Dead battery, Alternator problem or just a junk battery?
 

Took a drive to the store. Everything was normal then I saw the battery light come on real faint (almost barely noticeable.) So I shut everything off (radio, heater, Sirius, heated seat) and kept driving. The light went away for a bit came back then went away. Each time real real faint. Got home parked it cleaned the terminals Started it up idled it for a bit and then shut it off. This morning on my way to the mountain I had to jump it with my van to get it going (-12 degrees last night, thought that's what killed it) then drove it halfway to the mountain when the light came on again. (Still real faint flickering) (Also The windows moved really slow.) So I pulled over assuming it was the battery. Silly me was not thinking and Took off the negative terminal. Car died instantly and would not start. Got a jump and drove it directly home and put it in the garage. Then I charged the battery on 25amps and after it was charged started it up. Took the negative off and it bogged down but kept running. No battery light came on or anything.
The current battery in this car has been taxed allot lately and I'm wondering if the battery can be the soul cause of this or is the charging system to blame.
Can a bad battery cause this?
Bad Cell perhaps?

It sounds like it is time for a new battery. How old is the current one?
If you jump start the car, and it runs with the jumper cables attached, but as soon as you remmove the cables, the car dies, then the Alternator isnt charging.

First of all I have to ask; you're not disconnecting the negative battery cable from the battery while it's running are you? That would be very bad!!!!

Actually you're symptoms are classic alternator brushes that are at the end of their life. If you want to go the cheap route you could just replace the brushes (probably have to buy a voltage regulator to get the brushes unless you know someone who works at a shop that rebuilds alternators...) or you could just have yours rebuilt; that way you get new bearings and have the stator and rotor checked out as well.

How many miles on the alternator? How old is the battery? If the alternator has over 120K miles; it's due. If the battery is over 5 yrs old; it's probably due too. Most any parts store will test your battery; just need to charge it and then load test it. If you have VOM you could do a lot of this yourself...

My bet is the alternator, not to bad of a job. Get hold a a new reg/brush assembly bolt on in and you should be good to go. For the price a rebuilt alternator is probably the best bet.