dead battery?

[gophrsplatter]

i have a 96 240sx and the last couple months i've had it, it takes awhile to start up and sometimes dies when the car has been sitting for a long time, i was driving tonight and all of the sudden all the lights dimmed for a second and then my battery light came on and the strange thing is so did my e-brake light but the brake was all the way down...i shut the car off and started it a couple more times and the 2 lights keep coming on and staying on...could this be a dead battery or maybe the alternator?

[NISTECH]

altenators dead replace it.

[gophrsplatter]

i was hoping it was the battery...i've had to replace a alternator before in a sentra and nissan cars all suck b/c i have big hands and they leave just enough room for a wrench...anyone know where i can get a good alternator for under $100

[Q45tech]

Never put a newish [new or remanned] alternator on a dead or weak battery as the sustained charge current may destroy the diodes in the newish alternator.

Alternators are not designed to recharge dead or bad batteries while supplying current to run the car!

If battery is more than 2.5 years old [especially in Florida] [heat] swap at same time.

Testing quick failure alternators shows this to be the problem 80% of time......except on inexpensive remans which use inferior speced diodes.