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2016 gmc sierra low charge voltage fixed


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So I recently finished up my system in my truck I have 4 sundown 8's under the seat with all deaf bonce silvester door speakers and crescendo horn tweets in the dash running off a skar 150.4 and hifonics brutus running 1600w rms @1ohm all 0 gauge wiring and big 3 however it seemed like as soon as I added my xsd5100 second battery my voltage was acting weird and would start out at 14.6 when you fire it up but drop down in the 12 range when driving unless I had my headlights on then it would sit around 13.5 so I did all the searching and found out about the regulated voltage control theyve had on these trucks for years and I figured it was normal and to just accept it.

I got to thinking and the way I had connected my second battery was 0 gauge across to main battery for power and ground straight to frame so I thought well maybe the factory metering clamp isnt able to see all the current draw because I ran my second battery ground straight to the frame so technically everything could just bypass the clamp

Well sure enough that was the case

What I did

 

I ran my ground for the second battery straight to the main battery neg post

Then I came off with another 0 gauge from the main battery neg post to a smd distribution block and put the factory metering clamp over that cable feeding the block then all the rest of my ground go straight to the distro block my frame ground engine ground alt ground body ground 

After this with headlights off blower off and stereo on I dont drop any lower then 13.5 full tilt 

When music is turned down it sits at 14.4 at idle and some moments would climb up to 15.3 I'm assuming batteries might be low since they were not getting a proper charge

So the moral of the story is you need to make sure all your ground paths are bottle necked essentially so that they can be passed through the meter clamp I know that sounds bad but you could fit up to a 2/0 or maybe even a little more for me just 1/0 gauge feeding all my grounds seems to do fine for now but I will be going a little bigger later down the road

Not sure if its possible to take the factory meter clamp apart and make it bigger to fit over larger cable maybe someone else can try that but figured I would share this since I couldnt seem to find this solution anywhere else most people either tell you to unplug the meter clamp completely or get a second alternator that's internally regulated I will include a very crude diagram of how its wired to make it easier to understand 

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Nice. I'm battling voltage now on my truck. Not sure how I want to go about it. Running a DD m2a so a underrated 2k at .67 LOL. Voltage hog right now. I need to figure out an alternator solution. But I'm not sure how that works with the voltage reg clamp on the ground.

18 Sierra 6.2 Z71 : 3 F8L's, DD M2a @.67, 1.95@33

05 TL build log SOLD

04 YukonXL : jvc kw-v51bt , RE 6.5c, 4 jbl gt5 12s, Memphis pr1000.1 5.5 cu.ft. sealed

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Actually 05 and up gm use the battery current sensor to regulate voltage when needed. You are charging high now which could damage the battery. if you run the new negative cable through the sensor.  Just turn your headlights on and you'll charge in the mid to high 14s

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3 minutes ago, YukonXL04 said:

Nice. I'm battling voltage now on my truck. Not sure how I want to go about it. Running a DD m2a so a underrated 2k at .67 LOL. Voltage hog right now. I need to figure out an alternator solution. But I'm not sure how that works with the voltage reg clamp on the ground.

I just ordered a 250 amp hairpin from ces.  I had tracking the same say.  Gm alternators are usually next day out thing 

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Just now, ToNasty said:

I just ordered a 250 amp hairpin from ces.  I had tracking the same say.  Gm alternators are usually next day out thing 

You think a 250 and a extra batt will do the trick? So when running the 250, is it plug and play with stock?

Does it no longer fluctuate voltage like the stock does?

What do you recommend I do for wiring?

And what did that 250 cost if you dont mind sharing?

18 Sierra 6.2 Z71 : 3 F8L's, DD M2a @.67, 1.95@33

05 TL build log SOLD

04 YukonXL : jvc kw-v51bt , RE 6.5c, 4 jbl gt5 12s, Memphis pr1000.1 5.5 cu.ft. sealed

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4 minutes ago, YukonXL04 said:

You think a 250 and a extra batt will do the trick? So when running the 250, is it plug and play with stock?

Does it no longer fluctuate voltage like the stock does?

What do you recommend I do for wiring?

And what did that 250 cost if you dont mind sharing?

On these trucks it will always fluctuate.  It's the battery current sensor.  It's what it's supposed to do. the large case 250 from ces is a direct bolt on. No new belt needed. Just bolt in and go.  It does 180 ish at idle. mine will be here in a few days.  Coming from Ohio.  

 

Your setup. 2k watt amp.  A 250 and an extra battery is more than enough 

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26 minutes ago, ToNasty said:

On these trucks it will always fluctuate.  It's the battery current sensor.  It's what it's supposed to do. the large case 250 from ces is a direct bolt on. No new belt needed. Just bolt in and go.  It does 180 ish at idle. mine will be here in a few days.  Coming from Ohio.  

 

Your setup. 2k watt amp.  A 250 and an extra battery is more than enough 

Ok thanks alot. That will be my next step

18 Sierra 6.2 Z71 : 3 F8L's, DD M2a @.67, 1.95@33

05 TL build log SOLD

04 YukonXL : jvc kw-v51bt , RE 6.5c, 4 jbl gt5 12s, Memphis pr1000.1 5.5 cu.ft. sealed

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1 hour ago, YukonXL04 said:

Nice. I'm battling voltage now on my truck. Not sure how I want to go about it. Running a DD m2a so a underrated 2k at .67 LOL. Voltage hog right now. I need to figure out an alternator solution. But I'm not sure how that works with the voltage reg clamp on the ground.

Hell yea haha deff gonna be a hog lol yea mine seems to run just fine with the dual battery just make sure when you do it that all the grounds run through one point so that the current cant bypass the factory clamp that's what causes it to charge low because it's not sensing the current the amp is drawing 

As long as you do this the truck should ajust the charge output like it's supposed to 

I thought about upgrading my alt soon to one of the big mech man alts I checked with them already and even they dont have a way to bypass the voltage regulator setup but as long as it can properly sense all the current draw it should ajust the output correctly 

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1 hour ago, ToNasty said:

Actually 05 and up gm use the battery current sensor to regulate voltage when needed. You are charging high now which could damage the battery. if you run the new negative cable through the sensor.  Just turn your headlights on and you'll charge in the mid to high 14s

That's sort of how I had it before but there was still a ground path bypassing the clamp but It is still fairly early so I will check back and update how its doing but so.far so good it's not dropping crazy low like it was 

Before with headlights off and music up it would sometimes sit around 12 or 11.8 ridiculously low alt basically off lol

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