I put a new alternator on my car but set up under the car and its not charging the battery. The car also dies when I disconnect the battery. I get no power out of the main stud when running but do get power out of the harness clip. I noticed that the clamp on the wire I connected to the stud was almost touching the housing. May have arced, shorted out, and fried the regulator? The alternator shaft is magnetized when running too.

 

From what you describe, it sounds like the alt is not charging. To validate, take the alt out & have it tested. I really haven't seen a wire arc to ground unless it touched ground. Check around the stud for a burn mark.
Corky

 

It looked like it was touching, but obviously wasnt or the wire would be fried and the battery would have been dead when I went to start it. I cant think of any other reason. The battery was pretty dead when I put the alternator on and started it a while back, and a tag that came with it said not to do that, but I ignored it. Maybe that fried it.

 

check your alternator fuse, we had the same problem on my freinds GTA, he thought it was a bad alternator but it was actually a bad fuse, it should be on the inside fuse block under the dash by your pedals

 

Well I checked for power right at the source so I doubt thats it, but it could be blown anyway, I'll check it.