Only 10.5 volts after I moved the silinoid. Help

A66Auto · Mar 29, 2004

Here is what I did and here is the problem.
I moved my silenoid and battery to the trunk. I ran the wires to the back for the car by extending the wires with the same gauge wire and mounted the silenoid onto the clean surface inside of the wheel well in my trunk. The battery is right next to the solenoid.

The problem is that my car is only running at 10.5 volts. It starts fine. It will rise to 12-14 when I give it gas, but at idle it is only at 10.5. If I turn on my lights the engine starts to stumble and if I hit the bights it kills the car.

I tested the Alternator and it was fine. I have a new voltage regulator and the connections where I extended the wires are fine. The battery has a good ground thru the trunk to the sub frame the rear springs are attached to. The engine is grounded with the wire to the firewall and another battery gauge wire to the frame in the front.

Can someone give me some help? Thanks

Alex

zookeeper · Mar 30, 2004

Hi Alex, I'm no electrician, but hopefully I can offer a little help. I think your problem lies in the fact you used the same guage wire for your relocation as was used for the stock setup. As wire gets longer, the resistance value goes up as well. Try to think of it as an air or water hose, the longer the hose, the less pressure you will see at the end for the same pressure up front. The rest of your setup sounds great, and I think you've taken the right steps to insure your regulator and alternator are working right. Try stepping up the wire size (battery cables, too) and I'll bet your problem goes away. But before you spend any money just on my feeble word, find a good alternator and starter shop and ask what they think. Hope this helps,
Jim

slick761 · Mar 30, 2004

hes right. If you have everything hooked up the same and ur havin an electrical prob, the wire guage is most likely ur culprate. Im majoring in electrical engineering and even though hes not an electrician, hes hittin the nail on the head. Electricity encounters resistance. The longer its path the more resistance/heat. When you run electricity for a distance it simmers out and begins to heat up and dissapate. You probably just need to run larger guage wires. however if its too large guage you lose "velocity" you just need to drop a couple guage sizes and find the happy medium. Look around on the internet for more info

pabear89 · Mar 30, 2004

zookeeper said:
Hi Alex, I'm no electrician, but hopefully I can offer a little help. I think your problem lies in the fact you used the same guage wire for your relocation as was used for the stock setup. As wire gets longer, the resistance value goes up as well. Try to think of it as an air or water hose, the longer the hose, the less pressure you will see at the end for the same pressure up front. The rest of your setup sounds great, and I think you've taken the right steps to insure your regulator and alternator are working right. Try stepping up the wire size (battery cables, too) and I'll bet your problem goes away. But before you spend any money just on my feeble word, find a good alternator and starter shop and ask what they think. Hope this helps,
Jim

He's just been grabbing to many Hot wires,
But his reply is correct. For the distance you have moved the battery,
step down 2 guages in wire size. stock 16ga then go to 14 or 12ga.
PB

A66Auto · Mar 30, 2004

Cool, thanks. I will try to rewire it as soon as I can with larger wire and see what happens. Thank you

Only 10.5 volts after I moved the silinoid. Help

A66Auto

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pabear89

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A66Auto

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Only 10.5 volts after I moved the silinoid. Help

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