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Old Feb 1, 2016 | 08:14 AM
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Default Xj battery issues

When I'm driving my jeep with heater on and have my lights on as well they run off a relay my volt gauges goes down when I'm at a complete stop. Once I start driving off it goes back to number but sits a little under the 14 mark any ideas why this is happening.
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Old Feb 1, 2016 | 08:27 AM
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Originally Posted by 97xjCO
When I'm driving my jeep with heater on and have my lights on as well they run off a relay my volt gauges goes down when I'm at a complete stop. Once I start driving off it goes back to number but sits a little under the 14 mark any ideas why this is happening.

Huh?
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Old Feb 1, 2016 | 08:37 AM
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Originally Posted by CCKen
Huh?
Allow me to translate...

Originally Posted by 97xjCO
When I'm idling with the heater and lights on, the voltmeter dips to an unusually low reading.Once I accelerate it goes back to a more suitable reading but still sits a little under the 14 volt mark. Any ideas why this is happening?
That should be a little easier on the brain.
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Old Feb 1, 2016 | 08:42 AM
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Hey thanks I was halfway awake when posting this haha
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Old Feb 1, 2016 | 08:51 AM
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Exactly how low does it read, and did it just recently start doing this? When multiple accessories are being ran (especially the heater/AC), the power draw will be substantially more than running no accessories. Perhaps your alternator is on the way out, although I believe they either work or fail, I've never had one slowly go out. Won't hurt to have it checked out, and check the battery while you're at it.
Are your headlights stock? Any work on the factory wiring or is everything stock?
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Old Feb 1, 2016 | 11:59 AM
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[QUOTE=jay_sco;3207065]Exactly how low does it read, and did it just recently start doing this? When multiple accessories are being ran (especially the heater/AC), the power draw will be substantially more than running no accessories. Perhaps your alternator is on the way out, although I believe they either work or fail, I've never had one slowly go out. Won't hurt to have it checked out, and check the battery while you're at it.

My headlights run off a relay and it has been doing this lately when the cold came around. I'm gonna be replacing all battery wires to bigger gauges and replace alternator with a 136 amp.
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Old Feb 1, 2016 | 03:45 PM
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#1
Check Serpentine belt deflection
#2
How old is your battery?
#3
Have your alternator load tested (good time to do the 136 or 160amp upgrade)
#4
Replace the charging/starting harness (This is good to do anyways and should be done an on any cherokee)
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Old Feb 1, 2016 | 09:33 PM
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Originally Posted by WyoCherokee
#1
Check Serpentine belt deflection
#2
How old is your battery?
#3
Have your alternator load tested (good time to do the 136 or 160amp upgrade)
#4
Replace the charging/starting harness (This is good to do anyways and should be done an on any cherokee)
So when getting another alternator for upgrading do I want a pulley with 5 or 6 lines. Also the charging and starting harness are you referring to upgrading the wires
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Old Feb 1, 2016 | 09:43 PM
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I recently had a similar issue when I had my defroster on high heat with and without headlights. The issue wound up being a bad external ground on the outside of the compressor. I cleaned it up and using a meter set to ohms read a dead short between the ground and the battery, no more voltage drops.
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Old Feb 2, 2016 | 08:47 AM
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Cliff can be right on many of the times, poor connections.
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