Alternator woes…

[euroZ06]

So as i posted before, i got a new alternator with dual pulleys. The vendor recommended a high output one. I installed everything and it was making a howling sound. They recommended installing an additional battery cable to the side post of the alternator (i have a plug on the back of it, and a side post, which has wires going to the firewall box/instruments). After i installed this additional battery cable, my alt meter is not working properly (it barely moves, sometimes goes below zero, sometimes a bit above, but no reaction to gas pedal), my pressure gauge is also very lethargic. I do have additional aftermarket gauges which work fine (accurate). Furthermore, my windshield wipers/washer has also stopped working.

I have a feeling that because i ran a thick battery cable from the sidepost, it started putting out a lot move V from it, which burned out some of my components. Or what could be the cause? I very clearly asked this vendor if this high output alternator will burn anything up, they said no.

Everything was working fine before with the previous alternator.... I could never have imagined such a headache from all of this... 

[b5blue]

Alt. output to battery bypasses ALT gauge sort of.  Show pics of exactly what Alt. you had and what you bought and what is hooked up now. 

[euroZ06]

Im away from computer now, but in my other post ive posted pictures of it. It appears that the alternator i had before was the same brand as the one i received. It has a plug in the back and a side post. The plug had 3 wires, two of which were hooked up (one going to the battery, but a small one). The side post has a few wires (3 if i recall), all of which run to the top panel on the firewall (that panel has lots of wires, some of which appear to go to the gauge cluster). The vendor told me i need to upgrade the battery cable, and run it from the sidepost to the battery. I havent disconnected any wores/changed any wires, i just added a thick (4GA) wire to the sidepost and ran it directly to the battery (as the vendor clearly recommended).

[b5blue]

IF ya got a "one wire ALT." IDK how to help ya.

[LaOtto70Charger]

Do you have a multimeter? If not I recommend getting one. Check voltage at the battery when idling. Note the speed if possible. Increase speed to 1200 or 1500 rpm. Check the same. If above 15 question things. If you get the right multimeter you can also check dc current. Check at the same speeds. May want to go back to old wiring and alternator and check again.  See what changes.  You could also check voltage at gages and verify not over voltage.

[euroZ06]

The voltage is 14.4 or so at the battery.

Im also concerned that running a wire straight to the battery could explode it... no?

[58pwrwgn]

Your ammeter doesn't work properly because you have bypassed it when you added a wire to the battery.  In stock form to power from the alternator flows through the bulk head connector at the firewall to to ammeter.  This setup is probably only good for  for the power output of the stock alternator, assuming no corrosion  at the different connectors along the way.  Sound like your aftermarket gage may be a volt meter.

[euroZ06]

I didn't remove any wires... so all the wires I had prior are still going to the firewall to their connections. I only added a wire to the battery (per vendor recommendation).

[b5blue]

The ALT gauge reads between the battery and the ALT. By running an extra wire to the battery from the ALT. the gauge just reads the same voltage.