Stormtyler1984dolphin
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Posts posted by Stormtyler1984dolphin
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10 hours ago, WME said:
This could potentially be helpful except I’m not sure we have an alternator light??? And also like I’ve said this replacement alternator that we put in is EXACTLY the same type that was previously in there with the EXACT same wiring......I would understand needing to have that wire if it had already existed but we just put everything back together the same way it was before we took it apart so in theory it should work??
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2 hours ago, Maineah said:
It already has a battery feed through the large wire it sits there fat dumb and happy the "onewire" is the exciter it basically kick starts the alternator. Usually it went through a warning light circuit connected to the key switch.
I’m sorry I still don’t know what that means.....there’s one wire in the back on the alternator and that one wire goes to the battery........
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29 minutes ago, Maineah said:
A one wire GM alt needs a 12 volt signal to work from an external source like the key switch.
I’m not exactly sure what that would mean I would have to check or do
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51 minutes ago, WME said:
OH yes, from the alternator. The way things are now, what is the voltage on the truck battery when the engine is running? If the alternator is connected directly to the truck battery it should be charging like a normal truck no RV stuff involved...🤡stupid thought... truck battery-passenger side, house battery-drivers side.
Things to check use your volt meter in the OHM function. On the isolator measure from the center terminal to one of the other posts...then reverse the leads and measure the same thing. You should have continuity in one direction and not the other (diode). Then check the center to the other post, again same thing continuity one way.
Hm okay gotta wait for the rain to stop might wait until tomorrow to figure things out
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Alright so with it running the center post reads about 12.1 and the auxiliary battery reads 15 (but we were still plugged into shore power) and the car battery side reads about 12.2 so does that mean it’s the alternator??
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7 minutes ago, WME said:
Really an Ooga horn!.
Anyway you have a diode isolator, its the gold box by the clutch master cylinder.
Get your volt meter and with the engine running the center post of the isolator should have 14v+ on it. Thats the alternator voltage. Less than 13 and alternator is not really good, less than 12 and its toast. If you get a bad reading check the actual output of the alternator, you could have a bad wire.
The other 2 posts should have what ever voltage is on the center post - about .7v. One of those posts goes to the truck battery and the other to the house battery.
So check the voltage on the posts and on the + of each battery. It should be the same. Grounds are just as important the the + leads.
I also see a auto reset circuit on the house battery charge line check the voltage in both sides of it.
Let us know what you find
Oh actually another question. So the center post is for the alternator but there isn’t a wire that goes from the alternator to the post...should there be? The alternator is a Chevy one wire and the wire goes directly to the + lead on the car battery
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5 minutes ago, WME said:
Really an Ooga horn!.
Anyway you have a diode isolator, its the gold box by the clutch master cylinder.
Get your volt meter and with the engine running the center post of the isolator should have 14v+ on it. Thats the alternator voltage. Less than 13 and alternator is not really good, less than 12 and its toast. If you get a bad reading check the actual output of the alternator, you could have a bad wire.
The other 2 posts should have what ever voltage is on the center post - about .7v. One of those posts goes to the truck battery and the other to the house battery.
So check the voltage on the posts and on the + of each battery. It should be the same. Grounds are just as important the the + leads.
I also see a auto reset circuit on the house battery charge line check the voltage in both sides of it.
Let us know what you find
Hahaha the previous owner put it in! It definitely adds character and people love it! Alrighty, it’s raining again here so once it stops we’ll fire it up and see what those spots are read. Thank you!
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This is what it looks like under the hood if it’s helpful to anyone
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Also we died on the side of the road at night lost all lights and we swapped the batteries to run the car off the house battery
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15 minutes ago, WME said:
Is your isolator a solenoid type or a diode type? A diode type is a box with fins and 3 or 4 cable studs. A solenoid type looks like an old style 35mm can with 2 big wires and 1 or 2 small wires.
It is possible for a diode type to charge the house battery and fail to charge the truck battery.
IN an EMERGENCY you can bolt all 3 wires to a single post and run the engine off the house battery
I’m fairly sure it’s a diode. Is this what you’re talking about?
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27 minutes ago, Maineah said:
It is old enough to have an external voltage regulator so it's very possible the alternator is fine and the regulator is not.
So upon a google search I realized that we do not have an external voltage regulator. The last alternator that was put it was a Chevy one wire alternator and when we replaced it we put the exact same type of Chevy one wire alternator back in. So no plug in the back of the alternator. So in theory it should work as it had worked for seemingly many years (the alternator looked like it had been there for a long while) and we hadn’t had any charging issues prior to this
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18 minutes ago, Maineah said:
It is old enough to have an external voltage regulator so it's very possible the alternator is fine and the regulator is not.
Okay I’ll google that and check it out
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2 hours ago, linda s said:
Use the voltmeter and check the house battery with the truck running and not running. Lets see first if the new alternator is good. Yes they can be bad right from the store. It's happened to me and I got stuck in BF too. If it's producing a charge all you can do is start replacing all of the wires. A good ground is required too. There should also be a battery isolator between the house and truck battery to protect the truck battery from being drained by the house battery when stopped and using lights or appliances.
Linda S
Okay well do that tomorrow if it’s not raining too much!
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Also
2 minutes ago, Stormtyler1984dolphin said:Posting on here and hoping someone can help me somehow seeing as mechanics seemed to be confused about this as well.
We have a 1984 Toyota Dolphin. We JUST replaced the alternator, not because it stopped working, but because it was rattling around from being so worn in where the bolts went through it that the holes were elliptical instead of round. And now the alternator isn’t feeding any power to our car battery. We replaced the wire from the back of the alternator thinking that was the issue but it did nothing. I think mechanics are confused by it having two batteries but they all keep saying that the “house” battery is charging while we’re running the engine but the car battery isn’t?? The only place the alternator attaches to is the car battery. And then there is a line that connects the two batteries together but how/ why would the house battery pull charge from the alternator and the car battery not? We had to replace the battery as we died in bumblefuck in the dark with no headlights in the rain.Also we have a volt meter that’s how we knew the alternator wasn’t charging the battery. The battery was at 7 volts when we were dead on the side of the road. We have a new battery in but likely hood that it will also die eventually is very high.
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Posting on here and hoping someone can help me somehow seeing as mechanics seemed to be confused about this as well.
We have a 1984 Toyota Dolphin. We JUST replaced the alternator, not because it stopped working, but because it was rattling around from being so worn in where the bolts went through it that the holes were elliptical instead of round. And now the alternator isn’t feeding any power to our car battery. We replaced the wire from the back of the alternator thinking that was the issue but it did nothing. I think mechanics are confused by it having two batteries but they all keep saying that the “house” battery is charging while we’re running the engine but the car battery isn’t?? The only place the alternator attaches to is the car battery. And then there is a line that connects the two batteries together but how/ why would the house battery pull charge from the alternator and the car battery not? We had to replace the battery as we died in bumblefuck in the dark with no headlights in the rain.
Alternator issues??
in Electrical
Posted
Okay so we’ve found out that the alternator we have in there is NOT self regulating as the person that sold it to us said it was. And finding a self regulating one wire alternator has proven to be not that easy. So we bought a new alternator with the Plug that’s the same as our plug for the regulator. BUT my worry is that the old alternator wasn’t using the regulator for a reason??? Why would someone convert to a one wire self regulating alternator? So I’m wondering now if there’s a way to check the regulator before we go through all the BS of putting in the new alternator