OldSchoolAmerica
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- Western New York
Returning from successful NYS inspection on a beautiful sunny Rochester day (humor me, we don't get many up here) I started smelling some electrical smoke. I look down at the gauges and the voltmeter is pegged past the red overcharge. I start slowing down to pull over, the truck dies and all the needles fall to zero... this was probably a good thing as the main fuse blew and likely saved me from serious wiring/component damage. After examining the alternator it appears the voltage regulator, rectifier end assembly and windings leads are toast, see pictures below. So, before I install a new one, I would like to mitigate any possible causes of this (in my control) and therefore looking for your help to identify possibilities.
To start the list I reached out to a very helpful vendor and he said the causes could have been the following:
Well, I examined items 1, 2 and 5 which all checked out fine. In fact, I have new batteries and cables and very little load. Items 3 and 4 are totally out of my control. So, with that, any more possibilities....
To start the list I reached out to a very helpful vendor and he said the causes could have been the following:
- loose battery connections
- damaged batteries (a weak or dead cell)
- short in the alternators stator/field windings/diodes
- water/moisture in the regulator housing
- overloaded electric beyond the 60 amp rating
Well, I examined items 1, 2 and 5 which all checked out fine. In fact, I have new batteries and cables and very little load. Items 3 and 4 are totally out of my control. So, with that, any more possibilities....