Ok I posted before about this but now I'm stuck. Basically my D3 is draining the battery. Some of you said that the alternator is bad. So, I installed a brand new alternator last night and it is happening again. Please help. Other than factory stuff, I have a viper alarm system and a v1 hardwired. What can cause this?

whats a v1?

listen, dont make another post, keep things organized.

as far as the d3 draining, i doubt its that. did you use an wire harness to connect it? or did you start splicing in or what?

if you used a harness, its really less likely its the d3, besides, you had a bad alternator, that needs to be checked first. i think this is a simple case of user error... using the vehicle, not just the head unit

valentine 1. and yes I used the crutchfield harness. So it is a bad alternator? I bought a new one and put it on.

what power source are you using for the valentine?

well, check the alternator output.. whats it showing?

maybe your v1 like misfit said. but id doubt a single radar detector not being used would do that.

depends on if he wired it to something hot. personally i dont think it could be the d3, radar, or alarm, unless one is really wired wrong

well an alarm, needs to be wired to constant.. a radar detector could be constant and really doesnt draw enough to cause this problem so quickly, and the d3 shouldnt be wired wrong since it used a harness. thats why its making me believe operator error.. operator of the vehicle.

I've had the alarm for 2 years w/o prob, so I don't think it's that. I have the radar wired to the rearview mirror compass source (not constant) and I just took the alternator to pepboys to test, and they said it's good. I'm gonna take the D3 out to see if maybe this is it.

try testing for a draw on your battery with the avic still hooked up, then try it with it disconnected and see if there is a difference

maybe have someone else do the draw test, it doesnt sound like you are able to do it, id hate for you to mess something up.

its just a voltmeter

you know that, i know that, but if he is having a hard time knowing what an alternator is suppose to put out, id doubt he would do it without damaging the voltmeter or something else.

your right, sometimes i forget not everyone spends all day doing this stuff

Isn't the alternator suppose to put out around 14? All I'm getting is around 11.95 with D3 hooked up and without. I'm stuck guys. Have no idea what else to look for.

thats the problem!

if the car is running, and you put the leads of your meter on the battery, it should be 14+ volts or so, if not then alternator is bad!!!

its not the d3

No Alternator is not bad. I took the new alternator I installed and my old one to Pepboys for them to test. They said both work perfectly fine.

Then check for loose/corroded terminals on the alt, the battery. In fact all of the grounds under the hood.

if you took both to be tested, im a little confused. why would you do that if you believed the first was bad? its clear you thought the first one was bad, that is why you bought the second one.

Also, didnt some place already tell you the first one was bad after checking it? if so, why not go back thee and complain as to why they told you it was bad when its not?

Checking the grounds and other cables is a good idea. But if they are checking your alternator at the battery, then there has to be something with their "check" system because how could it now be good? The only way is if the alternator is intermitently going out, which is entirely possible.

If you cant turn the d3 on unless the key is in, then its not the d3, plain and simple.

There is obviously more to this story then being told, the trouble shooting steps just arent making sense.

Update...I'm at one of my friends mechanic shop and we tested the alternator and it is good. But the thing is, the alternator itself is not getting sufficient power or something. There is a loose ground somewhere. Now we have to find it. Also, when I turn on the key, the battery light ad abs lights dont turn on initially. I guess it's suppose to. He also think I might have touched something when tapping into the VSS wire behind the cluster. Hopefully the problem will be resolved today.

Also, I took both alternator to test because the new one didn't seem like it worked. So might as well take both to test.

Thanks for all the help guys.

coool. hopefully all works out for you.

You guys will not believe what the problem was. Basically, I tapped into the Vss wire behing the gauge cluster. When I put the gauge back in, one of the plugs were not plugged in all the way. I guess the alternator is controlled by the ECU. It needs it to tell it how many volts it needs to put out. Which means it needs it to tell how much volts it is putting out initially. When the plug wasn't plugged in all the way, it wasn't getting a reading. When plugged in all the way, the alternator and battery both read 14+ on the voltmeter. As Borat would say, "Great Success".

Good information to know.

glad you figured it out!

I figured it was something behind the scenes you werent telling us/didnt know. good job