Gen 1 playing up....Grrrrrr

[tankie88]

Back along i had a prob with 30amp fuse melting.So,i did the headlight wiring harness mod.All went well for a while.Then the truck would charge at full charge(on Gen 1) until i turned on the lights.Slowly the charge would drop and hardly no charging.The gen 1 light was out.So i put on a brand new Gen 1 altenator.Every thing was ok then(like new).Now the same thing is happening again.This time though if i leave the vehicle ticking over with no lights on for about 5 mins and turn them on again.I have no probs until i turn the vehicle off and start it up again.Oh and i have swopped position of both batteries as well.Still the same.Anyone any ideas??

 

[Barrman]

Needing the lights on means voltage regulator to me. Same with no charge. The new alternator acting the same means something between the alternator and the rest of the truck is off. Have you checked the contacts for both alternator relays? Along with the relays themselves maybe.

Another odd thought is your ignition switch. Do you have to wiggle it around to remove the key and keep everything off? I am wondering if maybe it isn't aligned correctly and just not turning everything on. It happened to me on a similar truck years ago.

 

[renovate7]

Is there a relay on Gen 1? Is it located right next to the Gen 2 relay?

 

[Warthog]

Is there a relay on Gen 1? Is it located right next to the Gen 2 relay?

No relay for GEN1. That second relay is the Voltmeter relay

 

[tankie88]

Right,after finding some time. I checked my batts with my tell-tale charging system thingy. Front batt is charging ok.Rear batt overcharge.So i got out the volt meter.Front batt 14.36 (no lights) 14.18 (with lights on) Rear batt 14.65.Could the over charge be the source of all my probs?

 

[Skinny]

Voltage looks good to me. Rear batt typically has no load so it will be a few tents higher.

 

[tankie88]

Further investigation today.I checked my exciter plugs.All ok except i'm getting .02v reading on the brown wire with ing off on gen 2.My volt meter is in the red while running.Even swopped the relays around under the dash.

 

[cpf240]

The voltmeter in the dash is not a precision instrument. If the voltages measured at the alternator outputs and the batteries is withing spec, then I'd call it good. Perhaps the dropping resistor on the back of the voltmeter is out of tolerance?