<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="100%">I finally got the alternator to charge. But now i have a new problem. I disconnected the negative terminal of the battery and ran a test light from the negative battery post and the negative battery cable and something is still using juice with the key off. I pulled fuses until all of them were out of the fuse panel and the test light still remained on. Any advice? Its in the wire harness im sure. Its a brand new summit 18 circuit wire harness. To the best of my knowledge i ran everything as i was supposed to.
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Disconnect the regulator and or the bat lead from the alternator. If a diode is out in the alt this will happen. Make sure your lights & cab lights are out. If you have a modern radio don't for get the hot lead (Yel) for backing up your presets.

 

Thanx alot for all the help. I know its been a mess. I finally pulled and cut every wire between the battery, solenoid, starter, and regulator. After I had everything out of the way I proceeded with the drawing above and in my manual. All that fixed the negative still having power with the key off. I then had the issue of the alternator not charging again. I was getting frustrated. I either kept getting a powered negative or no charge. I finally had a mechanic tell me to force feild test my regulator. (HUH) He said to disconnect the connection on the regulator and insert a jumper wire into terminals "A" and "F" of the connection and see if the alternator then charges the battery. Success. He then told me my regulator was bad and that I needed a new one. I told him that it was brand new. He said I probably fried it. Oh well it was only a 15.00 part. I got a new one and hooked everything back up and voila. I have charge, well sort of. I am getting 12.6 volts at idle with no lights on, and 12.3 at idle with lights on. Is this normal charge rate at idle. Im thinking i may need to run a bigger gauge wire from the alternator to the battery. Seeing as how i cut the one that was there and ran a new 14 gauge.

 

The original alternators are only 60 amp. And if I recall the rpm had to be around 1500rpm to achive this. Make sure your belt is tight, not slipping. I know mine dips a little at idle, but soon as the rpm picks up all is fine. If you don't reach more than 13.2vdc either your battery is full charged or something is wrong. Normally they will put out close to 14.7vdc. Some users changed pulleys to spin the them faster, helps.

 

The instructions that came with the last regulator I bought, said to make sure you bolt the reg to metal ground before you hook any wires to it, or it could short.

 

True but a lot of person paint the radiator support insulating it from the support. Also rust can act as an insulator. Mine has a small ground strap with one of the star eyelets to insure it cuts through the paint.

 

Thanx alot

 

Like what was said do you have a newer radio that will pull juice, One thing make shure all doors are shut and if you have a under hood light that it is unhooked. Any light that goes to a body ground will seem like it is pulling juice even know it is not. I played on a mustang I rewired for days before I relized the door was open so the light was grounded. Even if you step on the brake wile the meter is on it will read.

 

A couple of yrs ago I put a 100amp 1 wire alt on my '72. Worked great, but had a drain somewhere that I couldnt find. So gave up and installed a hidden cutoff switch that killed everything but the alarm when the key was off. So killed two birds with one switch, truck is dead when parked and no more dead battery. Just tapped into the fusible link wire that comes from the solenoid, over to the cutoff, and back to the wire that goes to the fuse box. Truck doesnt turn over, no lights, no elec fuel pump, etc. a little extra security.

 

Nice idea with the cutoff switch. And i got all the bugs worked out now. I ended up running all brand new wires and grounds from the solenoid to the starter to the battery to the voltage regulator. Somewhere along those wires it stopped having a hot negative. I also ended up buying a new alternator with a/c pulley for a later added a/c compressor. Right now i have to save up some more money to do more to my truck. Between the tools and parts i have spent $3,000.00. And that was my limit on this credit card. I might not have payments but i got credit card payments now, lol. Anyway when i get it payed down some more I'm gonna get new bed panels, a tailgate, and a used passenger side door. Thanx for all the help.

 

Could you come by and wire up my trailer?

 

how hard can a trailer be, lol. It took me 4 days to get wiring specs, diagrams, and enough info to get my wiring fixed. Now all i got left to wire is the dash, heater, radio, choke, dome light, courtesy light, and third brake. Oh and all switches on the dash.