cause of that?

VOLTAGE REGULATOR