Discharging Battery

[Caparco]

I recently did the ammeter by-pass, and thought it was a pretty good job, scratching my head in question a little on the blue wire to the voltage regulator, I ran that wire to the relay, per order of my kit instructions. Seemed ok, but over charging is definitely not my issue.
  Something is draining the battery ,car off or while running.
  With the jumper cables on from my truck and running I'm at a good 13+v's
Once I disconnect, I can just watch it drop.
11.87----11.86--- 11.85-- 11.84 etc etc
Pop the lights on and in speeds up! .30-- .20--- 10.97 v's
Now for the confusing part. Had the battery tested, they said it was fine, under 5 months old no need for replacement.
Took the alternator back to the guy who rebuilt it, a very excellent armiture shop, dealing only in that system. He bench tested it, he said it's working fine. But also mentioned it works with a un attached regulator.
Get a second opinion on the alternator?.. or Battery?
  Or start this hunt for the thing drawing life out of the battery..
If so any one have a handy systematic system that simplifies this daunting task.
Thanks so much

[Rich G.]

Disconnect the negative battery cable and connect a test light to the negative battery terminal and the disconnected negative cable. If it lights up something is drawing power. Start unplugging things until the test light goes off. Then you'll know what is drawing the power.

[Chryco Psycho]

The Blue wire under hood is the switched 12 v feed to the alternator / regulator & ign , it should Not be connected to the start relay but to the ign switch inside the car so it turns off with the key .

[Caparco]

Well there lies the problem then! So I hooked it up wrong, my ignition switch is stuck in the on position.
I know the arrow shows it coming out of the relay , but when I used the VR wire from the bulkhead connector it seem more to go IN to 86 and out at 30

[Chryco Psycho]

If you are using a a relay that is Ok the way the wiring is shown in the diagram .
the relay will open the circuit with the Key turned off .

[Caparco]

Ok, sorry a little confused.
If I pull the feed. It originally came out of the bulkhead connector, so I have to splice a new wire up to the alternator feed and the automatic choke? Like this?.. before or after the VR?

[MoparLeo]

Bypassing the Ammeter does not require a "kit"  What "kit" did you install ? The more details we have the easier it is to "guess" what the problem is.

[Caparco]

I used MAD-electrical kit. Mark Hamilton is a great guy! This I did well, then, only after I'm able to do this, "remote voltage- senceing" to make the VR regulate voltage at the main junction (starter-relay, in my case) so it whole system can follow that flow rather just the alternator. But this is what I did to answer your question.

[MoparLeo]

Thanks. A much better illustration on what you were dealing with.

[Caparco]

Put light between negitive cable and terminal, no light! Can I put a meter here instead? There should always be some small draw off the battery right?
I also rewired it a little and made sure the blue feed wire went directly to the relay and the wire to the voltage regulator from the relay was undisturbed, branched the outgoing wire from the VR to the alternator and automatic choke on the carburetor as shown. Still nothing , draining power like crazy still, but seems to be more only when the car is running.

[Caparco]

New try

[Chryco Psycho]

With these old cars the only thing that will draw power when they are shut off is the clock or a radio memory if it has a modern radio , so no there should be virtually no draw as for why it is drawing power while running it would depend on the total Alt output vs the amount of accessories being powered , I have seen a lot of cars that draw more then the Alt will put out when modern additions such as electric fuel pumps & fans & EFI computers etc

[JS29]

When did ma'mopar  start using side mount battery terminals?     

[Chryco Psycho]

A full charged battery should hold at 13.4 v , running you should have 14.3 approx

[Caparco]

All I have "modern" is the radio, which I disconnected. To rule that out. No fans, EFI, So just the stock clock.. but I don't even think that's hooked up, not worried if it was, would be insignificant. I remember last night I jumped it to start up. Once I put the lights on, it died. And wouldn't restart, dead battery.
  I have never seen #s like your talking! 13+ only while jumper cables are on it, but that would be my trucks reading. Once jumper cables off, it's 11.89 and on the speedy descend. Never seen 14!
  So I'm gonna have to say they are wrong about the alternator. That is what my tests are showing the problem lies.