Topic: Charging Problems.
in Forum: C3 Electrical
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I have a charging problem. The bat light is lite and the battery drains when I tried to drive. The question is: On the positive cable at the battery, there are two additional wires coming off the positive cable that attach to plugs mounted to the side wall of the battery compartment. What are these for? One broke off (the top one) Dosn't seem to make a difference either way, connected or not, but I am sure that the Engineers felt a need for this otherwise they would have left it off.
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Most I have seen do not have the additional wires. If it becomes an issue, I will check the wiring diagrams. But is seems more likely that you have a charging system problem. I would start looking at the alternator and connections.
Those extra wires on the positive cable generally are for adding accessories that need a direct feed. So instead of getting creative in trying to attach a hot lead to the battery and potentially messing up the terminal connector you just splice into one of those extra wires. Norsky 38398.4690972222
Jim Olson 
"The Toys"...!!! Save the Wave! 
I should clarify my answer. I have often seen the wires on many cars, and often with aftermarket cables. I just have not seen them on our cars going to a connector in the battery compartment. Sounds like it was added for accessories.
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I'm with Ken on this one. Sounds like someone has added some extra terminals for some accessory, possibly a stereo amp, fuel pump, or such. If you're not sure where they go, I would disconnect them, and see if the batt. drain is gone. Whatever their intended purpose, they are definitly NOT factory terminals. Try to look under the car and see if you can trace where they go, and if a wire might be pinched or shorted out against the exhaust, or wrapped around the driveshaft! Sounds like there is a short somewhere in the system, and you don't need to find out the hard way, by using a fire extinguisher! 
Joel Adams
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Bad Alternator. What confused the issue for me is the fact is that the alt went bad during the installation of a new 700R4 trans. I though I may have screwed up and researched the issue thinking I did something to the charging system. Autozone thought I was crazy when I was happy the alternator was bad.
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in Forum: C3 Electrical
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