Gen 1 light???

[1SICKMJ]

I just swapped a pair of alternators from one CUCV to another to get the gen. lights to shut off. Gen 2 works great but Gen 1 light comes on when its gen 1 starts charging? I thought they only come on when they are not charging. Any ideas before i take it out and something simple was wrong. Thanks

 

[Ken_86gt]

The light is only on when "Not" charging. Easy to verify though, put a voltmeter across the battery when running and check the voltage. It should be 14-15v. You may have to bump the throttle to get the rpms up.

 

[68impalass]

and if it still does not work, check the heater fuse. That's what turns on gen 1 if I am not mistaken

 

[1SICKMJ]

Ok so I bump the throttle, almost to the rev limiter to get it charging and the light comes on. I just messed with the little connection on the back that has the red and brown wire in it and i dont think i got it in all the way now cuz the light doesnt come on but it doesnt charge either. I will check the fuse but I think the heater fuse turns on gen2, from what Im reading from this tech manual I got from the site.

My solution is screw it and put black tape over the light, the truck is only for the turtle volunteers down here at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, but my supervisor said no we gotta fix it.

 

[1SICKMJ]

Ok so I just swapped out the alt. cuz it was only pushing 10.5 volts out. Then put in a new one and same thing the light comes on after you hit the gas and it starts charging. What are the point of those lights anyway? I ended up pulling the cluster and now the gen 2 light wont even come on........go figure. Then the front battery died, so now I'm basically back to square 1............no idea.

The whole story on this truck is the volunteers took it out for a camping thing, and I guess the battery hold down was loose and the positive hit it and caught fire and fried pretty much all the grounds right there. They said on the way back there was no lights or wipers, ok wipers work now and the headlights did work till I tore the whole thing apart. So after swapping the alts out of a CUCV we are deadlining this is where Im at.........very frustrating.

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[Ken_86gt]

The light is part of the charging circuit and it needs to be there to work. I think that it is time to start following the troubleshooting procedures for the charging system. The TM is located under the resources tab, TM-92320-289-34, page 2-42.

 

[doghead]

My solution is screw it and put black tape over the light...

Get more tape and cover the whole truck! Hiding a problem works for some people....

 

[Cucvnut]

why not jsut fix the problem

 

[1SICKMJ]

I got TM-9-2320-289-20, but that has so far gotten me no where.

Get more tape and cover the whole truck! Hiding a problem works for some people....

I got all the electrical tape off the wires under the dash, theres no going back now.

Why would power stop at the bulb? Thats whats happening, the current stops at the bulb and is not continuing on to the brown wire which goes to the alt. Which I believe turns it on to start charging, well thats what I was told.
Which would mean that its not finding a ground in the alt and grounding at the light which turns the light on, at least it sounds good. Which doesnt make sense because it charges after I tap the accelorator pedal.

 

[stampy]

I would remove and clean all my grounds and hot leads and put dielectric grease on all bolted connections. Start from square one and work forward from the battery. You may also have a hot wire grounding (since it killed the battery). I know that when a marker light bulb is burned out on a CUCV it lights up the turn signal bulb in the cab(with the headlights on) so I would assume that something is producing resistance untill you gun it and it completes the circut (power surge) thus the generator light goes out. Either that or something is drawing a lot of power off that generator( like turning on defrost fan to high). Good luck!

 

[Ken_86gt]

You need the -34 TM for the procedure that I recommended, it is different.

 

[Ken_86gt]

What is the voltage on the brown wire that goes to the alternator when running? It should be 12+. The wiring diagram is in the -34 TM, page E-9 of the appendices.

 

[stampy]

Dumb question but the batteries are series 24v right? Have you checked to see if you get 24v dc at the terminals with the positive lug removed and the engine running (ie alt test)

 

[1SICKMJ]

yeah i downloaded 34, no time to read Im off work by the time you read this. Tomorrow, thanks for the help.

All that I did so far was trie track down the wire. I got lost at the wire that comes from the alt but started following this brown wire at the cluster assuming it is something. But it lead me to the fuse block, very top fuse its a 25(wasnt there) so i snaged one off a deadlined CUCV praying for something but nothing so I will track the other side of the fuse to something.

Nope havent done the alt test, we hook up a battery tester thing, checks charge and what not, and if one battery is getting 14volts its good I assume.

Hopefully by the time this is over I will be a charging system know it all!

 

[stampy]

yeah i downloaded 34, no time to read Im off work by the time you read this. Tomorrow, thanks for the help.

All that I did so far was trie track down the wire. I got lost at the wire that comes from the alt but started following this brown wire at the cluster assuming it is something. But it lead me to the fuse block, very top fuse its a 25(wasnt there) so i snaged one off a deadlined CUCV praying for something but nothing so I will track the other side of the fuse to something.

Nope havent done the alt test, we hook up a battery tester thing, checks charge and what not, and if one battery is getting 14volts its good I assume.

Hopefully by the time this is over I will be a charging system know it all!

Then you can teach all of us LOL

 

[1SICKMJ]

OK that TM 34, the diagram on E-11 is the same ass what I got and the gen 1 light does not stop it continues to the fuse block, i believe heater fuse, and then to the ignition switch......makes no sense at all. Swapped the ignition switch put in a fuse praying I am done........wrong.

I still dont understand, why would the current stop at the gen 1 light?!?! And the alt quit charging, both of them........... its gonna be a really bad day I can tell. Time for more tracking and tests, as the days have gone by this truck is getting closer to being tossed

 

[Ken_86gt]

Did you follow the testing procedure? What where the voltages? You can't just follow wires if you don't know where the problem is. Is there voltage on the Brown Wire? By the way the current flow starts at the fuse box and goes thru the bulb and then to the alternator on the brown wire.

 

[1SICKMJ]

I fixed it some how....
Jumped the side the power was coming from to the side that wasnt getting power(ignition switch side) and now the light comes on when I turn the key. Then I changed the connection at the alt, the big red wire with a new better one and it works fine now. Kinda figured out how the light works too, so its all good.