Battery Gauge Always On..... Is that normal?

[280zwitha383]

Well I was wondering if you guys can help me out once again. My battery gauge is always on and I'm assuming this is what has been draining my battery or atleast contributing to it. I have a fairly fresh swap so I'm guessing I wired something up wrong causing the gauge not to shut off. I have a one wire alternator that I originally just ran straight to the battery. I was surprised when I first got the engine running because I knew I hadn't connected anything for the gauge to work and I just recently noticed that it's always on (all my other gauges turn off with the ignition). Tonight I connected the blue wire for the light on the battery gauge and I also connected the stock battery wire that is supposed to go to the output on the alternator (a large gauge white wire). I was hoping this might resolve my issue, but the battery gauge is still on all the time. As it is I have almost none of the stock wiring hooked up to the engine. I have a set of relays hooked up to an ignition-switched wire and these relays run my choke, hei, and radiator fan. Just tonight I have wired my tach to the distributor and hooked the alternator up like the JTR manual describes. Any suggestions? This is all of course assuming that the battery gauge should not be on all the time, if it should then please tell me so I'll stop trying to get it to turn off. My last resort will be to wire a relay to the meter so it will only come on with the ignition on. Thanks for any input.

[Datsun660z]

Yes.

 

I don't know what year your car is, But in my 76 280Z It is always on " And has been sense 1991 when I bought the car HAHAHAHA "

[jbc3]

I noticed the same thing and I did not like the thing on all the time, so I re-wired it to a different circuit so it is only on when the key is on.