Battery wont charge

Hello all, New to the site, And in desperate need of some help...
Here's whats going on, I just bought my 86' grand am, Its got a rebuilt engine out of an 87' grand am, The guy I just bought the car from bought a brand new alternator and battery for the car, I'm "assuming" he hooked it all up correctly, considering it was doing this before too...
Its been doing this ever since the engine was put in, So i'm assuming something is hooked up wrong, Not hooked up or theres a short somewhere... Anyone able to give me any advice or suggestions ? Anything is greatly appreciated... I'm used to honda's and have never ran into this problem anyway, So "anything" is great :) .
Thanks in advance !

Have you verified that all connections are correct? Have you checked to make sure its a good battery and a good alternator?

Yes indeed, I have double checked both the battery and the alternator, He even handed me receipts for them both, which were both purchased within the last couple weeks, And I know the guy pretty well, The alternator is hooked up correctly, It was doing it with the old alternator aswell, So I dunno if its in the harness, If there's just a random wire shorting it out, or maybe an inline fuse or something ? Thats what I need help with, is some alternate stuff to check, Again, Any and all replies are greatly appreciated, Thanks all :) .

Go to a auto parts shop. Most of them should have a meter to check the amps and volts. They will know what to do. This way you can make sure it is charging adequatly or not enough, or too much.

Thats just it, Its "not" charging, At all... I'm trying to get a book on it , just to go through and "triple" check everything, But from my knowledge, its all hooked up correctly, and just " is not " charging .

Its pooched toast caput , buy a new one so you dont boil and blow up the crappy battery by trying to charge it over and over. When a delco runs dead its only a matter of time before it stops holding a charge.

Alright, I just went and had both the alternator and the battery tested, They are both "GOOD" ... Basically however the power is suppose to be getting back to the battery, Its not... And I dont know what to even look for now... Anyone able to tell me how to go about fixing this ? Any help is greatly appreciated, Thanks :) .

First of all check to make sure you do not have a drain on the battery that is discharging it faster than it will recharge. You can do this by disconnecting the negative battery cable and putting either a volt meter or a test light between the post and the cable. If you have a draw on the system the meter will show 12 to 13 volts indicating you either have a light on that you don't see or you have a dead short and you will have to eliminate everyting to find it. You will show a few amps because the computer will draw some but only a few milliamps when everything else is off. Check the trunk, glove box and vanity mirrors as these are the usual culprits. If that doesn't show anything then replace the negative wire and start the car. Remove the wire, if the car dies then there is a problem with the alternator circuit, if it continues to run then check the main ground from the battery and also the battery cables. They sometimes go bad internally and you will not see any problems but they can cause the problems you describe.

Alright, Feeling kind of stupid... I went and bought a new alternator anyway... Starting looking at it... And the thicker red wire thats plugged into the spot on the alternator labeled BAT. , I followed it down and it comes to a little round tube like box in the wire, and turns into a dark gray wire, and then is connected to the starter on the same spot where the negative battery cable is hooked up... And ... Well isn't that wrong ? Anyone want to explain if this wire is suppose to be directly hooked to the battery ? or where it goes ? Please... I'm feeling really dumb right now, anything is great... Thanks all .

Ok... Its all fixed... Sorry for the stupidity all heh... Thanks for all your help :) . And now i've run into a new problem, So i'm gonna do another post. Thanks again all :D .