Long story short, I have an electrical drain. Had it since I got the car, but never bothered trying to sort it out. I've had other priorities. I had a thread on this a while back but can't manage to find it.

Now, I've checked the obvious and managed to trace it to the alternator signal wire. When plugged in, I have a drain. Enough to kill the battery over night. I've had the ALT tested and checked out okay. I was thinking a stuck diode, but tests show other wise. I pulled it and inspected it and found that it's a re manufactured (label on the side says so) stock ALT and after tracking down some info on the alt, it would appear that it is most likely internally regulated. My question is, could my drain be a result of using an internally regulated ALT on an externally regulated system? I mean, the B310 is externally regulated right?


If so, how do I go about removing the external regulator?

Any suggestions?

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North American B310s are internally regulated.

Wait til tonight when us Norteños have a chance to respond in depth. Only the aussies have been active so far today.

Oh dang.. that blows. Thought I finally found the drain.

While on the topic.. What's the main difference between the '80 Coupe and '81 Hatch in dash electronics? I got a dash harness from Evan(EDP) to replace my hacked up spaghetti and it seems to be a good bit different. Doesn't have that 40MPH amplifier (yellow box thingy) OR a harness for the tach.. Seems kind of odd.

What's the difference? I doubt if any one knows.

However, most cars have slightly different wiring from one year to the next. Even the B110 added a few wires every year.

Also in the same year, different trim levels usually have different harness. B110 STD and B110 DX use significantly different harnesses.

Finally, Coupe and Sedan harnesses are slightly different. Often in the tachometer wiring ...

For the B310, the Coupe is the hatchback. The other body types are: 4-dr sedan, 2-dr sedan, and Wagon. In most other countries they also had a VB310 Van (which is not a "panel van" but a full glass station wagon with a different back end from the WB310 Wagon).

Quote:

Just to make sure we are talking about the same thing: When you disconnect this plug the battery drain does not occur?

This T-connector from the Datsun 210 alternator:

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  Alternator T-connector.jpg (14.96 KB)

Yes, that is correct. It's an 8.8MA drain if i remember correctly.

I doubt if the alternator test checks the lamp circuit problem. They just check for power output an diodes.

There is a replaceable voltage regulator inside that alternator. It controls the voltage + the lamp circuit.

A reman alternator is $60

The voltage regulator is $31

So you think maybe the regulator could be bad? I didn't know it was on the lamp circuit. How can I test it to be sure it is or is not the problem?