Toyota Repair: 1991 Toyota Cor, negative battery cable, alternator tester

Question
WE have replaced the alternator 2 in the past year. the first one was brand new and the second one was used out of the same type of Toyota.  About every 6 weeks the car dies, nothing works, not even the directional.  The wiring to the radio and speakers have been disconnected from the first time and still this keeps happening.  Now again this just happened and we had to call for a tow, the tow came and jumped the battery the car started drove about 6 - 7 miles and it died. Called for the second tow and it would not start. they towed us.  Now the car sat for about an hour and it then started. However there is now a grinding noise.  the second alternator is only 3 or so months old.  Could there be something drawing on this to cause this to happen ever 6 weeks?

Answer
Either the alternator is not charging the battery or there is an excessive current draw on the battery, the alternator should be tested in the car under an electrical load induced by an alternator tester to see if the alternator can charge the battery with at least 60 amps under a load condition at about 2000 rpm. A current draw can be checked by connecting an amp meter between the disconnected negative battery cable and the neg battery post, a current draw greater than 1/2 amp is considered to be exessive.