2002 Sonata Trunk Thinks It's Open

You mounted an amplifier over the trunk lamp? Did you use self tapping screws? Maybe you damaged the wiring harness.

Its a small Amp, I only used Zip Ties and double sided tape to hold it in place

R06 is the trunk lamp switch, R12 is the solenoid;

I suppose I could try disconnecting MR01 and see if it shuts off, if it doesn’t then its probably further up the line. Do you happen to have a diagram showing how it travels to the front of the car?

Many years ago I drove my 1981 RX-7 into a nearby neighborhood that had multiple speed bumps. Every time I drove over one I got a buzz-buzz. When I got to my destination which required removing cargo from the back I discovered the glass hatch was not secured.

The draw from the trunk light wouldn’t have anything to do with the alternator going bad.

Alternators are not designed to recharge a battery, If It was recharging the battery for long enough It could kill an alternator

If the car started without difficulty, the battery wasn’t significantly drained and there was no undue strain on the alternator. The alternator likely died a natural death, if there is such a thing for an alternator.

Seems a bit coincidental that both issues would arise at the same time but be unrelated. I suppose the odds of winning the power ball are still less likely.

Well, you did state the alternator was a cheap one. Alternators ARE designed to recharge batteries, just not severely discharged ones on a frequent basis.

It might be possible that a trunk-ajar condition could prevent some electronic gadget in the car – like the body control module for example – from going to sleep after the key is turned off. Which would then draw phantom current from the battery.

It’s relatively easy for a shop to test how much phantom current is being drawn. I’d start there if you think phantom current is discharging the battery and therefore putting extra load on our alternator. An alternator should have no difficulty recharging a semi-discharged battery on a daily-driver basis, but recharging a totally dead battery could indeed put enough of an extra load that could lead to an early alternator demise. Especially if this were happening frequently.